..... it is now, but not without a final drama.
On the passage back from Greenland, I arranged to have Bonny lifted out at Iron Wharf Boatyard (see most southerly anchor symbol in the second chart below) which is situated near the top of Faversham Creek off the mouth of the River Swal in Kent. It's about 25 miles from Hoo (see buoy symbol) where Bonny is normally moored and to where we returned on 11th September.
Faversham Creek is narrow and winding and to get Bonny up to the yard I would need to wait for high water on a spring tide.
The next such tide after the 11th is on Tuesday 23rd September and my good friend Howard kindly volunteered to help me get Bonny to Iron Wharf.
Monday 22/9/25. Howard and I get on board Bonny around midday and inspect the engine. It's clear that it's now badly out of alignment and we can see that the coupling between the gearbox and the shaft is starting to fail. We try and improve things as best we can by slacking off all the engine bolts and running the engine in the hope it will move itself back into a better position. It improves things a bit but it's clear we won't be able to use the engine a great deal.
Fortunately there's a brisk North/North Easterly wind blowing and so we beat out of the river and then close hauled on the port tack scrape over the mudflats to the North of the Isle of Sheppy. We then run up the approach to the Swale and drop the hook in the lee of the Isle of Sheppy close to Faversham Spit (see the most northerly anchor symbol above).
Tuesday 23/9/25. After a late breakfast and a leisurely morning we get the anchor up unfurl the genoa and head towards Faversham Creek. The wind is still roughly in the North East and so we should be able to sail most of the way under the genoa and just use the engine sparingly if we get headed and for last minute parking manoeuvres to get alongside the Wharf.
We sail as far as the first bend in the creek which then heads NE for a couple of hundred metres and so have to use the engine to provide steerage way. I misjudge the wind and try to sail too soon and can't keep in the channel I hastily turn the engine back on. But because we can only run it at tickover we don't have enough power to counteract the wind and run aground (see the hazard symbol on the second chart).
After 20 minutes or so we try and motor off first fowards then astern, but the engine cuts out. It starts again but immediately stops when I engage forward gear. I assume the gearbox coupling has failed (but of course the symptons are wrong for that). The wind is blowing the bow into shallower water.
We set the kedge anchor using Howard's dinghy (thank goodness we had it) and try and pull the bow off first. It takes quite a few attempts to get the anchor in a reasonable position. The bow is though firmly stuck. Next we try from the stern and succeed in getting her off the mud. Then we transfer the anchor back to the bow.
Bonny is now facing down the creek in the opposite direction of Iron Wharf and the wind is from her starboard beam. There's nowhere near enough room in the creek to turn her round under sail - she'd simply end up aground again. We now have just over an hour to high water and about 1.5 miles to go to Iron Wharf.
We experiment to see whether Howard's 2.5 hp Honda Outboard has enough power to push Bonny's bow across the tidal stream to get her facing in the right direction. There is.
We prepare the anchor kedge anchor cable for ditching by tying a fender to it. Then Howard in the dinghy ladhed to the bow, uses the outboard to push the bow round again. As soon as the bow is pointing the right way, I ditch the anchor and rush back to the cockpit to unfurl the genoa in order to get steerageway. Howard hollers from the dinghy - the fender is caught in the outboard prop; the fender is attached to the anchor cable, the dinghy is attached to the boat; ergo Bonny is still anchored and any minute will be pointing the wrong way again. F**k! "I need a knife" Howard yells. I dash below for one and as I do so, try to work out whether this means that I'm going to lose my fender or my anchor or both!
Suddenly the fender frees itself and we're off. We just manage to stay in the channel. We're now sailing quite fast fown the narrow creek. The wind veers further east as we near the next bend and I'm not sure whether we'll be able to sail close enough to get round. Howard starts the outboard engine (the dinghy is still lashed alongside) in the event we get round the bend OK and it's now "plain sailing" to the Wharf. The Yard's work boat comes out to assist (we spoke to them on the phone earlier) but for now just follows us and makes sure we stay in the deeper water.
As we approach the wharf the work boat driver gives me directions. The lift dock is sandwiched between two Thames Sailing Barges. We have to get abeam of the dock in-between the two barges before turning in and into the last of the flood tide, in order to avoid a shallow patch downstream of the dock.
There's one beautiful Thames Sailing Barge immediately upstream of the dock and another immediately down stream. If we don't have enough way on, we'll get swept onto the stern of the upstream barge, if we go too fast we might run into the stern of the downstream barge , or the concrete wall!
I furl the genoa about a hundred metres before the dock but the outboard is still going. The workboat driver gives me the signal to turn. Hard to port. We surge towards the dock. There are large fenders alongside it, but head on, Bonny's bow at deck level would make contact with the concrete first.
We're going too fast and heading for the wall. The guys waiting there for us shout "reverse". "Sorry guys we ain't got one of those". With the wheel hard over I use the Hydrovane tiller to turn more sharply. Then I notice the barge's stern line. Her stern narrows enough to create a space between her starboard quarter and the wall into which I can aim Bonny's bow and hopefully her stern line will arrest Bonny's momentum without causing too much damage I'm also vaguely aware of the work boat driver frantically attaching a line to Bonny's stern.
The guys on the bank realise what's up and prepare to fend off. Then somehow we're alongside the wharf. I haven't put a hole in a Thames Barge or mangled the pullit, or taken a chunk out of Bonny's bow. No one's shouting at me. There are quite a few relieved looking faces around, but their smiling too.
An hour or so later Bonny's lifted on to dry land and her 2025 adventure is finally over. And oh yes, the engine stopped due to a rope round the prop. It wasn't one of mine!
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