Love Sailing

I pulled up the anchor at 0830hrs and Vicki motored Elektra back down River towards the sea, while l cleaned the anchor which had pulled up a lot of weed. By the time l got back to the cockpit Elektra was south as far as the Bag Pontoon. I took over the helm until we were turning west out of Salcombe around Bolt Head. From Bolt Head we started to sail, slowly at first but Elektra picked up speed to 5-6kts as far as Bolt Tail then slower again. The wind died away to almost nothing and we started motoring at 1115hrs having logged 12.5nm. Motoring on l rolled away the genoa and lowered and packed the main. We were moored to the top Pontoon in the Yealm River at 1230 having logged 18.5nm.

We had arrived in Salcombe midday on Monday, in the afternoon we were both just happy to rest, l lowered the dinghy and fitted the engine.

On Tuesday we went to Salcombe Town over high water, first we needed a supermarket for shopping, with Vicki not able to walk far l motored the dinghy down the river, around Snapes Point onto Batson Creek and across the drying area towards the fishing boats pier and along the creek running west behind Island Street to the steps upto the road. From there it’s just a 30 yard level walk to the “Coop mini-market”. Shopping done and back to the dinghy which l then motored back down to the inside of Normandy Pontoon. We used the showers, did a little shopping in town and had a pub lunch. Before heading back to Elektra for a rest.

In the late afternoon l pumped up the paddle board which l had bought second hand, in the past (35years ago) l used to go windsurfing, l thought, how difficult can it be? Well l wasn’t expecting to stand up on my first try, so l motored the dinghy over to the shore shallows where l tried kneeling on the board! Well l discovered l have lost all sense of balance in the last 35years! It was fun trying but l expect l will be swimming most of the time! Back to the drawing board!

On Wednesday we decided a rest day was needed but it was a lovely sunny day and l was going for a walk. Dave Penn messaged me, they were in the Yealm River and it was raining, within an hour it was also raining in Salcombe. It cleared off around 1500hrs and l went for my walk.

On Thursday the plan was to visit Kingsbridge at the head of the Salcombe River, by dinghy, going up with the tide and returning later with the ebb tide. Going to Kingsbridge we needed to follow  the channel markets as this was about half tide and the surrounding area was dry, but we didn’t ground anywhere and attached our dinghy to the pontoon and then walked slowly into town. Looking in a few shops and Vicki bought a book from a bookshop. Then it was off to a pub for lunch. Followed by a slow walk back to the dinghy only stopping for an ice cream on route. Before making the rest of the way back to the dinghy. Then back down River again, all the other boats where still following the channel markers but l just cut the corner because it was now high tide.

Back at Elektra looking at the weather forecast, the choices were nice weather and little wind on Friday or rain and strong northeast win to blow us northwest on Saturday, we decided to leave on Friday.   With the discussion made, l took the recycling and rubbish down River to the visitor pontoon bins. Then returned and removed the outboard to Elektra’s pushpit and lifted the dinghy onto her davits. Next Vicki and I removed Elektra’s cockpit enclosure as it was now dry but will be wet with condensation in the morning. We then sat down below opened a bottle of red wine and played Scrabble.

The wind had died down overnight and the new forecast was west then southwest force 4. Our original plan had been to go to Dartmouth but a sailing friend had told me it was Dartmouth week, would be packed out, so we altered plans to Salcombe. The tide was with us us from 0800hrs but with the wind forecasted to go southwest we didn’t want to get on an ebbing tide.

I lifted the anchor at 0750hrs and Vicki motored Elektra out of Cawsands. Calm to start with but by halfway across Plymouth Sound the swell from the day before was still running. Again l took over the helm, l had set the genoa but there wasn’t much wind so we continued to motor sail towards Bolt Head about 12nm to the southeast. We continued like this all the way, turning into Salcombe at local high water having logged 18nm in 3hrs.

Plenty of yachts moving today in both directions around Start Point! l am sure some skippers don’t know about tidal streams and Plymouth is a half tide port, the stream continues to go east 3hrs after high water.

