Fit your own Saildrive propeller

Mark Ryan learns mid-family cruise the importance of having a secure attachment for his Volvo Saildrive propeller

- Mark Ryan

Prevailing winds in the UK blow from the west, so why is it then, that whenever you want to travel east, the winds will relentlessly blow from that direction for weeks on end?

And so it was, as the May half-term holiday approached. Our planned cruise to take Mirage, our 40ft Bavaria, and our four children across the Thames from our base in Chatham Marina on the Medway to Woolverstone in leafy Suffolk, looked increasingly unlikely as, day by day, the forecast for fresh easterlies gradually worsened.

As the planned departure weekend approached, we noticed a small weather window of very little wind from the east between 0300 and around 1000 on Sunday morning, with a breeze picking up until around midday, followed by a fresh easterly breeze from lunchtime. We figured that fate favoured the bold and loaded the kids and all our belongings onto Mirage and anchored for the night in Sharfleet Creek at the end of the Medway.

Early departure

We upped anchor at 0300 at the top of the tide, in the inky black of night that contrasted with the bright lights of Thamesport's towering cranes and ships using the flood to come into the Medway.

The water was glassy as we chugged out into the Thames with the ebb tide starting to give us some gains, and a gentle swell running. It's always my favourite part of the day, as the sun peeks up to dismiss the false dawn, especially on calm mornings like this one.