2023 22nd August Days 15 - 17 St Martins to Hugh Town IoS.

It was a quick trip down to Hugh Town thanks to just catching the favourable tide down the east coast of St Marys.

The harbour at low water.

There was a minor disturbance on Tuesday night:

The weather models indicated north westerly winds for a week or more, not good for getting to Ireland or cruising so I gave up on Ireland and after a couple of nights on a buoy I loaded 40 litres of diesel, not an easy task getting them down the high harbour wall at close to low tide, then moved to the anchorage ready for an early start back to the mainland.

Click here for the trip to the Truro River.

2023 20th August, Day 14 Newlyn to St Mary's and St Martins IoS

An excellent albeit chilly sail over once clear of some dense fog banks south of Newlyn.

Newlyn to Watermill Cove.

When I was close to the Wolf Rock, a very serious sounding Mayday call was received by Falmouth Coastguard (the second Mayday I had heard on this trip in addition to several Pan Pan urgency calls) who were coping well with difficult VHF communications, because they were talking to someone in the water and fairly close in to cliffs. But they managed it, the following explains:

I went to the anchorage at Watermill Cove on the North side of St Mary's which is a recommended anchorage for S or SW winds. Unfortunately it was quite crowded and initially I was anchored well out where it was quite uncomfortable with the boat lying broadside to small waves refracting round St Mary's. I was considering a move to St Helen's Pool or Old Grimsby but that could not be done until mid evening when the tide had risen sufficiently.

My spot on arrival.

Before that a boat further in left so instead I went to where he had been, although further in I was still further east than ideal and it was still a little uncomfortable but I stayed the night.

34 nautical miles over the ground in 9 hours.

 

Next morning I motored round to St Martin's bay which has much better protection where I anchored behind the boat that had left Watermill Cove the previous evening. Just after I arrived I lost the O2 phone signal and it didn't return so needing to attend to problems with the home broadband I did not stay long and headed for Hugh Town.

Click here for Hugh Town

2023 June 28th, Day 76 Portland back to the Hamble & the stats.

Leaving at 04:40 I had the engine off as I left the harbour for a good sail towards St Albans under the Cruising Chute in a reasonable WSW wind of around 11 knots, it dropped for a while so the engine went on for a couple of hours to get past St Albans to Anvil Point, the wind then came back and I sailed on to North Head where the tide changes favourable a little earlier than in the Needles Channel, as it happened I could have used either as I was a bit slower than hoped for - another boat went the other route and we took about the same time.

Powering along the North Channel towards Hurst. I had taken the main down before reaching N. Head buoy in case the wind increased (it did) and to avoid gybing it around Hurst Point, the next video will show why. As the wind increased I was motor sailing for safety with a reefed jib and going very quickly with the tide under me.

Rounding Hurst Point (it comes into focus after a few seconds).

As soon as I was clear of Hurst Narrows the wind dropped and I shook out the reef and turned off the engine for a pleasant run up the Solent in lovely weather only to be hit by a F6 wind off Calshot, I certainly couldn't get onto the mooring in that but it moderated as I passed Hamble Point Buoy.

I had to slow down for the Yarmouth to Lymington Ferry.

There is not a lot of room between the "protected" shipping lane
in the Thorn Channel and shallow water.

For the third time if four trips I arrived back to find someone was on my mooring! That boat's mooring was occupied by another so it looks as if it was a chain reaction. I managed to get onto a spare mooring but it was tight and difficult. I would have had significant problems getting out again single handed in anything other than still conditions and no tide so I called the manager and left it for him to sort out. 

It was particularly annoying as I had given warning I was coming back and asked that the mooring was checked - people have a habit of driving over these trot moorings and chewing them up if they are left empty for any period of time. The manager / owner who was overseas had been told the mooring was clear but they checked the wrong one, as a result they had to move at least three boats rather than one or two.

55 miles in twelve and a quarter hours.

Apart from getting rained on whilst escaping the boat, the trip home on Thursday the 29th was very lucky. The bus to Southampton was a little late due to road works but I made the train to Oxford with 3 minutes to spare without rushing on the walk to the station, that train was a little early into Oxford so I was able to walk straight onto a train to Bicester rather than, as has happened on every previous occasion, watching it disappear into the distance and waiting 30 or 40 minutes for the next. If the mainline train had not been as crowded (people standing much of the way) it would even have been quite a pleasant journey. 

The first trip to unload and clean up was delayed until the following week as it would be manic over the weekend due to the Round the Island race.

Some stats for this trip: 

• 76 Days.
• 421 hours at sea.
• 1,885 nautical miles (2,173 Statute Miles) over the ground. 
• 54 stops (some at the same place outbound and inbound).
• 22 places visited for the first time
• 11 days weather bound (much better than the last few years).
• 41 nights at anchor.

Summary 2017 - July 2023:

Includes some estimates of day sailing in 2017 & 2018 but the total GPS miles is the same as that recorded by the instruments. Excludes days on board when at the "home" marina or mooring.

Year	Days	Hrs at Sea	GPS N Miles	GPS S Miles	Days Sailing	Places Visited
2017	14	?	238	274	13	1
2018	46	?	1,559	1794	31	22
2019	49	485	2,282	2,626	41	26
2020	64	372	1,685	1,939	33	27
2021	115	652	2,744	3,158	70	66
2022	133	596	2,785	3,205	68	64
2023	79	421	1,888	2,173	52	54
Total	500	2,526	13,181	15,169	308	260

Wildlife

Initially I saw very little but things changed big time once I was west of Mull and there was plenty to see most of the the way home:

Whales:

Multiple sightings of Minke whales in:

The Sea of the Hebrides. 
The Sound of Harris.
The Little Minch.

 

one in The Firth of Lorn and two north of Islay.

Minke whale in the Cope Passage Sound of Harris

Orca pod in the Sea of the Hebrides.

Beluga off Newlyn 

Dolphins, a huge pod off Hawes bank in The Sea of The Hebrides, 2 large groups in the Celtic sea and good numbers elsewhere until east of Portland. 

Harbour Porpoise, at least a couple of sightings, one off SW Wales and one in the Firth of Lorn.

Seals, Common and Grey: The Sound of Mull, Loch Aline, around St Kilda, Vatersay Sound, Skye and a few elsewhere.

Sea Otters: Not as many as some years but 2 or 3 including one in the Sound of Harris.

Basking Shark: Off Vatersay and South Uist.

Rescues

I always hear a lot of calls for help being answered, this year things were fairly quite until I was on my way back then there seemed to be at least one every day, the Irish boats seemed particularly busy, including a couple of boat fires - always a potential disaster. 

On occasion I saw at least some of the action, including:

• The Skerries IRB on a shout to a vehicle off a harbour wall.
• The Dublin IRB iirc to a paddle boarder.
• The Angle relief AWB to a disabled yacht.
• The Angle relief AWB to the PS Waverly for a med-evac.
• The Penlee AWB to a diver with the bends.
• The Lizard AWB saving a fisherman from the water assisted by the Angle AWB.

2023 June 22nd, Day 71 Newlyn to St Mawes

A pleasant sail although a little uncomfortable in over-falls off the lizard and with plenty of action. I left at 05:15 for optimal tides, and had the engine off 25 minutes later sailing in a nice 11 knots from the SSW.

Things livened up big time just after I passed the Lizard when Falmouth Coastguard put out a general "pan pan" request after multiple reports of red flares seen c 3 miles south of the Lizard and asking for information from boats in the area. They also contacted several vessels directly asking two fishing boats to go to the area. Several boats including the Sailing Brixham Trawler "Pilgrim of Brixham" headed for the area. 

I was down wind so it would have taken a long time to get there so I started a scan with binoculars. Then another yacht reported flares astern that placed the incident somewhat closer in. The Lizard Lifeboat was then east of the Lizard and was on the scene quickly and recovered a fisherman who had been clinging to his bow of his capsized and swamped fishing boat for an hour. After getting the casualty to shore the lifeboat recovered the fishing boat that was a danger to shipping to Cadgwith Cove.

The Coastguard's excellent report on the incident can be found here.

The Angle (Milford Haven) Lifeboat was on passage and diverted
to assist but the Lizard boat got there first.

The trawler "Pilgrim of Brixham".

Running north east to the east of the Lizard.

Reaching north having gybed at the Manacles and flying the
Cruising Chute from the spinnaker pole.

For some reason when I am around, the wind always seems to freshen off the Helford even when it is not blowing down the valley, this time I saw it coming and got the Cruising Chute down before I was overpowered.

Pendennis to the west of the entrance to the Fal.

St Antony Head to the east.

Lots of pics (69) of lots of Falmouth working boats racing.

34 miles in eight and a quarter hours

Click here for a day up the Fal.

2023 June 21st, Days 69 & 70 Carbis Bay to Newlyn & Gwavas Lake

Leaving Carbis Bay required care as I counted at least 30 Lobster pot markers within sight, again no wind:

No wind as I motored towards Pendeen

Pendeen, abandoned tin mines ashore and lots of dolphins offshore.
The ripples on the water are largely down to tide not wind.

Here are just 2 of several videos of Dolphins of of Pendeen, they are hosted on Flikr as it is too big for Blogger The first is almost 2 minutes long, the second 59 seconds, both will play full screen on a large screen:

Common Dolphins

 

"The Longships"

I had thought to go inside "The Longships" but the water was rather turbulent so I changed my mind and went outside, that was probably a mistake as I went east from "The Lonships" the sea looked calmer inshore. Not dangerous but uncomfortable:

Over-falls south of The Longships, with less than 5 knots of
wind, one day from a spring tide but not at it's peak.

The Scilionian on route to Hugh Town, St Mary's in calm water,
you can see the edge of the overfalls just this side of her. 

Mousehole

I went into the harbour and was lucky to find the inner berths full but several spaces on the outer fingers so there was no pressure to go and double park there which is tricky with limited space and water. Soon all of the outer berths were full and most had 3 boats in each bay but the third in "mine" being a big boat had tied up to the other boat rather than to Sancerre.

I was surprised to see another boat flying the RAFYC burgee, actually one designating one of the club officers (know as in most sailing clubs as a "Rear Admiral), chatting with them I found another boat was due in and later we all sat down for a drink. One boat was, like me, heading back to the Hamble the other heading for the Isles of Scilly. During the cruise I spoke to club members on three other boats and saw another, remarkable considering there are only a couple of hundred boats flying the club burgee.

After a shower, shopping and a visit the the laundrette in Penzance I moved out next afternoon to anchor in Gwavas Lake for another night before heading off, saving a nights berthing which is rather expensive for what you get.

Newlyn harbour from the Gwavas Lake anchorage.

That evening there was another RNLI "shout" to witness as the All Weather Lifeboat (they also have an "Atlantic" class inshore boat) went out of harbour at high speed to return fairly quickly in company with a dive boat. A diver had suffered "the bends", trained crewmen assessed him and the casualty was taken to Penzance Heliport and flow by a Coastguard helicopter to Plymouth where they have a decompression chamber.

The Penlee Severn Class Lifeboat returning from the shout, the original lifeboat house and slipway is visible by her bow from which the "Solomon Browne" launched to the aid of the "Union Star" in December 1981 - that resulted in the loss of the boat with it's entire crew and that of the ship and all on board, some of whom had made it to the lifeboat. There is an RNLI account here also an excellent BBC documentary available on YouTube here: penlee lifeboat diaster - cruel sea

32 miles in 6 hours

Click here for St Mawes

2023 June 16th, Days 64 & 65 Fishguard to Milford Haven

Facebook Posts as I crossed St Brides Bay:

"1. A long motor around from Fishguard in reasonable weather but no wind for the first 20 miles then headwinds in a relatively narrow passages so not worth trying to sail. now hot and humid with rain spots. Quite interesting through Ramsey Sound otherwise everything was very straight forward .

No idea what I’ll do next, going along the Welsh coast could put me into a worse position when wind arrives and the N Devon coast is a long way away in likely conditions.

2. Lundy might be an option Sunday or Monday, and it has been on the bucket list for a long time."

Given the likely conditions I decided to use the Ramsey Sound avoiding a long trip outside of Ramsey Island and the off lying "Bishop and Clerks" but to avoid Jack Sound by a shorter diversion outside of Skomer.

To get fair tide through Ramsey Sound and through to Milford I had to leave at 04:20 and fight the adverse tide past Strumble Head, which was stronger than anticipated. 

Strumble Head still flashing at 05:30

The tide turned a little earlier than anticipated but I turned south shortly after the tide had turned favourable and was quickly and safely through.

Entering the sound at 09:00 on a very grey day.

About half way through approaching "The Bitches", the narrowest
point in the Sound, tides can run at 6 knots through the Sound
with eddies and over-falls.

The wind which had been light or non existent from the east now set in from the south and it started to rain so I continued mainly under engine across  St Brides Bay, only for it to turn ESE as I past Skomer - again a head wind down Broad Sound.

Inevitably I met the fast Ireland Ferry, this time close enough that I
had to take avoiding action as she turned inside the Mid Channel
Rock West Cardinal Buoy - just visible on the left. After the bashing
I took last time I was giving St Ann's Head a wide berth.

In anticipation of easterly winds I went to Sandy Haven Bay where I spent a reasonable night but the following morning I was laying broadside to the waves so, waiting for a favourable wind, I moved to Dale Shelf which was better protected for the next night.

Whilst in the area the Angle lifeboat (actually a relief boat - I later saw the normal one off  "The Lizard" getting involved in another rescue, more of which later), the first was to a sailing boat with a failed engine and no wind, the second, as I was leaving, was a medivac from the paddle steamer Waverley.

40 miles in 9 hours

Click here for a note regarding lack of progress on the blog.

2023 June 13th, Day 61 Sorrento Bay to Aberdaron Bay, Wales.

Facebook Post 13th June:

The anchor came up at 03:35 and I was underway under engine with less than 3 knots of wind, more worrying was a Thunderstorm heading my way and for half an hour I was keeping radar and AIS watch from below with the odd peak out, especially as I passed close to an anchored merchant ship.

At 04:40 the engine went off and the Cruising Chute went up. The rest of the day I was alternating between sailing in 6 - 9 knot winds and motoring to make the tidal gate at Bardsey Sound, at the end of the day it was 50:50 sailing and motoring but that was not too bad as it was sensible to motor though Bardsey Sound and into the anchorage.

As in 2022 I went out through the off lying banks south of Codling Bank before being taken way south by the tide.

Drilling rig SE of Codling Bank.

This Mayday call from a fishing boat could have had a very nasty end, fire on a small boat is incredibly dangerous to the crew and boat, the Irish coast guard put out an all ships with more than one boat close at hand responding, but iirc the RNLI got there first to find the crew had put the fire out.

17:00 and Bardsey Island is visible on the horizon centre right, the
north going tide now requiring me (or rather the autopilot) to steer
107 degrees to make 85 degrees.

Two hours later and about to enter Bardsey Sound motor sailing.

Aberdaron Bay anchorage at 21:22

Unusually again with a tripping line, left on because I anticipated
at least one more anchorage potentially foul, and it is useful to be
able to see where the anchor is, especially when setting the
anchor alarm - providing you get the length of the line right so
it reasonably close to the anchor without being sunk.

Sorento Bay Dublin to Aberdaron Bay.

66 miles in 17 hours

Click here for Fishguard

2023 June 12th, Day 60 Skerries to Sorrento Bay Dublin

An 04:55 start and an hour later I was, not for the first or last time on this cruise, monitoring a RNLI shout, this one to a vehicle over the harbour wall at Loughshinny, the inshore boat rushed past after a quick launch and was tasked to check that there was no one left in the vehicle - the driver having been got from the water [by the coast guard team?] and sent off to hospital, fortunately there wasn't and at 06:00 she returned to station.

The Skerries Lifeboat returning to station, taken at 06:00 in
low light with the equivalent of a 35mm full frame 600mm lens.

Hitchhiking bird off Lamby Island, I am told it is a very ragged
Adult Male Blackcap

The Skerries to Sorrrento Bay, Dublin.

The route south takes you very close to TSS's at the north and south ends of the Burford Bank, as usual there was a ferry transiting and on a collision course, a call to Dublin Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) established there was no others so I just slowed down and the ferry passed close in front, knowing I would keep out of the way. VTS operations and some Port Authorities (Dover ask for a call) may appreciate a call in similar situations, at least when things are quite as they were at Dublin at 07:00, but many such as Southampton VTS & Portsmouth KHM, would be overwhelmed with calls and information. Port authorities often require a call before entering the port area irrespective of vessel size (e.g. Lowestoft, Blyth and Peterhead).

Dalkey Island with its Martello Tower and other fortifications.
There are a good number of Martello Towers in SE England
but there appears to be more in Ireland, probably a reflection
of the threat of the French inciting rebellion there. 

Lifeboat 14-17 is listed as that of Dunmore East but the station
name has been painted out and she is now a relief boat and probably
at Dun Laoghaire (Dublin). The current Dunmore East boat, a new
Shannon class, was active a couple of days later, see next post.

I never understand why people choose to anchor close too others
(me!) when there is plenty of room in the anchorage.

24 miles in four and a half hours.

Click here for the crossing of St Georges Channel.