We motor sailed upto Salcombe Bar before rolling away the genoa, motored in and up the river to anchor off Frogmore Creek at 1200hrs having logged 21.5nm. Our fastest GPS speed was 8.7kts. The plan is to stay here for 4 nights to properly enjoy the place we have only been able to visit fleetingly over the past 19 seasons on about 5 occasions.

The tide was with us 0800-1400hrs and with the wind forecasted to increase from westerly force 4 to southwest force 5-6 by the end of the day we didn’t want to hang around so we cast off at 0700hrs. We motored Elektra out of Fowey and towards Udder way point setting all the genoa on route.  From Udder cardinal buoy (3.5nm from Fowey) we turned the engine off and sailed. Again Elektra was logging 5-6kts in moderate sea and about 8nm of visibility.

Going east with a strong west to southwest following wind the sea soon built up, the tiller pilot couldn’t cope so either Vicki or me had to be on the helm. Vicki didn’t like the sea either so l was doing most of it. Vicki commented that l seemed to cope better with it! Having sailed since l was 12, l can anticipate Elektra’s movements before she turns and have already moved her tiller to counter any broach before it happens, keeping her heading constant. Vicki was tired and had gone to sleep below at 1000hrs when l needed to do a log entry. So 5-10mins before l connected the tiller pilot and made sure it was copping with the conditions before l went down to the chart table to do the log entry. I had finished the entry and just about to go back to the cockpit when the tiller pilot lost control and Elektra broached. As quickly as l could, l made my way from the chart table up into the cockpit and disconnected the tiller pilot. It’s not far but with Elektra hard on her ear, it was difficult to keep balanced and banged my shin on the way. But very quickly, l took control of the helm and turned Elektra down when wind again, calming the situation, few!

It’s one thing l have noticed over the years since we started cruising, if the wind is really great for sailing (this was great sailing), there’s almost no other yachts about. Just after we left Fowey one other yacht followed us, she was possibly about 1nm behind us, she slowly caught Elektra up over 20nm, she was an old time classic yacht, probably with a long keel under full sail. Apart from her we didn’t see any other yachts until we got to Cawsands.

At Rame Head, l kept well south trying to keep out of the confused sea, with the waves coming in hitting the cliffs and rebounding out again. At Penlee Point, l would need to jibe, so before Elektra got there l woke Vicki and asked for help. Vicki made her way carefully up and out into the cockpit and took over the helm before turning Elektra to north while l pulled the genoa through onto the other tack. Just in the shelter of Penlee Point was a dive RIB which we gave good clearance before turning northwest into Cawsands. Elektra sailing into shelter, she soon lost the wind and l started her engine. Exactly 4hrs after casting off in Fowey we dropped anchor in Cawsands having logged 20nm. Our fastest  GPS speed was 7.7kts

I lowered the dinghy and attached the motor. We went into Cawsands for Sunday lunch, the day had cleared and the sun had come out so in the afternoon we enjoyed the weather in the cockpit. That evening we opened a bottle of red and played Scrabble, while listening to the radio.

This season has been a growing year and as such l haven’t been able to take more than one week away sailing at a time. I was determined to get two weeks away before the season comes to an end, at the end of October. So l decided to take the last week of August and the first of September.

The earliest we could get aboard was Saturday, the original plan was to sail to Cawsands on Sunday having stowed Elektra on Saturday but in the end we decided to leave Gillan for Fowey mid afternoon on Saturday. The forecast was west-northwest force 4 gusting 5 or 6. We needed to leave St Anthony beach before 1300hrs, we had so much stuff it was 2 dinghy loads and the tide was dropping quickly for the second one but l got out by rowing into deeper water. It took quite a while to stow everything and get ready to leave.

