Nearly home now, we looked up our club cruising programme to find there was a meet at Tollesbury, so we set out with that as our intended destination.
With a foul tide outside, we needed some wind before we could usefully set out. At 10:00, the burgee stirred, and we headed out, to find a South Easterly F3 with sunshine.
Mr Andrews pulled us up the North Foreland, then to Fisherman's Gat, across the Sunk, and then heading for the Swin Spitway. However, although we'd been going very nicely, it was clear not only that we wouldn't make Tollesbury on the tide, but possibly not till after the dinner we were trying to join.
So we gybed and headed for Walton-on-the-Naze and home, now making 8 to 9 knots as we crossed the Gunfleet on a broad reach.
Tied up at 19:15 on the Royal Harwich pontoon in Woolverstone.