Left home mooring without Mrs B at Parkend Br, G&S at 15:40 after morning scouting Lydney by road. Watched 4 nbs + 1 steel cruiser cross from Sharpness arriving just before the HT at 10:28. Jasper, Shiraz, Silver Lining, Doinmein and cruiser Juliana. Force 3 provided some lumps to negotiate but cruiser held straight line (well a gentle curve really) course for Lydney whereas the 4 nbs crossed estuary by shortest route, which caused them to be carried upstream, and then turned to port to hug the eastern shore making slow headway against the remainder of the still strong tide. Times were between 22 mins quickest and about 30 mins slowest.
Everybody relieved and jubilant on arrival. Locked up to the canal and paraded around boats moored centrally to moor up on the estuary side in the place prepared for us by the EA. I cruised steadily along the G&S canal in bright afternoon sunshine, opening up the revs to tidal volume just to see if anything would break. Better on the canal than on the river ! Pulled to one side at Patch to allow a giant white motor yacht to pass, they were to be outbound with us en route Gibraltar. Evening talking with old salts about how to/when to on the river and supper with Richard & Lyn Edwards at the Sharpness Seaman's Mission (Dockers Club). Slept "fitfully" rehearsing departure times, emergency drill and worrying about one particular nb enlisted for the gathering and planning to cross on Friday morning with us. Concerned about the crew's capability I had a little chat and explained that every skipper had to assess the conditions, their capability and decide to go or not go. There was not a lot of comfort to be secured by going in a group as none of us were equipped for provision of assistance, only moral support in the planning stages. It was some relief when the boat abandoned the attempt in the docks area and turned back to the canal before the low level bridge was closed. So our party consisted of 5 nbs and one small 21ft wooden fishing boat from Yelvertoft (!) well familiar with the inland waterways: Robyn's Retreat, Uncle Mort, Kerbau, Yorkshire Tyke and Sea Haze. There were 16 craft in the lock including a number of cruisers from the Severn Cruising Club bound for Lydney, a converted trawler and the big motor yacht bound for Gibraltar. I must say that all the cruiser crews have been very friendly and I will be exploring opportunities for membership along the Severn and even the Stourport club. In the lock my crew arrived, delivered by Mrs B who decided it was necessary for us to have a car at Lydney, - Kristen, who had been assisting on one of the earlier aborted trial crossings but conditions were much better today - blue skies, freshish breeze and estimated force 3 again. The locking down was completed promptly and the nbs tied to the floating pontoon whilst some of the cruisers set off immediately (over an hour before high tide). The 2 large boats going down the estuary waited for clearance to go just prior to the arrival of 2 navy cutters laden with cadets/trainees. Being an 8.8m tide the flow past the piers was fierce and lumps arrived in narrowboaters throats as the departees disappeared quickly to the right despite their intent to head to the left ! Even the two powerful naval boats swung about alarmingly as they turned inbound. We cast off at 10:35, 36mins prior to 11:11 HT, for what was to be a 30 minute crossing. The other 2 nbs followed, evenly spaced, but the gaps between each extended to about 3 or 4 minutes by the time of arrival, so the last in at Lydney was about 5 to 10 mins after HT. There were a few sticky moments on entering the tide race and each boat healed over, almost alarmingly. It was lumpy with waves up to about 4ft trough to peak. Some bottom banging and surging, some salt water in the face, but there was no turning back. In the conditions Kristen closed the front doors as agreed and came to the rear of the boat. Within 10 minutes we were through the worst of it but certainly some distance upstream, and we plodded against the tide about 200 yds off the coast. With such a high tide there was no chance of running aground so we edged closer to the shore and picked up a little speed. Lydney pier was out of sight at this point and folks waiting for our arrival thought we were a long time getting back in view. A rowing boat came out to peer around the headland and then on spotting us seemed to go back in to the yacht club. So much for difficult conditions. A gathering of about 30 folks awaited us, mainly the crews of boats that arrived the day before and from the cruisers that went out of Sharpness some time before us. With this height of tide the basin had reached within a yard of canal level so the locking up did not take long. All crews were demob happy, perhaps taken aback a little by the conditions encountered. Lydney Sailing Club opened their bar and we partook of a couple of refreshments and spent the afternoon relaxing. Saturday is the big day - with all kinds of festival like activities and more arrivals at mid day, at least 10 boats to be received by the Lydney town band playing on the pier. On Sunday a good sized party of boats (perhaps 15 or more) will head back to Sharpness on the tide, aiming to arrive around 12:40. Ah . . nearly time for supper. 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