Saturday 4th September
The plan had always been to go to the SSOA rally in Fowey for Saturday evening but we knew with big easterly swells and blowing force 4 gusting 5 it was going to be a bumpy ride.
We had agreed to leave at 0900hrs against the tide and the wind, hoping for a less bouncy passage. Picking up the anchor and heading out into St Mawes where we turned into wind to pull the mainsail up with one reef before turning back towards the entrance. I coiled the lines and setting half of the genoa as we turned south. It seemed plenty of sail as we headed out into the swells of Falmouth Bay.
Then followed an extremely uncomfortable push to windward, best heading over ground was 170 degrees, logging 5.5kts, this tack which we stuck to until east of Helford River Entrance when turned onto a starboard tack, visibly was barely 2nm. Healing hard and crashing though the swells, Elektra was handling it well. It was at this point Vicki asked did we really want to put up with this for another 6hrs? The answer was no! In hind sight it might have been better to reef the genoa more but we decided to turn back.
Now on a broad reach Elektra picked up speed, now logging over 7kts and times just under 8kts, one of the best sails in a long time!
Good sailing right into St Mawes moorings, where l started the engine and rolled in the genoa. It was nice to be in quieter waters. As Vicki turned into wind l let the main down and packed it away. Motoring in slowly as it was now low water, we dropped anchor in our favour part of the Precuil River after just an hour and half in which Elektra had logged 10nm. The fastest speed recorded by the GPS was 7.8kts!
Love Sailing 