We arrived in the Yealm River on Friday, 5th September, and now it was Friday 12th. There had been almost end to end gales since Sunday. We knew this would be the case as a week ago, as the forecast was bad, but we had accepted that we would get stuck somewhere. But now, a week later, the forecast was still bad! With no signs of much calmer weather for another week.
We could get out of the Yealm River overnight Saturday, and Tuesday looked a little calmer, but where would we go for the next gale was the question? So now the next escape was looking like Thursday, 17th.
As l said, today was Friday and was looking like a nice day for a walk. It was a windy but sunny day. Vicki and I went for showers in the morning, and l paid for another 3 nights’ moorings in the Yealm River. After we got back later, l spread the towels around the cockpit enclosure to dry. Then, I went for a walk to Wembury.
It was a lovely walk, but l didn’t go down into Wembury as l knew l had to climb back up the way l came to go back to the Yealm. So, walking back the way l came, l got some more photos
Once back, we settled down for another evening aboard, Vicki cooked dinner, and after we had eaten, we played Scrabble and opened a bottle of red. Later in the evening, the wind got up. It was knocking Elektra onto her side so much so that we had to hold on to our glass of wine and even hook back the cutlery draw to stop it sliding out! We went to bed during this and woke up to a more settled day.
We went food shopping and a pub lunch at the Dolphin Inn, now Saturday. We have now had a chance to try all the Yealm River pubs and YYC for food. If we go again, it will either be the Dolphin or the Swan, both had good food and reasonable prices. The Ship Inn is living on past repetition and is overpriced for not especially great food. We went to the Yealm YC last Saturday evening, a little bit of food on a big plate, and after 2 courses, we were both still hungry.
The dinghy run out from the Dolphin Inn to the HM office was wet with spay due to wind against tide. We were glad once we were into the sheltered waters of the main river. Once back aboard, we sat and slept in the cockpit until evening. Then, as the night came in, we opened a bottle of red and sat Vicki playing games on her table and me catching up on CA emails.
After a quiet night and a good night’s sleep, the forecast for Sunday was for the wind to pick up southeast/south and then southwest 25 gusting 40kts with heavy rain. The outlook for Monday was westerly 25 gusting 30kts with the rain to clear by late afternoon. So l walked up to the co-op while it was still dry to get some shopping before the rain set in! I just made it back before the heavy rain started. Once back, Vicki started cooking brunch, and after we had eaten, l did the washing up. It’s exciting this cruising life!
What followed that day can only be described as horrendous as the southerly wind dumped into the river and turned the calm moorings into something resembling rapids! We haven’t moored anywhere in such conditions before. Most of the time, Elektra was lying over at 20 degrees heal, and at one point, l was fending off the Westerly Storm 33 yacht on the next mooring as she came in to attack!
The forecast was for the wind to move into the west, but this didn’t seem to happen until just before dark. Our dinghy had spent quite a bit of time upside down with the engine on, but l couldn’t do anything about it in the conditions. It was just too unsafe to try to get into the dinghy, to save it!
The wind did finally move around to the west just before dark, and we had a quieter night, excluding the banging noise from the mooring buoy. We didn’t get out of the bunk until 0830hrs. The harbour master to see if we were OK and l paid for another night. I asked if he knew anyone who could strip down and clean out our outboard after it was upside down a few times yesterday. They gave me a name and number, but it was too short a notice,
So l decided to have a go myself, Vicki helped me get it into the cockpit. I wasn’t exactly quick, but l was, but I took my time and did it right. Even then, l wasn’t 100% sure my efforts would work. Eventually, l had put the motor back together, ready for trying. So l rowed the dinghy over to the shore and tipped the rainwater out, then back to Elektra, and Vicki helped me get the motor back into the dinghy. Safely clamped on the back, now came the moment of truth. I attached the kill cord, opened the fuel tap, and air vent. Then, l pulled the recoil 4 times, and it fired, l pulled once more, and the engine was running, l fiddled with the choke to keep it running until l was happy. Then l let go of Elektra and put in gear. There was a bit more fiddling to do with the choke as the dinghy moved forward, but the engine was running fine, so l gave it a blast for 200 yards and back, the engine was running fine. Back to Elektra and stopped the engine, picking up the rubbish, l then did a run over to the HM office to bin our rubbish, both trips the engine started and ran fine.
On Tuesday, we decided to leave the Yealm River before the next lot of strong southwest winds came in. The wind was due calm down to a southwest force 4 in the afternoon. So l did some shopping early, and Vicki cooked brunch, and then we washed up before going for showers.
Love Sailing 