2022 Celtic Circuit, Days 38 & 41 To Fowey, Plymouth and Salcombe

To Fowey

The beat to Fowey was comfortable on starboard tack but 'orrible on port with a small, short sea stopping the boat in F2 -3 winds, I was making c 2 knots on port and 4.5 knots on starboard. I was very glad that the majority of the trip was on starboard.

For once the short term visitors berth had room for me so I initially stopped off there and went for a shower and did some shopping. The tide was still going out, so I then went up to the fuel berth for some diesel - single handed getting on down tide is not on and the approach from up river is tricky whilst going up against the tide it is easy and puts the fuel filler on the pontoon side for easier access. With the fenders already out I opted for one of the midstream pontoons off the top of the town rather than a buoy.

It was very wet on Tuesday, so I stayed put.

One of 3 "Tall Ships" in Fowey when I left.

25 miles in six and a half hours.

To Plymouth

A pleasant sail to Plymouth in 10 - 20 knots of northerly wind which ran out a mile or so short of Rame Head. Shortly before I got there, I had a briefly unnerving experience when both of my depth alarms went off and then a message came up on the plotter saying I was in less than a metre of water which made even less sense as the boat draws 1.7m. Then it became clear that the cause was a dolphin swimming just under the transducer.

Cawsand Bay looked calm but when I stopped the boat it was
rolling quite badly from a short swell from the east.

I checked out Cawsand Bay but it would have been uncomfortable with swell coming in from the SE so I moved to Jennycliff Bay on the east side of the sound by which time a moderate south-westerly had set in only to go back to the Northerly during the evening.

23 miles in five and a quarter hours.

To Salcombe

I woke earlier than planned and decided to move out with the option of stopping at Salcombe or continuing across Lyme Bay depending on the updated forecast, F6 has been mentioned on a couple of recent ones but the direction was uncertain, either northerly or north-westerly, the latter at F6 would not really be an issue, at least until Portland Bill, the former could be uncomfortable. Both however, together with likely north-easterly or easterly winds setting in after the weekend put paid to a visit to Teignmouth, I did not fancy a long beat to get there and then potentially to the Solent. I also decided not to head to the Channel Isles, NE winds make Braye harbour untenable, and it would be a long haul back.

In the event I put into Salcombe to avoid a forecast F6 and to take advantage of reasonable tides and promised sun on Friday.

Approaching Salcombe town.

21 miles in five hours.

On to Portland.

2022 St Kilda, Day 5 To Newlyn.

The forecast for later this week is not looking good so that even though there was no wind in the anchorage on Tuesday, but with the promise of some to come, I left at 07:45 to catch the tide, very light airs from the north set in as I passed St Anthony Head, so I tried to sail flying the cruising chute but essentially drifting on the tide too close to the Manacles. There was a danger of losing the favourable tide so on went the engine. 

With only a knot and a half of tide, a smooth sea and no wind I cut the corner and went fairly close into the Lizard. The wind stayed very light with visibility varying from less than a mile to greater than 6 miles. A few miles out of Newlyn some wind, up to F3 filled, in from the SW before veering to the NW as it was a head wind and variable and I was less than an hour out I continued under engine getting to Newlyn at 14:45.

33 miles in 7 hours.

When I arrived on Tuesday, the forecast had not been good, Force 7 coming in on Thursday night. As I write this bit (Friday lunch time) it is blowing a very cold F5 gusting to around F7 and the boat is rocking quite a bit in the harbour. The models disagree on what is going to happen from Sunday on, some show reasonable winds to get to the Scilly Isles, but this wind is likely to remain very cold so it is not an attractive option. The models diverge even more for next week with some suggesting strong winds but not agreeing when they will come, others showing reasonable conditions. There is no point in trying to guess what will happen at least until tomorrow and probably not for 2 or 3 days.

The view from Newlyn east on Friday morning, the sea relatively
calm in the offshore wind.

Slide show of pics from Portland to Newlyn:

Click here for stuck in Newlyn for some time!

2022 St Kilda Day 4 & 5 to St Mawes.

The Portland inshore route, normally I would
be a little closer in heading towards the Bill but
I was sailing off a Lee shore so stayed a bit further
out which on a neap tide still gave me a smooth
ride over the Ledge which can be a bit rough.

Day 4

I left Portland at 05:45, half an hour late as the alarm did not go off, perhaps fooled by the change to BST, I motored past the eastern entrance as there was a merchant ship heading for it and I wanted to be well clear, I was then able to sail in 12 - 20 knots of wind and rather more for about an hour, all the way to Plymouth, although there was rather less as I rounded the Bill. 

Sailing down the Bill somewhat reduces the risk from lobster pots but you need the wind to be from the NE through to SE to make this practical as winds from the west are disturbed or blocked by Portland.