It was 1500hrs when we eventually cast off and  turned Elektra for Fowey, as Vicki motored Elektra out to Carcroc buoy, l got the genoa ready to set. I rolled out a 3rd of the sail and we set off across Falmouth Bay at around 5kts. The tidal stream would be against us until 1900hrs but there was plenty of wind to help us along. After crossing Falmouth Bay where l estimated the wind strength as force 6 (lots of white horses) l let a little more genoa unroll to the first reef. Elektra continued to romp along at 5-6kts. There where plenty of yachts heading west but only us going east. But a big catamaran caught up off the Dodman Point, she when past us as if we were standing still, looking at the ais she was doing 8-9kts with 2 reefs in the main and a scrap of foresail. In under the shelter of the Dodman tge wind eased a bit but on across St Austell Bay was just as strong. Once past Cannis Buoy in in the shelter of Gibbon Head  it seemed like we had slowed but Elektra was still doing 5-6kts right into Fowey harbour entrance. We started the engine and rolled away the genoa between the castle’s and motored her in and onto a swing mooring at 1930hr, having logged 23.5nm in 4.5hrs against the tide. The max speed showing on the GPS as 7.2kts.

The Sadler and Starlight Owners Association had arranged a rally over a few days. The plan had been to enjoy the first day of the firework competition in Plymouth on Wednesday, then sail to the Fal River via Fowey over 2 days for the second half of the rally on the Ruan Pontoon in the Fal River on Saturday.

These sort of plans quite often dont work as intended but the basic idear came together. The members in Plymouth had a great socal in Sutton Marina on Wednesday followed by enjoying the fireworks from Plymouth Hoe. The next day came strong southwesterly winds and everyone stayed in Plymouth, followed on Friday with almost no wind. The members who headed west for the Fal River had to motor all the passage. And we did the same across Falmouth Bay, we could of sailed in the Carrick Roads but by that time I had packed the sails away, so we just continued to motor north. On the pontoon were already 2x S34s, SL39, 2x SL35s, Moody, our S29 and later arrived another SL39 and S32, in the early hours of the following morning arrived Peter in his S26 from Scilly. The evening followed with drinks and Chris had made chilli for everyone including vegetarian chilli. Then when we had drunk enough, Mike and Miles got their guitars 🎸 out and singing!

The following day Chris had arranged one of his notorious walks! Everyone else went but Vicki and I stayed on the pontoon, l had some maintenance to do and Vicki isn’t able to walk very far. It seems that everyone made it to the pub for lunch but half of them came back on the bus

Then that evening followed with more drinks, chatting, food was cheese, ham, dips etc. Just as it was getting dark it tipped down with rain and we made a hasty retreat to our yachts.

In the morning each of the crews left as and when they were ready to do so. 2 had already left before we got out, l believe Peter sailed his S26 from Fal River all the way back to the River Exe, about 100nm in one hit before the next blow. Chris and Julia sailed for Plymouth because Chris had work on Monday. We left about midday and sailed back to Gillan on Elektra’s genoa. Once back we had a few jobs which needed doing before getting back ashore at 1700hrs.

On Wednesday 14th, I had planned to do some boat jobs and clean the stainless steel work. The tide was in all day so no real hurry to go to St Anthony. I loaded the pick-up with diesel in cans and a gas bottle and drove down about 1000hrs. Parked in the best parking spot, launched the dinghy and transfered the diesel and gas to the dinghy and pushed off, starting the engine and motoring out to Elektra. I lifted the fuel and gas aboard and climbed up myself. It was lovely weather and there were lots of other boat users coming and going, it was nice to be on the water again. Having opened the cabin the first thing to do was top up the diesel, I had already filltered the fuel back in the workshop, so just needed to remove the cap and put funnel in to then pour the fuel in from the cans. Easy enough you would think but motor boaters seem to forget that they cause wash (my pet hate!) And don’t look behind themselves as they motor into moorings causing havoc! Next the gas bottle we stow in the anchor locker because it is self draining, but because sea water gets splashed around the foredeck to clean after anchoring, Vicki made a canvus bag to keep the bottle dry, stop the rust.

After that was done, I looked at the instuctions on the can for cleaning the stainless. sitting there in the cockpit looking at the sailing boats it being “Falmouth Week” and thinking it would be nice to go sailing! Then I thought, why not? I can clean the yacht when it’s too windy to go out!

