We knew the season was coming to an end, with the weather still dry and warm, we planned a few days aboard. We needed to be home on Thursday to play euchre, so it would be Friday to Tuesday. The forecast said there was no wind on Friday and then easterly wind picking up over the weekend, with a slight lull midweek. And then going southwest wet and windy over the following weekend.
We needed to get back home on Tuesday as the Rayburn, was due for a service on Wednesday. And anyway, we would have to unload some gear midweek by dinghy as the east wind wouldn’t let us beach Elektra at St Anthony.
With no wind forecast on Friday, there didn’t seem any point in unwrapping the mainsail, so when we dropped the mooring we just motored across Falmouth Bay to St Mawes and up the Precuil River and dropped anchor in our favourite place. After our normal jobs, l put up the cockpit enclosure for extra insulation. And then went to sleep in the cockpit, l seem to be able to sleep very well when aboard. We opened a bottle of red in the evening, and l spent the evening answering CA emails and dealing with CA stuff while Vicki was reading her book.
We had a little problem around dusk, Elektra had been with the marine electrician last week, and new cables had been run in the mast for the tricolour, anchor light, steaming and deck light. When l switched the anchor light on, it wasn’t working, but with a bit of fiddling with the switches, it did come on. But l had to go out in the dinghy to check, and the first time l came back to Elektra, l didn’t tie on, and the dinghy drifted off. I did the same thing in April, and that time l went swimming, l wasn’t doing that again! So we had to up anchor and go and collect the dinghy before dropping anchor for the second time.
Anyway, having started the engine to recover the dinghy, l also started the cabin heater, so by the time l got back into the cabin, it was nice and warm.
On Saturday, we were off down river to St Mawes for a pub lunch. So l lowered the outboard from the pushpit to the dinghy. I also needed to go over to the shore and pump up the inflatable floor on solid ground. It was only on the shore that l found the sort floor was because the valve was faulty and letting the air out, l could and did pump it up tight 2-3 times but the valve just let the air out again. So l deflated the centre rib and the floor completely,and it became like a slated floor dinghy, another job for the winter!
When we were ready, we locked up and took the dinghy wheels with us to St Mawes. When we got there, the water was just lapping the bottom of the steps, not deep enough for the outboard but too deep to paddle. So l held the dinghy in so Vicki could get ashore and then got out myself. Vicki had forgotten her stick, so once at the top of the steps, she held onto my arm as we walked to the pub. After a nice lunch in the “Rising Sun” we walked to the co-op for a few things. Then it was time to return to Elektra, and once back, l promptly fell asleep for 2 hours. In the evening, we played Scrabble and opened a bottle of red.
On Sunday, l was going for a walk but just lazed around all day instead did a bit of blogging and had a row over to Paul, another yacht anchored in the anchorage. I had seen him a few times around before last winter. And thought l would say hello. Paul was very chatty and told me he had sailed north up the east coast of England quite away before turning around and heading back to Cornwall. His last port had been Salcombe, where he hadn’t stayed long because the harbour master wanted £35 per night to anchor!
After a great night’s sleep, on Monday, l got out and went for a long walk. When l arrived back, Vicki cooked brunch, and we then did the washing up. Though the rest of the day, we started to get Elektra ready to leave Tuesday morning by removing the cockpit enclosure and lifting the outboard from the dinghy onto the pushpit. The dinghy was going to have to be towed because of the problem with the valve. In the winter, l would be making a plywood floor instead, which would solve another problem at the same time. So l attached another painter for additional security. For some reason, the mobile signal that l had ever since arrival in the Precuil River on Friday was none existent on Monday and Tuesday, so we would be leaving Tuesday with a forecast from Sunday of easterly force 4 gusting 5.
We needed to get back home on Tuesday because the kitchen oil fired Rayburn was due a service on Wednesday and needed to be turned off. With the forecast for the wind to stay easterly, we wouldn’t be using Elektra’s seasonal mooring in Gillan Harbour as it’s open to the full force of the English Channel from the east. We have a gale proof mooring set up in Carne Creek above the narrows, which we need over 4m of depth to get into. With high water at 1134hrs and a height of 4.4m, the earliest we could go through the narrows was 1000hrs. I pulled up Elektra’s anchor at 0900hrs and Vicki motored down river and out past St Mawes, I set just her genoa because the forecast said easterly force 4 gusting 5, but in the entrance to the Carrick Roads the wind instirment was only showing, force 2-3. And so we started motoring again, once we got out of the shelter of the Roseland the wind picked up to force 4 and we stopped her engine, and Elektra was making 4.5kts in a fairly lumpy sea. As we got further away from land the the wind picked up to force 5 and Elektra was logging over 5kts. Falmouth Bay was crossed quite quickly and aproching Carcroc Cardinnal Buoy, it was beginning to look like we would need to jibe, so I decided to roll the genoa and start Elektra’s engine for the entrance of Gillan Harbour.
It wasn’t too bad inside Gillan Harbour, once in the shelter of Dennis Head, from there I motored Elektra slowly towards the narrows and Carne Creek, the time was now 1030hrs, I went up on the bow with the boat hook. But when Vicki turned Elektra out of the channel towards the mooring, Elektra went aground before we reach the mooring. With the pressure being hight 1023, the tide wasn’t as high as perdicted. A case of wait until we float before moving closer and going aground again, 3rd time lucky. We did moor up but Elektra was still scrapping across the bottom at high water, which was meant to be 0.3m higher than the tide was.
Vicki packed up what she had bags to carry, while I got Elektra ready to leave and around 1130hrs I loaded up the first load in the dinghy we got off Elektra and headed for St Anthony beach and loaded the pick-up and headed for home.
Love Sailing 