It was close to a dead run from the Bill with the wind about 10 degrees on the starboard quarter and then from about 11:00 with it from 10 - 20 degrees off to port. The sea was unfortunately well off the port quarter so the boat was rolling a lot with the occasional broach, especially in the middle of Lyme Bay when the sea was moderately high for several hours as the tide turned to be against the wind.

Making 5 and often more than 6 knots it was a quick passage, I could have gone a bit quicker but frequently reefed the headsail to better control the boat in the steep, breaking sea.

The timing was quite good as the foul flooding tide eased as I passed Start Point which saved me some of the grief you often get from rough seas off of Salcombe and I had a fair tide past bolt tail to Plymouth.

Entering Plymouth harbour was rather entertaining, naturally the wind freshened and I was reaching quickly whilst trying to sort out the lights complicated by a large RFA and HMS Somerset at anchor changing the pattern of background lights and a warship departing without AIS getting between me and a couple of key marks.

I anchored in Jennycliff Bay just after 22:00  in 20 knots of wind which disappeared a few minutes later and I had a quite night.

72 NM over the ground in 17 hours.

Day 5

I left at 07:40 with a favourable tide but the brisk northerly died as I was weighing anchor and was light and variable until I got just past Rame Head under engine, then it was again a run under headsail only all the way to St Mawes.

After the quite night the sea was smooth as I left and with winds generally at the upper end of Force 4 or a light Force 5 the sea never got to the heights I had the previous day but it was still tiring. Video of the SeaFeather working on a broad reach with a quartering sea, best viewed full screen

Entering the St Mawes anchorage and only 1 boat at anchor,
one on a visitors buoy and a few local boats up the river, come
Easter it will start to get busy with visitors and from 1st May
when many of the local boats launch it will likely be heaving.

A fairly quick trip, 39 mile in less than 9 hours at an average speed of 4.7 knots over the ground.

Click here for the trip round the Lizard to Newlyn.

Round GB 2021, Day75. Fowey to Jennycliff Bay.

A pleasant sail from Fowey apart from a lot of rain for a couple of hours and initially some light winds which piped up to about 12 knots from the south east so I went to Jennycliffe Bay on the Eastern side of Plymouth Sound, a secure anchorage in an easterly or the forecast northerly wind. 

Another topsail schooner pictured as I left Fowey before the rain came.

A fine old gaffer off of Cawsand Bay approaching Plymouth Sound.

Plymouth Sound from the anchorage. At anchor HMS Tamer a River
class offshore patrol vessel with WWI vintage Dazzle camouflage.

Seven hours forty five minutes to cover the 23.3 miles.

Slide show all of my pictures from Fowey to Plymouth. Page through by clicking the arrows or click in the centre of the pic to view from Flickr in a new window or full screen:

 

Click here for Day 76 to Hallsand.

September Cruise to Fowey

I was planning to go to the Channel Isle but for the 2nd time in a month that did not look like a sensible option with strong east or north east winds which would have made Braye harbour and a number of planned anchorages very uncomfortable or untenable, so I headed off for the west country at lunch time on Tuesday the 17th with the help of a near spring tide running down the Solent from 13:00.

Hurst Castle

The Needles

Heading towards Anvil Point

Probably SBS boats heading home to their base in Poole after
exercises with the warship (or RFA?) in the background.

The weather started to deteriorate shortly after with variable winds but it remained dry. At one point,  7 miles south of Portland Bill (being given a wide berth with the wind against a spring tide) in the dark, the wind changed 60 degrees and went from F3 to F5 in just a couple of minutes. I had been on a very broad reach with the 150% genoa boomed out to windward, the SeaFeather could not cope with that and I was soon heading north with the genoa aback.  That took a bit of sorting out.

The rest of the now long night was a bit uncomfortable, a dead run in  F3 - F5 rolling all over the place at times, things improved through Wednesday but Hallsands, a favourite passage anchorage, does not work in an easterly and Hope Cove would probably have been a bit rough given the conditions so I went on to Plymouth to anchor at 16:45 in Jennycliff Bay on the eastern side of the Sound and inside the breakwater. Passage time 28 hours, almost to the minute.

Lovely weather on Wednesday evening at anchor in Jenneycliff Bay, Plymouth.

The assault ship HMS Albion entering Devonport

Thursday dawned as nice as Wednesday evening, about 8 knots of wind from the east passing Drayton ledge and very warm until the wind started to increase a few miles from Fowey. Passage time just under 6 hours.

Bessie-Allen coming alongside in Fowey

For the third time this year I was "storm bound" in Fowey with very strong easterlies but this time only for one extra night rather than two.



A comfortable evening in Fowey 

Fowey Lifeboat crew on Friday just as the "Shout" was cancelled.

