Love Sailing

Sunday 1st July

There was no rush to get home and we stayed on the pontoon chatting to owners before thinking of leaving at low water but by that time a huge mat of floating weed was up against our stern and I needed to get rid of it before I started the engine, with the help of Phil Kirby and by slackening the mooring lines and a boat hook each we were able pull the weed down between Elektra and the pontoon so it floated away with the tide.

After the weed was gone I thought it was a good idea to get away before more came back so I got ready the slips and a spring before starting the engine. No need for the slips and spring because the others helped us away and we slowly motored down the river coiling the lines and bring aboard the fenders.

The forecast was easterly F2-3, on reaching Turnaware I pulled the main up which still had a reef in it from coming back from Scilly. Now 1.5hrs after low water I decided to chance sailing across the shallow areas of the Carrick Roads so turned onto sailing track pulled out the genoa and stopped engine. The wind was southerly 4 and we were soon logging 5kts with only 3ft under the keel! As the wind eased I shook the reef out of the main. It was good sailing tacking south to Mylor but the wind died away before we got to Pendennis Point. So we motored from Governor Buoy to Gillan

Back on our mooring we packed up and got Elektra ready to leave until the next time I could find the time to go sailing.

Saturday 30th June

The next morning we had to go into St Mawes for food and showers, so I pumped up the dinghy and when we were ready we went ashore. While ashore Vicki bought us breakfast, the day was already turning into another hot one.

Back aboard the plan was to head from St Mawes to the first Truro River pontoon for a SSOA Bar-B-Q which Kevin Mitchell had arranged for that evening. I also wanted to get up the mast to save the tricolour/anchor light hanging off the mast head in the calmer waters.

We had a great sail up to Turnaware Point on just the genoa in the strong east wind, easy to roll away we motored from there to the pontoon. It was great meeting up with old sailing friends and a few new ones, I got slowly ready to climb the mast in between chatting, then the others were distracted by a boat load of girls on a hen do jumping into the water!

My first try to climb the mast I found the safety line was the wrong side of the lazy jacks so I had to come down again, 2nd time was better but I had to come down again to sort out the tools I needed. 3rd time up the mast I was able to remove most of the lamp but it I was not going to be able to re-fix it myself as I needed three hands, looks like a job for the riggers! I had to climb the mast again to duck tape the base of the lamp to the masthead, having done that I was back on the deck I was able to pack up the kit and tidy the ship before we could get ready for the Bar-B-Q.

There were 4x S26s 2x S29s and a S34 plus some other friends of Kevin who don’t own Sadler yachts, I think a good evening was had by all who came.

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Friday 29th June

I had been watching the weather forecasts all week for the day to get back to the mainland, it hadn’t been looking good, it seemed the east wind was in for another week, Thursday or Friday looked possible but we would be motoring into the wind and tide! Then the wind was set to blow up again with a low coming up from Biscay, more east wind! We decided on Friday, I hoped to be able to sail NE into the south going tide but best laid plans and all that!

At 0710hrs we picked up the anchor and motored out of Green Bay and south down New Grimsby Sound over the shallows, south of the Pots and Crow Rock and out passed Hats, we kept motoring until we were east of the Eastern Isles the set sail with a reef in the main and all the genoa, it was a NE3-4, on the port tack the line was good but the tide was pushing us south, on a starboard are heading was slightly west of north, it soon became clear we would have to motor west instead! I soon got the tiller pilot out for its first use this season and it did its job well all the way to the Lizard Pt.

On the bright side in the NE 3-4 we were motor-sailing west with good help from the mainsail until we got to Wolf Rock and the wind turned due east, motoring into it the sea was mod/rough, after Wolf Rock the tide and the wind was against and our SOG slowed to 3kts.

I had planned to round the Lizard Point around slack water at 1630hrs but with our slowed progress it looked like we would round the Lizard at 1800hrs. About 2hrs before getting to the Lizard I saw a ship heading bow on to us, I kept my line and we passed starboard to starboard just like passing another yacht on passage.

On rounding the Lizard Point at 1740hrs I found my way point was not south enough and so we went though the over-falls, not good! Very steep 5-6ft seas breaking white (this was my 10th time around the Lizard and never seen before). I looked for an escape route and found some calmer seas, after our escape I looked up to see our tricolour/anchor light hanging by its wire down the side of the mast! Nothing could be done about it now and we turned NE and setting sail with reefed main and reefed genoa for Manacle waypoint. Now we were sailing at 6-7kts, it was great to be sailing and it was good until Manacle Buoy at 1930hrs when the wind died away and we had to start the engine again.

We motored to St Mawes and anchored at 2115hrs having logged 63.5nm in 14hrs

Monday 25th June

With the forecast of strong east wing from early tomorrow, we decided we would move around to Green Bay on the evening high water.

