Boxing Day Punt 2022

The Mersea Island Boxing Day dip is an annual event to raise funds for the RNLI. This year the conditions were perfect so we decided to take the punts out for a sail and get the best view of the swimmers. Most of them don't stay in for long but there are a few groups who swim all year round, so this was just a normal day for them.
We then sailed onto Cobmarsh Island and the new recharge shingle spit, created to protect the marsh island, where we found our mate Rob looking for fossilized Mammoth teeth and tusks.
It was due to be a really high tide, so after a brief excursion to Packing Marsh, where we watched the dinghy sailors participating in their annual Dabchicks Christmas Pudding pursuit race. We did think of taking part but as we would have been the slowest boats in the fleet, it would have been a really early start! The tide had about 40 minutes of flood left so we sailed over the top of Cobmarsh, which was a first experience for me. These little boats are absolutely brilliant, sailing where no one has sailed before.
Next up, Hove Creek where there is normally a boardwalk connecting Coast Road to the beach and shingle point, where the swimmers had taken their dip. The boardwalk and the creek was fully submerged by now and the whole area formed a large lagoon, great for cruising around and surprising dog walkers who don't expect to see sailing boats where land would normally be.
When the tide is really high, it's just got to be done, so we rounded a great day's sailing by cruising up Coast Road for as far as we could get.

Music Chris Haugen - Factal of Light