I came home on Monday evening and said to Vicki “we could have another holiday” Vicki said “what do you mean” I said “there hasn’t been any rain since our holiday and the grass has slowed right up” “I can go from Wednesday 13th July” Vicki said “I have work to do on Wednesday” I said “thats OK, I do some maintanance on the equipment and we can go Thursday, I don’t need to be back to work until Wednesday next week”
So it was decided another holiday or was it along weekend? The forecast was saying Northerly force4 for Thursday, with strong easterly for the weekend. I first suggested sailing down around the Lizard Point and exploring west of the Lizard but as the week went by there seemed that the east wind wasn’t going to give up and we may get stuck the other side of the Lizard Point. In the end I suggested sailing NE to the Dodman and north across Mevagissey Bay to Polgwyn Cove which we like and anchor for night, Then next day as the wind vears around to the east go to Polkerris to anchor and the pub for an evening meal.
The tide stream wasn’t going our way until evening and with things to do in the morning couldn’t get aboard that early, it was 1600hrs when we cast off. The wind was stronger than the forecast, northerly force5 gusting 6, we were hard on the wind going in a NE direction, I had pulled 2 reefs into the main and only half of the genoa was out,we were still logging 5-6kts SOG. One disadvantage of twin keeler is the slamming which comes when hard on the wind in a swell, OK for a little while but it dose become annoying in time. We had this all the way across Falmouth Bay but once in the shelter of The Roseland the swell eased and with it the slamming. It was nice to see another yacht leaving out of Falmouth and coming our way, there didn’t seem to be any other sails around. Leaving the shelter of The Roseland across Gerrans Bay the slamming began again! I kept looking over to see how the other yacht was doing, we seemed to be going about the same sort of speed and I wasn’t enjoying it! Then the next time I looked the other yacht had turned around, we were just up to Gull Rock by this time. This was enough for me to suggest turning around also and heading for the shelter of the Precuil River, Vicki quickly agreed and we went about. Now going back into tide but on a broad reach the slamming had gone and Elektra showed no sign of slowing, if fact she was going faster 6.5-7kts. Once off the south of St Anthony Head calm arrived, I quickly went on deck and pulled the main down, started the engine and rolled the genoa, before motoring north into the wind to St Mawes and into the Precuil River. Dropping anchor just 3hrs had passed since leaving Gillan, somehow it seemed a lot longer, we had covered 15nm.
Friday and Saturday we rested, enjoying the hot sunny weather, the wind was from the east and the Precuil River is very sheltered from east wind.
On Sunday we decided to go sailing again. We dont normally just go sailing to go sailing, we are normally on passage to another place. But with all this hot and sunny weather there was still wind. After motoring out of the river I set just the genoa and we set off south across Falmouth Bay towards the Manacles logging 4-5kts, hot even out at sea, it was lovely sailing again. At Manacle Buoy we turned and headed north again, slower in this direction we got back to St Anthony lighthouse about 2hrs after leaving. So we continued north up the Carrick Roads via the channel because it was spring tides and near LW. We arrived up at Turnaware Point bang on LW. I could beleve what I was seeing! A motorboat coming down river went the wrong side of Turnaware Bar Buoy and hit the bottom at the same time a big RIB going north went straight onto the bar without slowing down! At Turnaware and in Channels Creek was just full of yachts and boats, I hadn’t seen the river that busy since we started cruising in 2006-07. I didn’t like the idea of anchoring there so we turned around and motored back down the channel to charge the batteries having sailed and logged 14nm in 3hrs. We motored back into the Precuil River and anchored with only 4 other yachts after 4hrs and 20nm for the day.
We had a problem furing the genoa at Turnaware, on Monday I tried to sort it out without any luck, was thinking maybe a new gear would be the answer. This got me thinking about new sails and with time on my hands got some prices. In talking to the sailmaker who seemed to think the type of gear should be still OK now even from 2003 when it was new.
On Tuesday after thundery rain we headed out of the river and back to Gillan, just motored back across the bay and up onto Carne Creek mooring because of a forecast for strong East wind on Friday. There we had brunch and washed up, getting off Elektra just before the water had gone. Back to the beach and home by midday.
Love Sailing 