I needed to get off Elektra for a walk. I asked Sally for local advice about landing at Halton Quay, she said 3hrs either side of high water would be OK, but advised Cotehele Quay would be better for landing and walks.
Of course l didn’t think about the tide stream which was now in the 3rd hour of the ebb! Yes the outboard could go faster than the tide, but would be using a lot of fuel for not much progress. I didn’t think l would need extra fuel so left the can aboard. Just past Halton Quay and about halfway to Cotehele Quay, l thought l should look, the motor seemed to have used half a tank already and l still had to get back to Elektra and l didn’t want to row like last time! So l turned around and headed back to Elektra. But l had tested the engine with the new 2 stroke oil and it was running fine.
It teaches you something about rivers, you need to work with the flow not against it! A lot of the rivers l have used in the past haven’t been fast flowing like the Tamar River, which is running at 2-3kts most of the time, there’s not much in the way of slack water.
Love Sailing 