Friday 3rd May
Now with time to go sailing again the plan was to sail to Gorran Haven and the following day to Polkerris in St Austell Bay.
We were on Elektra stowing the gear and stores ready for the passage when Dave and Sue arrived and said they were also heading our way for the weekend. There would be no way to keep up with Dave’s Hunter 31 (more modern, longer waterline) and Dave got away about 5mins before us anyway.
The forecast was northwest 3-4 so we left with full sail and Elektra was quickly logging 5kts SOG, this being our first sail of the season, we were loving it. The wind picked up a bit and with it our speed, between 6-7kts. Around Gull Rock I decided it was time to put a reef in the main and genoa, this never slowed us any and the wind continued to pick up, looking towards the land there were white horses everywhere, nearing the point I pull the main down. Just the genoa now and still logging 6.5kts, we had covered the 15nm to the Dodman Point in 2.25hrs, we sailed close into the Dodman and motored the last bit into Gorran Haven and dropped anchor.
Nice and sheltered here, I quickly got the pump out to blow up the roll-up dinghy, all done and engine on the back we headed into the shore for Fish&Chips, Vicki and I think these to be the best we have found anywhere on the south coast of Devon and Cornwall. Everything here is cooked to order so we had a little wait for our order, which we took and ate looking out at Elektra sitting at anchor in the sunshine.
The forecast was for the wind to go northeast overnight which would not be any good in Gorran Haven so once back aboard we lifted anchor before dark and motored the 4nm to Polgwyn Cove for a sheltered night. We tucked Elektra will in because of the forecast and anchored with about 1m under the keel at low water.
We had run the cabin heater on the way to the cove as the evening are still cold, so once finished the jobs on deck we retired to the warm cabin and opened a bottle of red.
The next week I saw and talked to Dave, without reefing they covered the 23nm from Gillan to Fowey in 3.25hrs, his fastest passage, he said I would have reefed before leaving if he knew it would be like that!
Love Sailing 