Wednesday 28th July – Fowey to Falmouth
There was a fair amount of nervousness the following morning despite the rather deceptive conditions as it was a beautiful early morning. But it was not long before the wind started to kick in. All motor sailed around Gribbin Head and by the time we were on the line for Falmouth the wind was a steady 24kts and gusts of 28kts. We abandoned the race over this leg and started to make best haste.
But as the morning wore on and probably we became more used to the strong winds we started to sail in Saint Austell’s Bay. We did take a reef in but kept a full headsail up. I was surprised (and received) that she handled very well and was certainly a confidence giver. We had a great deal of fun and it was difficult to get Mark off the helm. This was the sailing he had come out for. I was relegated to making bacon sandwiches to keep us going!
For the last 3 miles we did motor into wind to get into Falmouth. Having thought that the last of the showers had gone just as we were approaching the dock there was an almighty downpour with visibility dropping and you could almost drink the rain it was that heavy. Pat had to almost sail onto the berth as they had got weed in the engine intake but there were plenty of hands to take lines. We came alongside Karisma and the ever helpful Brian and Britt were there to make us safe.
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Immediately we had to start preparing for the last pontoon party of the trip. We had assembled a drinks cabinet of Sipsmith Gin, Plymouth Navy Strength Gin, Red and White Wine, zero alcohol beer, and soft drinks. On the food side, a variety of sausages to be done in the oven, gigantic pork pies, burghers to be cut up, crisps and dips. We did not have enough glasses so it was a bring your own glass type party. At its height we had 12 in the cockpit. A really nice evening and a fitting end to the formal part of the summer cruise.
Thursday 29th July – Falmouth
This was the final day of the Sumer Cruise which culminated in lunch at the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club. A bit of shopping in the morning for the trip back to Hamble and a stroll around the town – capital of pasty shops! We walked upon to the club with Brian and Britt, meeting up with everyone else there. As on previous occasions the club put on an excellent buffet and provide great venue to start to say our farewells as individuals and boats made plans for return home. Pat presided over the prize giving – there were enough for everyone taking part. Dino Volante took line honours, Karisma the prize for using engine least, Xtract double handed prize, Claribel crew for over-coming adversity to keep going and Purrfect Tale received Bob’s Wrench. The exact description and criteria for this award was a little vague – but essentially it was a polite way of saying. ‘thanks for participating and sorry you were the Lanterne Rouge!
Straight after the lunch Pat and Linda headed back by car to Hamble to get ready for Cowes week. The remainder of us returned to Falmouth Havan to plan what we would be doing next. Storm Evert was due through that night with winds forecast to be 40kts+ hence all had decided to stay another day at least. During the late afternoon a small number of boats arrived from the Isles of Scilly to avoid the worst of the weather. Next to us was Voyager – Halberg Rassy 38 – which had been rebuilt by Marty and Chris who had with them their young son. They had been anchored near CADOHA (Carly, Dominic and Hank) in the Isles of Scilly but decided to make a run for it. The following morning we read the blog from CADOHA which had a very uncomfortable life and described how some had not been as fortunate they them with the need for the RNLI and and Air Rescue to be deployed to pluck people from the deck of a boat which had broken lose. It was not too bad in Falmouth but was nevertheless a very noisy and windy night. Got up a couple of times to check shore lines and fenders. Brian on Karisma who was on our inside having taken out his hearing aids slept like a babe and emerged the next morning looking very refreshed unlike the rest of us.
For evening dinner I had bought ‘Chicken Kiev’s’ to cook in the oven. They smelled great but had a rather bland taste which I just put down to Tescos! However I did discover shortly afterwards that they were ‘plant’ Chicken Kiev’s – no meat in them. Knowing this they were not that bad for a plant based, meatless food, although not my first choice.
Friday 30th July – Falmouth
Wind and more wind. It is surprising the noise wind makes in a marina – it is pretty relentless and can be a little depressing. The morning we slopped around the boat deciding both on route back and timing. We had a number of options:
- Usual route – Falmouth – Salcombe/Dartmouth – Portland – Hamble
- Quick route – Falmouth – Portland – Hamble
- Very quick route – Falmouth – Hamble with anchorage at Studland to wait for the time to turn through the Needles
The last two options would include a night sail and for us around 22 hours – 36 hours of sailing. Whilst we pondered the options, I walked up to Pendennis Castle at the end of the peninsula. Once I had got out to the point, the wind had completely dropped – it was peaceful and calm with barely a ripple on the water. You can look across the Bay and out to Helford River as well as out to Eddystone Lighthouse. It was so calm that as I walked back I even considered staying a little longer before making the journey East and take in the Helford River. But the moment I got back into town, the wind was there again – it had not ceased at all. Feeling a little weary of the endless blow, I decided to drop by Dino Volante to see what they were planning to discover everyone onboard including Mark enjoying tea and biscuits which morphed into wine and beer quite soon! All the boats had a different plan with Dudley deciding on going via Salcombe, Portland, Yarmouth, Brian and Britt, Dartmouth, Portland and back, Dino Volante Salcombe, Portland and back. Departure times were negotiated with Voyager for between 0600 and 0700. We decided to go for Portland and only stop at Salcombe if weather forced us to abandon longer trip.
We returned to Purrfect Tale and having had a meatless meal the previous evening we were definitely in the mood for something more substantial. An Indian takeaway was called for! A good end to the day and having had a couple of drinks finishing off some of the half empty wine from the party on board – we prepared the boat boat for the journey back. The main job was to set up the bed in the saloon to support the watch system we had put in place.
Purrfect Tale 