Our three days of good weather were now over and the wind was forecast to blast the coast for the next few days. It was pleasing then that we had taken advantage of the fair wind and were now in such a sheltered location.

The marina is located at the back of the old fish dock surrounded by the remnants of the fishing industry. Apparently the fish market is still busy but 90% of the fish come in by lorry!

The Humber Sailing Association is still finishing off their marina but it is generally in a good condition. Although the facilities were in a porta-cabin they are some of the best seen to date on the east coast. On Wednesday we stocked up on both previsions and sleep before having a major clean out of Silverwind on Thursday morning.

The main aim of the “spring clean” was to dry out the parts of the boat that collect water from spray and cannot be accessed easily. The two of us made light work of emptying the boat and quickly dried out under the floorboards before replacing everything in its order. As in Troon we surprised the locals as to how much gear you can stow in a twenty-five foot boat!

There was one “slight” mishap while removing the gear from the cabin. On lifting the liferaft onto the cockpit I planted it squarely on to a metal spike. The spike was the “D” bracket from the lock which I cut after locking myself out in Arbroath. It cut nicely into the fabric casing of the raft and looked to have grazed the raft itself inside. After some inspection and taking professional advice we concluded that I had made a small hole in the liferaft floor. It would require a full service but we could not get that done in Grimsby for at least a week. It would not be the best option but we reluctantly decided to go with the liferaft to Lowestoft (our next stop). Here Cosalt has a major servicing facility and could get it serviced and repaired quickly.

The offending “D” bracket was rapidly removed and disposed of!