So, I set about getting ready to leave, got the cockpit custions out and the tiller pilot ready. The forecast said NW4-5 becoming W4, I filled out a log sheet ready, uncovered the mainsail, attached the dinghy painter to the mooring, fitted the bridge deck chart plotter, lifejacket on, jobs done, I was ready to let go. Standing on the bow I let a motorboat get into the moorings before I did so Elektra didn’t swing into her path with the wind blowing her east. By the time I got back to the cockpit Elektra had swung around about 120 degrees and was heading for sea on her own. I pulled out about a 3rd of the genoa to help her along and getting east to Carcroc Cardinal Buoy I gybed her around and let out all her genoa. Then heading north-northeast across Falmouth Bay towards Falmouth, Elektra sped up quickly to 5.5-6.1kts, it was great to be out sailing! The genoa alone as normal was plenty of sail for the amount of wind and too much sail for the tiller pilot to handle as Elektra started to round up. So I took over the helm to keep her on track and driving forward, I turned her about just before Black Rock and headed back in the oposit direction with a bigger yacht slightly in front on mailsail only, Elektra soon caught her up. Then a ship coming into Falmouth Bay with pilot escort boat crossed out track and so I altered to pass behind the ship. By the time we started crossing Helford River again the other yacht was quite a bit behind. Nearing Gillan I thought, I like the this and turned Elektra towards Falmouth again! Sailing halfway back to Falmouth for the 2nd time almost up the ship stern which had just anchored, just in time I noticed the bunkering tanker coming in from her aft to refuel the ship, to avoid any problems for her captain, I put Elektra about and headed in the oposit direction and away from the ship. From there I sailed Elektra back to Gillan, picking back up her mooring 2hrs after dropping having logged 11nm.

With more time for sailing we had planned to sail to Salcombe on Friday 9th August but as l watched the forecast the  weather looked poor for returning to the Falmouth area at the end of the week. There was also a SSOA rally planned for Wednesday evening in Sutton Marina followed with a sail to Fowey on Thursday and a sail to the Fal River on Friday which we were going to join in with some of it. But not Sutton Marina as back in 2018 they charged us £45 for one night!

By the weekend we had decided to stay local and join the rally on the Fal River Friday evening and Saturday, if the members managed to beat their way west to Falmouth. On Friday we sailed across Falmouth Bay, in past St Mawes and anchored at Place, just 5.5nm from Gillan for the strong southwest winds forecasted for Saturday. Here Elektra will dry out and l planned to scrub her bottom on Saturday.  Later in the day l had a phone call from my doctor about my leg pain. The doctor explained the problem with my back causing nerve damage in my leg and the best they could do for now was to manage the pain. The doctor booked me an appointment to see the physio.

With the tide high in the morning, l got down the ladder in the afternoon to scrub Elektra’s bottom. The antifouling hadn’t done a very good job this season for some reason, normally one scrub off is enough but this was the second time. I hadn’t picked a very good spot, the ground was soft and it was quite a workout just walking around Elektra let alone scrubbing. By the time l was finished my leg was causing me a lot of pain and l was glad of the rest and the chance of taking pain killers.

We were sitting down below in the early evening and there was a bonk on Elektra, l looked out and found it was our friend Gary Hoyle who we first met back in 2009 after our first passage to Scilly. Gary had married an islander and lived there, worked the forklift on the dock. At the time Gary had just bought his Hurley 22 which was what we sailed at the time. We have met up a quite a few times over the years since and Gary had moved to the mainland  about 5 years ago, now lived near Falmouth. Gary having sailed lots of different yachts over the years had returned to Hurley ownership having bought a motor boat built by Hurley. After a fairly long chat with Gary he left us and we had dinner.

The next morning it was thick fog, the forecast said strong east winds so we decided to move a mile up river to better shelter. Gary had already moved so after dropping anchor l rowed over to take a closer look. Back to Elektra for cooked breakfast and then washed-up. The fog lingering until after midday but the sun burnt though eventually to a hot sunny afternoon which was lovely.

The nice afternoon going into a nice eveing, we had cold cuts for dinner and moved into the cabin to play scrabble.

