4th August 2009  -  Ramsgate to Lowestoft  
Early start again, Andy had kindly offered to drive me back down to Ramsgate - I think that was his preferred option as he was not too keen on making the final passage with us :-) - We set off at 0700hrs to drive the 180 miles from Burbage (Leicestershire) to Ramsgate.  The traffic was not as bad as I had expected so we made good time arriving in Ramsgate just before 1000hrs - Thank you Andy!

Ramsgate was bathed in sunshine, according to the weather forecast it was one of only two places in the UK with sunny weather, the other being somewhere on the east coast of Scotland.  Andy helped me with my luggage and then departed promptly before we could get him doing any work!

All very civilised on board, Eric was sitting in the cockpit drinking tea and reading the paper.  After a walk into town to pick up some "essential" diet coke I prepared the boat for sea while Eric settled the marina fees.

With a secure back spring and carefully positioned fender I sprung the bows out and pointed Sanity toward the exit of the West Marina.  We held off in the inner harbour while I fetched all the fenders and ropes inboard, requested permission to leave from Port Control and then we were off back out into my favourite North Sea!
Still sunny in Ramsgate  
Sea state looks good on this picture Fenders all inboard
Bye bye Ramsgate  
The sea state wasn't exactly calm but bearable all the same and with the wind and tide we made good progress heading North.  Not having our Trim Tabs working is a bit of a bind, we were certainly bows up for most of the passage!

The sea state deteriorated slightly crossing the Thames Estuary but for once (and this has to be the first time) it looked worse than it actually was - there is a lot to be said for wind, tide and vessel all travelling in the same direction :-)

In the last hour of the passage we lost the assistance of the tide and it started to get a little lumpy but we kept the power on and with some impressive surfing we steamed into Lowestoft at 1800hrs.
Plenty of berths available, as always, in Hamilton dock so we chose a sheltered spot and made fast. Time to relax and enjoy a nice meal onboard washed down with a few JD's :-)