The weather forecast was good, the tide was even better and we made the decision that Naiad's haul out for 2025 was a go. High water was around 13:40 so we didn't have to leave early and were able to make the journey down to West Mersea in the daylight. On arrival we put the trailer on the hard, parked the car, retrieved the dinghy and rowed out to Naiad, finding her safe and sound on her mooring. There was a little water in the cockpit bilge, maybe a pint or so, which was quickly bailed out.

As for the trip to the hard, the less said the better. Honestly, I made such a pig's ear of it that you would have thought that I was a complete novice. I think I managed to do everything wrong. The only reason we didn't end up aground on the lee shore is that there is a back eddy behind the shingle beach on the Mersea side of the narrows that took us parallel to the shore long enough for me to get myself and Naiad sorted out and sailing. It was so bad that Tina has said that she won't come with me again for any more haul outs and I don't blame her.

All that aside, we did get to the hard about an hour before High Water. This is quite a high HW, 5.1 predicted height, so the road was blocked when we got there. I was able to get Naiad on the trailer fairly easily and with the aid of a rope and some willing bystanders, we hauled Naiad out of the water and put her on the roadside in front of the club.

Yes, I know, we parked her double yellow lines, but, as you can see from the photo, the rest of the road is flooded.

With Naiad firmly on land we made short shrift of getting her ready to travel.

There was one issue and that is my waders leaked and when we had Naiad parked, I took them off as the leak was making me feel like I had wet myself. Uncomfortable. I was wearing convertible trousers, so I took the legs off and my wet socks and walked around in bare feet and shorts.

We had Naiad ready to go much earlier than we had expected. If we had left her on the hard we should only have begun the derigging process by the same time, so we were about two hours ahead of where we expected to be.

Now came the acid trailer test. A brief shake showed that Naiad is much less rocky on the trailer than she had been the last time she was on it and I only had to drive a few metres to notice the difference. The ride was much smoother than before, partly due to Naiad being about 10cm back on the trailer resulting in much less tongue weight on the towing hitch, but mainly due to her not rocking up and down like a rocking horse and causing the trailer to jerk on the tow as it did so.

I did notice that 60mph, the legal limit for towing on dual carriageways and motorways in the UK, was the limit for the tow. Any faster than this, even slightly, and the trailer started to weave indicating that the tongue weight was probably a little light.

Now Naiad is back on our hard standing for the Winter. I've put the mast up and the spars on as some of the work I want to do need these in position.

The brightwork and paint is remarkably undamaged by the wonderful Summer we had this year but the cockpit cover has faded in the sunlight.

I did expect the hull to be covered in weed but there was surprisingly little when you consider that she has been on the mooring for eight months and not touched in that time. I need to buy some o-rings for our pressure washer, but once those arrive I'll give her bottom a good clean.

Time for a cup of tea.