The next day we planned to sail back to Gillan as wet and windy weather was forecasted for Tuesday and I worked out we needed to leave by 1200hrs, it was a little after that when we were ready and I pulled up the anchor at 1220hrs and Vicki motored Elektra back down the Precuil River to St Mawes were I set just the genoa to cross Falmouth Bay. We picked up Elektra’s swing mooring in Gillan at 1350hrs having logged 6.5nm. With the tide dropping away fast, we only had an hour to get into St Anthony before there wouldnt be enough water for the outboard, so we worked fast and just made it in time.

On Thursday we were sailing back to Gillan before the forecast of strong southwest winds on Friday. The tidal stream wouldn’t be with us until 1230hrs, so again there wasn’t any need to rush away.

I pulled up the Rocna anchor at 1145hrs, it was well dug in and difficult to break out, it takes a while to trust a new anchor but l do trust this new anchor now! Vicki motored Elektra out and around the back of the Mount, l set GPS for the Lizard Point, l unrolled the genoa and we set off at 1155hrs towards the Lizard 12nm to the southeast, the wind was northwest so it was a dead run Elektra’s genoa over the next 3.5hrs. This sort of sailing almost feels like almost standing still but the miles go by and by, Vicki was on the helm for about 1.5hrs before I set up the tiller pilot.

We rounded the Lizard Point around 1530hrs very close in to the rocks in almost completely flat sea, we hadn’t ever seen the Lizard Point as calm but neep tides and both wind and tide stream going east, (this now our 18th passage around the Lizard over the last 16 years). After Bass Point, I pulled up the main with one reef and we speeded up to 5.5kts, now on a broad reach Vicki took the helm again and we enjoyed the sailing passed Black Head and on to Manacle Buoy. A group of yachts were just coming up to the Lizard Point from the west just after we rounded the Lizard, two of them passed us off Black Head under spinnakers. The wind shifted a little more to the north and we were almost hard to the wind between Black Head and Manacle Buoy. The two yachts under spinnakers, turned east and lowered their head sails and only just pass Manacle buoy ahead of us.

After Manacle buoy at 1725hrs I knew it was going to be a head wind and so I started Elektra’s engine and motored towards the Nare Point, rolled away her genoa and set the tiller pilot going again. We picked up the mooring in Gillan at 1815hrs having logged 28.5nm. Then we worked hard packing up to get away off Elektra before the tide dropped away too much to get the dinghy into St Anthony and home for a shower.

It was lovely hot and sunny and we were enjoying it. We stopped for 3 nights and 2 days at the Mount. A steady north force 4 blew through the first night-day and night again. We had anchored at about mid tide on Monday with 3m under the keel but with the gentle slopping beach we were about 1/8 of a mile from high water mark. Even with the wind blowing from the land there wasn’t any shelter but our new anchor held well in the hard sand.

On Tuesday Vicki and l when via our punt to St Michael’s Mount for my 1st visit, now 64, better late than never 😉. We only live 30 miles away by road. It was high water so we motored into the harbour and over to the ramp where l pulled the dinghy out above the tide mark. Vicki stayed down around the harbour and gift shops and l went to visit the castle. Coming by our own transport we must have missed the payment office and l got partway towards the castle before having to go back to pay at the islands office. With my token l set off up towards the castle again. It said on the ticket it was going to be a uneven path and they weren’t joking! Like a old cobbled road with lots of potholes! OK for anyone used to walking on coastal footpaths.

The castle was interesting and l could have spent a very long time looking around but l was concerned about Vicki waiting for me to return, so l had a quick look around and took some photos before heading back to the harbour.

I met up with Vicki back at the harbour and she was ready for a sit down so we headed back to Elektra. A sailing friend Tony sent me this photo of me in the dinghy before l got back aboard, he so happened to be at St Michael’s Mount on the same day but we didn’t meet.

In the evening Vicki went for a evening meal in Marazion, after lovely food on the way back to Elektra l took this photo

On Wednesday we just enjoyed the weather, scenery only going ashore for lunch at a cafe in Marazion. Then followed more laying in the cockpit sunshine 🌞