And the Journey begins

Gale warnings on the shipping forecast and strong winds in the harbour wouldn’t have been our first choice of weather to begin our journey, but we were all itching to get started. So on the tide at 08:30 we left Grimbsy for Cleethorpse, anchoring in the lee of Haile Sand Fort, where we waited in the rain, fixing leaks in the bimini in an attempt to stay dry.

The forecast was F6/7 from the South veering Westerly F4/5 at 13:00. Exactly as forecast, almost to the minute, the wind swung 90 degrees and dropped. We immidiately launched Islay on the 7m kite and foil board, slightly underestimating the wind so having to swap up to a 9m for her and 11m for Stew. We were perfectly powered as the sun came out and we followed Mentor out towards the mouth of the estuary passing our nominal start line between Haile Sand Fort and Bull Sand Fort, happily gybing a zigzag course for an hour.

Just before entring the Donna Nook, our 14knot winds suddenly built to around 20 and we became massively overpowered on the foils. We made the decision to switch to our twin tips as changing kites would take too long and mean the end of the day. Putting our board changing drills from yesterday to good practice we were comfortable again and on our way.

The tide had now turned and we had wind against tide which made for lumpy seas, turned a milk chocolate colour with all the sediment from the Humber. Islay, never havig been one for down-winders lost her board 3 times, having gained too much speed going down the back of a wave and nose diving into the back of the next one. The current quickly took the board upwind causing her to struggle to retrieve it and Stew, who was luckily lurking behind had to come to her rescue (no shining armour though).

The wind dropped steadily as we approached Gibrater Point, the only safe anchorage after our starting point in Grimbsy Marina. We tried to make the most of the dying wind pulling ahead of Mentor more than usual. Eventually after 4 1/2 hrs and with only 1/2 hr before sunset our kites dropped out of the sky, leaving us drifting and happy after a tiring day on the water.

35 Miles covered and 55 Miles kited.
3 seals ( or maybe the same one was following us, hard to say )

At the mouth of the estuary is Donna Nook Bombing range, 3200 hectares of sea danger area used by the RAF and NATO planes. According to the charts they operate a “clear water” policy, meaning they check for boats or crazy kitesurfers before they start “practicing”. Possibly not our first choice of obstacles for our first day, but due to it’s size it was impractical to go around. Typically, Stew went straight up to touch the target, floating surprising unscared 3miles off shore.

Haile Sand Fort, with its larger companion Bull Sand Fort 3.75 kilometres to the north-east, were built during WW1 to defend the Humber Estuary. Our starline between the two was once marked by an anti-submarine net of steel mesh. Haile Sand Fort has been up for sale since 2016 – what an upgrade from your regular treehouse!