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Hartlepool to Cromer
Eventually the wind picked up and during the night John and Alan reported a near miss. A small cargo vessel which seemed not to have seen us. By now the battery had run so low that it could not run the log so I put in an internal 9 V battery. The back-up battery had to be kept for navigation lights. We spent a day lazing in the sun north of Cromer then I went to bed. The new Lokata 7 radio direction finder with its internal batteries was a godsend as fog came down and we tacked back and forth. I woke around 0300 and joined Alan on watch as lookout. Taking regular bearings on the Cromer beacon and soundings I plotted a position 1 mile NE of Cromer.
As we closed the shore the lifeboat station loomed out of the fog. With this wind and forecast I decided to anchor off. As we anchored a crabber came up. He asked if we were in trouble and hearing our flat battery story, told us we were safe enough where we were and that as the lifeboat was exercising that evening they would bring our batteries out to us as part of their exercise. We swapped three 500ml cans of McEwans for three crabs.
We went ashore, bought provisions, phoned home and visited a pub. All the people we met were helpful and friendly. At 1700 we went ashore again, collected the batteries and delivered them to the lifeboat station. We went for a meal of fish and chips. I took the dinghy back to Sufiana while Arthur, Alan and John rode the lifeboat down the slip and out to sea – to warm up the motors. Then they came alongside and we prepared to go.
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