Had 8 lads on board for a competition today, the weather was bright and breezy. I picked the lads up from brightlingsea and we headed out. while I was picking the lads up the breeze freshened somewhat to what turned out to be a notch too much.  We steamed out of the colne and decided this was far enough. We got anchored on our first mark and planned to move at slack tide in the hope that the wind might ease. Our first mark proved largely unproductive with very little tide and just a micro whiting for willy. We had a move and awaited the tide and fish. I trickle of tide started to run through eventually but the wind was still very fresh and the sea state was becoming worse. After another hour or two with next to sod all I decided we were no longer fishing but instead the lads were merely surviving so we had a move. We only moved a short distance and it was the opposite direction to where I would have moved on these tides but it was a lot more comfortable. We fished the rest of the day out here, it was only a 6 hour match and with all of the moving around it was soon gone. The lads managed to sneak a few fish out in the end against the odds but it was too little too late and we finished up with just 4 roker and 3 whiting. Not a good day at the office for me and I really felt for the lads who couldn’t have tried any harder.highlight of the day for me was when a sparrow hawk chased a songbird out to sea and past us. the song bird dived on to our boat (i didnt see it but one of the lads did) then the sparrow hawk darted around the boat for a good while waiting for it. it soon cleared off when it was in turn chased by a couple of gulls.