In the morning at around low water we used the dinghy to get from St Martin’s to St Mary’s for shopping 3nm each way, mainly food but my in car phone charger had stopped working, I needed a new one and was very pleased to find one in town, we would have stopped for a pub lunch but having already waited 1/2hr for the pub to open were going to have to wait another hour for food so decided to go back to Elektra at St Martin’s where we had lunch.

Soon after floating we motored out and north up Tean Sound and set the genoa to sail north of Tean west between St Helen’s and Round Island and north of Men-a-vaul to our waypoint off Kettle, north of Tresco and into New Grimsby Sound, we sail write up to the moored yachts before starting the engine. Motoring though the moorings to the entrance to Green Bay between Merrick Island and Half Tide Bar.

Finding a good open spot before dropping anchor in Green Bay, after another quite night. Next day we set off in the dinghy for lunch at the New Inn on Tresco and the following day I got out early and scrubbed Elektra’s bottom before having a lazy day in the cockpit

We were out again for lunch at the Hell Bay Hotel, Bryher on Thursday. We stayed in Green Bay though the strong east winds (Tue-Wed) until deciding to leave Scilly on Friday morning before the next forecasted blow over the weekend.

Here you can see our Bruce anchor which dug it’s own way in during the F6 easterly winds on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Sunday 24th June

After another lazy start to the day, I got out and rowed ashore to take some photos in the morning sunshine, this was the start of another fantastic day. On arriving back aboard Vicki had cooked a full English breakfast for us both to enjoy.

After washing up we got Elektra ready to leave Porth Conger, the days forecast was looking very settled and we had decided to go to St Martin’s. We lifted the anchor at 1310hrs and motored out and headed up St Mary’s Road for Cow Bar before turning north over the shallow ground in the direction of Tean Sound. We were going to use an anchorage we hadn’t used before, on the chart called “The Neck of the Pool”. We motored in slowly looking for a sandy bottom with out any weed, nearly up to the local mornings we dropped anchor at 1410hrs, here Elektra would dry out 2.5hrs either side of low water. When happy she was holding ok we settled down to enjoy the rest of the day.

This rest of the day turn out to be the hottest and best of the holiday, one of those days everything is to much effort, later in the afternoon Vicki and I used the dinghy to survey the area of the anchorage for other good spots to anchor. In the evening just before dark I climbed down the ladder and took some photos of the anchorage at low water.

Saturday 23rd June

We slept in late in the morning, I got out about 0900hrs and made coffee before rowing ashore the to text our shore contact and confirm we were safely at anchor in The Cove and to say we were staying for a week in the islands and would contact them again later in the week with plans for getting back to the mainland.

After a light breakfast we lifted anchor and motored the 2.5nm around to Porth Conger where it we less swell rolling in. On entering the anchorage we saw our  sailing friend Aden who had zipped across in his rib from Green Bay for a pint in the “Turks Head” Here Elektra would touch bottom at low water, after anchoring and checking she was holding ok, Vicki helped me with lowering the outboard onto the dinghy and we went ashore for a pub lunch and a pint with Aden. He said this was the best day he had seen since he had arrived in Scilly at the beginning of May.

After a long lazy lunch a few pints and a chat with Aden we parted company saying we would see him later in the week at Green Bay.

Back aboard “Elektra” we enjoyed the afternoon, evening sunshine and then with the day coming to an end were treated to best sunset I have ever seen.

The alarm went off at 0330hrs and I climbed out of the bunk, dressed and put on my waterproofs, Vicki said do you think you will need them? I said I expect the decks will be all wet with due and it might be cold at this time! Out in the cockpit, the Durgan anchorage was calm as we got ready to leave, we picked up our anchor and motored out of the Helford River at 0355hrs, I sent a text to our shore contact with our plans and eta of 1600hrs and we headed for the Nare Point which we passed and headed Manacle buoy which we passed at 0448hrs, from here we set the genoa and stopped the engine, sailing down wind at 5kts. We had a forecast of NE-N4 which is excellent for out passage south down the side of the Lizard to Lizard point and west to Scilly.

At 0630hrs we reached our waypoint off the Lizard Point having logged 15nm, now we turned for Scilly 44nm away. Vicki went down below to make a coffee, she poked her head up and said I think the gas has run out! Vicki came up again and took the helm while I went up on deck to the anchor locker (Elektra was logging 9kts SOG at the time) to get the spare gas can, back in the cockpit now to change the gas over, not the best place off the Lizard Point! Gas changed, I took the helm again and Vicki went back to make the coffee.

We soon decided more sail was needed and up went the mainsail with one reef and off we sped at 6-7kts, all was good until we got as far as Wolf Rock at 1035hrs, from there the sea became rough for crossing the entrance to shipping lanes, we were sailing and keeping up with a Southerly 45-50 footer with a ship south of us lining its self up for the north bound lane. I felt he waited for us to cross because his bow wave didn’t show until after we had crossed his line.

