High winds and low water

Raedwald may not look like much (she's the boat equivalent of a MkIII Landy), but she's 24' and over 3.5 tonnes and believe me single-handing her in force 6 winds and lively tides is no picnic; the passage-making is no problem, but mooring and using ground tackle in a decent blow needs more arms, more muscle and more speed dashing from wheel and throttle to lines and warps than I can be bothered with these days. Or I swear at her whilst risking pushing bits of intestine through my embonpoint "Come round you bitch!" as she skips away to wind and wave. Still, she's a superb sea boat, built like a Panzer, and I trust my life to her.

The news that 123 very tired, cold, wet and bedraggled crusties were picked up by police and harbour launches yesterday from a variety of kiddies inflatables and soggy rafts as they attempted to blockade Kingsnorth really irritates me. A force 6 wind against an incoming tide around the eddies and rills of Kingsnorth jetty is not a playground. It was irresponsible self-indulgence, and relied upon the police and harbour launches to rescue them. Prats.