The Story So Far

During the latter part of 2008, we got to know Naughty-Cal and how she ticks on the easy to navigate Fossdyke Navigation and River Witham. At the beginning of 2009 we finally decided to navigate the tidal River Trent and explore some more of the local waterways. At first the trips onto the tidal Trent where taken with some trepidation as most people we had met have a horror story or two to tell.

Our first major trip aboard was Easter week 2009 when we took Cal to York and Ripon. This entailed a trip all the way along the tidal Trent and then back up the tidal River Ouse after rounding the dreaded and much feared Trent Falls!! In practice Trent Falls is nothing to worry about if you have a properly prepared and maintained vessel and you get your tide times correct.

Following on from the trip to York we quickly gained confidence in Cal and her ability to cope with some slightly lumpy water. Further trips in 2009 included numerous trips to Newark, Farndon and Nottingham and the River Trent as well as longer trips including Loughborough. We did however learn our lesson with timing tides correctly and timing holidays to be taken when the tides are good. We booked a week off work in August of 2009 only to find that the tides where very low (Neaps) for the week and we wouldnt be able to get over the cills in Torksey lock (There are two of them as it is a double lock.) This wasnt a problem as we had a chilled week along the Fossdyke and Witham visiting places we other wise wouldnt have seen.

The beginning of this year was the first time we had to lift Naughty-Cal for antifouling, servicing and polishing. We did this early in the year (February and into March) to ensure we didnt lose out on valuable crusing time during the better weather. We used Cal all through the winter as our retreat (as we do every weekend) even when we where frozen in for six weeks. Soon after she was relaunched we embarked on the most adventurous trip we had so far attempted. In the company of friends we set off onto the Humber and down to Hull Marina for a few days. We had planned to go to Spurn Point, however the weather turned typically British so we stayed safely moored in the marina hoping for a gap in the weather to get us home.

This almost brings us upto date. Between March and now we have successfully completed several trips along the Trent and in early June we attempted our first coastal trip with journey in company with three other boats to Wells Next The Sea on the North Norfolk coast. To access the sea from Lincoln you have two choices, either along the Humber or as we chose, along the Witham and out of the sea gates at Boston. This trip was again a roaring success and gave us even more confidence in the boat and her abilities.

So to the present day. We have numerous trips in the pipeline for the rest of this year. The next week away aboard Naughty-Cal is to be a trip to York in August with friends who have not been by boat before. However prior to this trip we have to escort them this weekend along the tidal Trent to Farndon Marina where their boat is booked in for some work to be carried out. Normally not a problem trip but their depth sounder has given up the ghost and the Trent is very short on water at the minute, so they will be closely following us and hoping we find the correct channel. More updates on this after the weekend.