Soon after passing the ship we reefed the genoa as will, watching another ship coming down the south bound lane but this one turned sharp to port after exiting the lane passing north of us in the opposite direction.

The islands came into view from around 8nm away at 1300hrs, shortly before entering The Cove, St Agnes, I sent a text to our shore contact to say we had arrived as I know there isn’t any mobile signal in The Cove. We dropped anchor at 1430hrs having covered the 60nm in 10.5hrs, our best ever passage time to Scilly. After checking we were holding we both climbed into the bunk and fell fast asleep for a few hours.

When we awoke Vicki started to cook dinner and I pumped up the roll-up dinghy ready for getting ashore in the morning. It was early to bed that evening.

After a hard week at work I arrived home at about 1700hrs, I needed to do some bookwork, shower, load truck and have dinner before driving down to the beach. The earliest we could get out to “Elektra” was 2100hrs due to the tide, we could see her  bounding up and down in the northeast wind.

Out in the punt to “Elektra”, Vicki climbed aboard and I passed aboard the stores for a week away. Next thing was the punt engine, not an easy thing to do with the swell which was running into Gillan but taking our time we managed to do ok. Now for stowing the stores, bounding up and down on the mooring we knew we would have to move to get a nights sleep.

Once the stores were stowed and our punt was attached to the mooring, we dropped and motored out of Gillan and headed for a sheltered anchorage, it was now dark, we motored into the Helford River and anchored off Durgan for a quite night. At 2300hrs we turned in ready for the 0400hrs get away next morning.

 

15-17th June

We are planning our summer cruise, with jobs building up we decided to spend the windy weekend doing them ready for our get away.

On the Friday evening after work we loaded up the punt and headed out to Elektra, once loaded and stowed we motored her in to Flushing Cove and anchored off the beach ready for doing some of the jobs on Saturday, once anchored we settled down for the evening and had a game of Scrabble with a bottle of red.

In the morning after “Full English” I got Elektra ready for me to climb the mast, I had seen a week or so ago the tri-colour was on back to front, I needed to get up there and put it right. We have a mast ladder which slides up the mainsail grove, I had also bought a new harness for a safety line. On my 1st attempt I got up as far as the spreaders before I noticed the safety line was the wrong side of the lazy jacks so came down again, 2nd time I was to the spreaders again when my sailing friend David asked me to save his dinghy which had blown away from the beach, so down again and into my dinghy to chase down his punt. Saved and bought back to the beach, David told me he and his wife Sue were going off for a few days, Fowey, Plymouth.

3rd time lucky, I got to the top of the mast and turned the tri-colour the right way round, wile I was up there I un-twisted the spinnaker halyard and on the way down cleaned the radar reflector and the under side of the spreaders. Only when I was down again could I see that the halyards still were not right. I decided I would go back up again and change the spinnaker and genoa halyards over. This done and back on the deck now I could clear up and put away the gear but first because Elektra was now dried out I needed to check out the stern gear after our problem with the rope last week. All good there was a small offcut of rope jammed in the rope cutter but apart from that all was ok. Back to clearing the decks and coiling the lines, once done I checked out the engine and topped up the oil.

We had topped up the water tank the weekend before. The fuel tank was low but I had bought 20lts of diesel out with us in cans but having poured them in the tank was still not full. We decided to stay aboard another night and I would go and get some more fuel in the morning. Vicki went for a sleep and I checked all the lights were working before sitting down for a rest.

On Sunday morning after coffee I set off in the rain to buy more diesel, not that far to go but it still took nearly two hours before I was back with another 30lts having picked up my water filter funnel from home on the way, I thought it would be handy for filling the tank since it was raining. Back aboard for another “Full English” before topping up the tank and motoring out to our mooring, next we needed to wash-up but we mist the tide for getting ashore so we stayed aboard and played Scrabble in the afternoon before heading ashore at around 1700hrs.

 

The weather forecast for Monday was variable 1-3 with a northerly wind set to come in by 1600hrs but Vicki wanted to get back to Gillan and home not to late.

This was a hot summers day even the wind was warm so just the best weather to be out on the water. So it was 1245hrs when we picked up our anchor and motored slowly south from Channels Creek as I pulled up the main sail. Sticking to the channel we motor on into the wind down where the channel turns back to St Just in Roseland before setting sail, wind was light but we were able to log 2.5-3kts SOG. We tacked three or four times before the wind died off Falmouth and we had to motor. After Pendennis Point we sailed again for a bit before the wind died again, back with the motoring again! Then the wind filled in from the north, about F4 and we could sail again but the mainsail was taking the genoa’s wind, after trying different things I rolled the genoa and we sailed the last mile or so just on the main getting into Gillan at 1545 having logged 10.5nm.