The forecast on Saturday was a bit iffy but suggested the wind veering from E to SE or S, F4 - F5 around mid day and later possibly to the SW. More worrying was the forecast for very strong winds on Tuesday and Wednesday so despite the prospect of a lot of rain I slipped at 11:30 heading East, with a good passage time in fresh winds the tides would be good to go direct to the Hamble (flowing up the Solent until 17:00 on Sunday).

Unfortunately the forecast had the timings all wrong and the next couple of forecasts predicted the veering wind before it actually happened and I was beating against a F5 and a short chop, uncomfortable but not as bad as the start of the Jester earlier in the year.

Broken Furling Gear

The jib furling gear jammed when I was letting out a reef at about 16:00. The only way of clearing it was to take the Genoa down, a bit of a task given it's size (300 sq ft), 10 - 15 knts of wind over the deck and a small tossing foredeck. It took a very tiring hour and a half to sort out and I found that the top of the drum that holds the line was in two pieces floating around inside the outer case which had to partially come off to get some of the line out, worrying in case I dropped one of the screws over the side.

I got it reassembled without the top of the drum, end for ended the line, put the sail back up, hand rolled it and with only a few turns on the drum had it set reefed for a beating in a F5  with one slab in the main and with the possibility of rolling in a bit more if necessary. But letting out the reef was no longer a sensible option as I might not be able to get the reef back in. So I set off again over reefed making even slower progress.

The top of the line drum, the pieces that should hold the two parts together
broken off.

The gear minus the outer cover and the top of the drum. (taken later!) 

There was a lighter moment, whilst I was working perched in the eyes of the boat, a pod of dolphins came to investigate and rather than swimming along or around the slow moving boat they hung in the water watching me, often from just a few feet away as the bow almost went underwater.

At the end of the season I was running down my reserve stock of diesel and after getting out of Fowey I had enough for a maximum of 27 hours motoring with a small reserve, not enough to get all the way home, especially against a head sea and with a dirty hull, but sufficient to go into Portland if I had another failure. So rather than go into Plymouth or back to Fowey and get stuck there for days with the approaching gales and possibly not being able to fix the Furling gear (The Hood Sea Furl is no longer sold in UK but is in America).  

After some lulls, when I used some of my engine time to motor sail, the wind eventually started to free up just after Start Point, passed at about 01:45, and I hoisted the storm jib as a staysail which gave me an additional 0.5 Knts in F4.

I was south of Portland at 12:15 by which time the wind was southerly, mainly F5 but with a few F6 squalls necessitating a second slab in the main at times, the storm jib was down and I making good speed but with the slow start, an hour and a half spent making repairs and being under powered in lighter winds I missed the tidal gate at Hurst by about an hour.

But there was more drama, as is my habit in strong winds I dropped the mainsail approaching North Head buoy (turning close to and in the lea of Hurst Castle in a strong wind and with 4 Knts of tide or more, is no time to have an accidental or messed up gybe when single handed!). The wind was now bordering on F6 with the odd F6 gust and beam reaching things were getting a bit lively so I tried to roll in a bit more of the jib when it let go and the full sail was flogging in 20+ knots.

Fortunately heading into 2 knots of tide and with the engine at low revs and the autopilot holding me in the centre of the narrow (c150 yard wide) channel I was able to drop and secure the genoa before getting to the turn into Hurst Narrows.

I did not fancy attempting my first night pick up of the new crowded trot mooring in 20 - 25 knts of wind, rain, at midnight, at low water and after a tiring trip so I headed for Osbourne Bay having dinner on route. By cheating the tide, making use of the neap tide and going over Pennington flats, and hugging the north shore close until Leap Spit I was at anchor by 21:45 with a passage time of 34.25 Hours, a lot of it in rain 😒.

Next day I went over to Hamble and was pleased to get on the mooring first try despite 20 Knts + and the tide making early with the strong wind. I was even more pleased to get in early enough to get ashore with the bundled up genoa to flake and bag it just as the rain set in again which continued for the rest of the day and all night.

It was too wet and windy for photography on the way back but there are more pictures from the trip here. 

Repair to the Sea Furl drum, the pan head screws heads will cause 

some wear to the line but it should not be severe, the trashed 6 mm 

Dymena which kinked excessively will be replaced with 8mm 

Polyester, with the core removed for about 5 meters  so that it 

will fit in the drum. 

It will be kept as a spare when I get a replacement from the USA.

I image this will be the last cruise of the year in which I did about 2,400 NM and 57 days on board and away from the home berth / mooring and many more on board before and after trips, when doing maintenance etc. plus a few day sails. A lower mileage per day than previously due to time anchored or moored during the Jester and being storm bound for several days on multiple trips.

Slide show: