2024 May 2nd Day 34. Back to Newlyn.

It was still looking good for a Friday departure to Milford so I left St Mawes at 07:30 with zero wind, 10 minutes later there was a fresh northwesterly so up went the sails and I made good progress until past Coverack when the wind went light and I switched on the engine to get past the Lizard overfalls close in at slack water. The wind then filled in again but right on the nose and with a foul tide, even a day before neaps it would have taken a very long time to get to Newlyn so I continued under engine arriving at 14:30 to anchor off, now tenable with the offshore wind despite some left over waves from the SE wind that quickly dies away.

As I posted on Facebook: Lots of boats turning up at Newlyn after all the bad weather. I suspect the pontoons are full (there is reduced availability as there are still fishing boats from mousehole in). It could be quite busy at 03:30 / 04:00 tomorrow with boats heading west and north.

I was right, it was busy, I subsequently found that next morning 3 boats wanted to leave and were ready at 04:00 but boats were so crammed in that it took quite a awhile to extricate themselves having to move boats out of the way - which probably did not please the occupants.

For the 2nd evening on the trot I was able to sit out, this time for quite
 a while, one could get used to this 😀 Looking towards Penzance.

This large yacht went into the harbour but then came out to anchor
Probably not wanting to raft on a fishing boat or lie against a wall.
A good move as next morning we were the only ones to get away easily.

Another close in passage - only do this in very benign conditions
There is no “inshore route”

Caught rounding the Lizard in a very long range shot posted
To marinetraffic.com, copyright as shown.

32 miles in 7 hours.

Click here for Milford Haven.

2024 May 1st Day 33, back to St Mawes, Milford Haven on Saturday / Sunday?

Possibly some good news, the models are suggesting a window to get to Milford leaving Newlyn at 04:00 (for the tide) on Friday. Less good news is I wanted to get out of the harbour to save the berthing fees and hopefully to get some better sleep - with a bigger boat rafting on me the mooring lines make a lot of noise and it’s a busy fishing port with boats operating 24 hours a day; but the sea is still quite choppy and the wind is expected to change direction by 180 degrees overnight so the local anchorages are likely to be uncomfortable or untenable. Having nothing better to do I therefore stuck to my plan and went to St Mawes having established on route that Coverack was also going to be “iffy”.

With a stronger wind and at mid tide I kept off The Lizard.

The revised plan is to return to Newlyn tomorrow, anchoring off.

38 miles in a little over 8 hours.

Click here for back to Newlyn

2024 April 30th days 27 - 32, 2 steps forward, 1 back.

I did go into the harbour early on Thursday mainly because rain was forecast all day on Friday and I needed to walk into Penzance to do my laundry and I did not want to get wet. That was done, Friday was, as promised, wet and miserable and 3 solo sailors heading north spend the drier periods lamenting our fate. Saturday was spent visiting sailing friends in Hale.

Sunday was another wet day but it looked as if there would be a brief window on Tuesday to get to Milford Haven, then on Monday the inshore forecast predicted seas would be moderate of rough from Lands End to St Davids Head becoming rough, probably due to strong winds to the SW or Ireland. 

That evening I downloaded all of the available weather maps, 6 of them, for the next 7 - 10 days, no two agreed due to uncertainty over the position of a complex low pressure area off Ireland and how it would develop, what was clear however was that none suggested an easy passage up the Irish Sea and the possibility of strong winds coming from different directions in quick succession as fronts moved through, some models showing very strong winds likely on Thursday, possibly from the SE or SSE in Milford Haven which would mean a long trip up the river for a secure anchorage. Also tides to go up the coast of Wales were very inconvenient and a leg direct to Ireland would require a very early start (03:00 ish) to clear "The Smalls" before the tide turned adverse at several knots.

I posted on Facebook:

This weather is crazy, I might be able to get away tomorrow but it is looking unlikely with the sea state currently forecast to be rough tomorrow. And rough around Land’s End is seriously nasty. If I don’t leave tomorrow then I probably won’t be able to for a week due to strong head winds or no wind plus unfavourable tides. I suspect I will be heading back to the Fal to live on the anchor for a week to avoid berthing fees at Newlyn 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

Tuesday morning the 07:00 inshore forecast had improved somewhat but not by much:

Lyme Regis to Lands End including the Isles of Scilly - Strong wind warning

24 hour forecast: Southerly or southwesterly 4 to 6, occasionally 7 at first, decreasing 2 to 4 later. Moderate or rough becoming slight or moderate in east and later elsewhere. Rain then showers later. Moderate or good, occasionally poor at first.

Lands End to St Davids Head including the Bristol Channel - Strong wind warning

24 hour forecast: Southerly or southeasterly 4 to 6, occasionally 7 at first in west, decreasing 2 to 4 later. Slight or moderate in east, moderate or rough in west. Rain or showers. Moderate or good, occasionally poor.

So decision made,  the sea state, weather (still raining as I write at 10:30 and like to continue well into the afternoon) compounded by a lack of sleep due to surge coming into the harbour causing the mooring lines to creak very loudly every few seconds, made worse by the weight of a 34 foot boat that is rafted up on me. Due to tidal gates around Land's End I could not leave till about 11:30 for an all night sail getting to Milford late afternoon or early evening on Wednesday but possibly having to motor for the last few hours as the wind goes light then turning into a headwind.

I will be moving back to the Fal tomorrow a.m. for a few days, I would go now but for the rain and the tide turning adverse and against a F4-6 wind before I could get round The Lizard (waves are predicted to be c3 metres, not allowing for tidal effects), tomorrow the wind will be much lighter. With the wind all over the place I will probably spend some time at St Mawes and some up the river switching between them as the wind changes - at least it will give me something to do some days.

One or two of the other boats here may well be leaving, but they are all bigger with younger skippers, I am not changing my revised plan, although I can't say I am pleased with progress, 16 days weather bound in 32 and 400 miles to get to Newlyn before retreating to the Fal.

Back to St Mawes

2024 April 24th Day 26, To Newlyn Gwavas Lake and Harbour

 A 07:30 start to round the Lizard at slack tide and for favourable tide from there on. It started off quite warm with little wind but it clouded over as I reached to Manacles under engine. The wind stayed very light until 20 minutes short of Newlyn so I motored all the way, naturally the wind headwind went from 4 knots to about 7 as I went through the Lizard over-falls, with 6 knots of boat speed and 2 knots of tide, rather more than I expected even on a spring tide, there was 15 knots of cold wind over the deck and I went from shirt sleeves when I left to a fleece and a down gilets.

I had hoped to spend a night at Mullion Cove but the wind was blowing straight in and could go to Force 5 so decided against it, a shame as, along with Chapman's Pool (St Alban's Head), its one of the few recognised anchorages along this coast that I have not been too. So in the end I anchored in Gwavas Lake, close by Newlyn harbour in a gap between loads of pot buoys and at low water the clear water allowed me to plant the anchor in clean sand, missing the patches of weed.

40 pot buoys in Gwavas Lake, more to seaward.

My plan to go into the harbour on Friday remains intact although I really could do with a shower so I might change my mind in the morning.

33 nautical miles in 7.5 hours.

Update: it’s now Sunday the 28th and I and 3 other boats, all but one single handed, might get away on Tuesday.

I didn't click here for 2 steps forward and 1 back - to the Fal

2024 April 22nd Days 24 & 25, Fowey and St Mawes

A very satisfactory short visit to Fowey, as planned I arrived at 08:45 and once secure to the short stay (free) walk ashore pontoon, did a quick shop, including a couple of reasonable frozen pasties to cook onboard, then went to the fuel berth to top up with diesel and was away to St Mawes in less than an hour.

I came away very pleased with myself having executing a perfect “ferry glide” to and from the short stay pontoon through numerous moorings some of it with the engine running astern that does not help steering. Then I followed that up getting onto the fuel berth with 1.5 knots flowing past it, fortunately almost directly along it, and just stepping off at exactly the right place with a couple of lines that did not strain until made off, springing off was straightforward using the tide and I was well clear of the rocks just downstream of the pontoon. Having done that I will have to be very careful at Newlyn as the odds say I will mess that up big time.

I particularly wanted to fill up in Fowey, it is the last chance for a long way to fill up from a pump and my back has still not fully recovered from lifting a 20 litre can of diesel out of the locker when at Portland the second time. Secondly filling to the top gave me a chance to validate my fuel consumption figures, in the event my planned consumption at 1.5 litres per hour @ 6 knots compares with actual consumption since I got the boat in 2017 of 1.54 litres per hour; and over the 200 hours since the last refill the consumption calculated from the fuel gauge was only 6.3 litres out and on the safe, conservative, side [At a more fuel efficient 5 knots the consumption is about 1.2 Litres per hour].

The wind was light and almost on the nose but with more forecast and likely to be adverse later from Dodman point, I motored for an hour to Dodman then sailed close hauled in a nice 10 knots of wind until after a couple of tacks I was just short of  St Anthony Head when the wind dropped, by the time I had the engine on and the sails stowed if came in quite fresh from the north but I carried on under engine for the short distance into St Mawes.

The season in this part of the world doesn't get started until May
so very few boats on the water off St Mawes.

Mooring maintenance at St Mawes

Polkerris to Fowey and St Mawes.

I plan to have a rest day here before making my way slowly to Newlyn hopefully going onto a pontoon on Friday morning so that I can get laundry done before visiting on Saturday when yet another gale is forecast, then head out some time between Sunday (preferable for the best tide) and Tuesday depending on the weather, probably heading for St Ives to shorten the trip to South Wales or Ireland.

To Fowey, 4 miles in an hour. To St Mawes, 24 miles in five and a half hours.

Polkerris and St Mawes

Click here for Newlyn.

2024 April 21st Day 23, to Polkerris

I left at 08:00 for a pleasant sail to Polkerris with hardly a cloud in the sky during the morning and a light to moderate following wind, it was even quite warm for an hour or so until the cold wind increased and the cruising chute had to come down.. 

An interesting concept, an old boat about 24 feet long re-rigged
as a Junk and with davits on the back for the tender.

With a variable wind I sailed on to just short of  Gribben Head when the wind finally died and I motored the last 3 or 4 miles into Polkerris for a quite night.

Par Sands at sunset

34 miles in eight and a quarter hours.

There are a few more pics in the slide show on the next post.

Click here for Fowey and St Mawes.