On the 5th May I was joined by Alan Edwards, Alan Higgins, Trevor Watts and Roger Bradbury on board Freya III. Freya is an ageing Sadler 32, quite a squash for five big lads and all our gear. We had been promised two other bigger boats but the owners withdrew them at the last minute. However Freya is a good seaboat and given the weather we experienced that was important.
Our original plan was the go to the Isles of Scilly, which would have been great a few days earlier but the wind came around to the west in strength so we ruled that out. After a night up on the Tregothnan pontoon on the Truro River we headed out to sea attempting to get to L'Aber W'rach in West Brittany. However strong winds and increasingly heavy seas caused us to turn back for shelter. At least we had a good 'shake down' for later in the week!
We headed back to Falmouth Marina for hot showers and a good night's sleep in the snug marina. Next morning we decided to try sailing t Fowey or even Plymouth. As it happened the weather was much better than forecast and we had a great sail down wind all the way to Plymouth. We were conscious that, with westerlky winds forecast all week, we would be in deficit for the beat home. However, at least we had escaped from Falmouth.
We ended up with three nights in the Plymouth area. First night very cosy in Sutton Harbour which has excellent faclities and is cheek by jowel with the Barbican. A very late evening meal at "The Jaipur Palace" was enjoyed by all!
On Tuesday we headed out well reefed beyond the breakwater for another very lively sail, getting the crew and skipper used to heavy weather tactics. Scampering back into the harbour we anchored near Mt Edgecombe before heading up the Lynher river (via HMDocks trying to get the Grey Funnel Line to acknowledge of constantly dipping ensign to no avail).
On our way up the river we spied a mavellous sight, a grey atlantic seal atop a large buoy!
We anchored for the night at the very peaceful Dandy Hole out of sight of civilisation.
Next morning we determined to have a go at sailing to Fowey,despite the badweather reports. The Reports were all too correct and we gave up off Rame head and scooted, yet again back into harbour for shelter (becoming a habit this 'tail between our legs' sailing) nevertheless it was the seamanship like thing to do. This time we headed for Plymouth Yacht Haven where docking in very strong winds proved a challenge.
Thursday dawned with the challenge that we were going to Fowey come what may. What came was no wind for some of the passage, so we motored quite a bit. Except for the final approach to Fowey when the wind got up to force 6 gusting 7 just as we were off the harbour entrance and then the engine oil pressure alarm went off! This presented the budding yachtmaster with the challenge of entering Fowey under sail along with a rapidly increasing force 7 from the SW to pick up a mooring under sail under the beady eyes of all the armchair sailors gathered at their picture windows around Fowey harbour. No doubt half of them are Yachtmaster examiners queueing up to be on duty at Falmouth at the end of May!
We were mighty relieved to get alongside a pontoon and the cheerful Water Taxi delivered us ashore to collapse in the delightful surroundings of the Royal Fowey Yacht Club. The evening also rewarded us with an amazing Seafood Bouillabaise and 'Sams'. We also discoveed we had careered down wind into the beginnings of the Daphone Du Maurier Centenary festival. To honour the event, after getting the green light from the CC engineer, we motored upstream for a "Daphne du Maurier evening river cruise" past her riverside house in the pouring rain and fast disappearing light. Odd no one else joined us. But we did need to get to a calmer mooring ready for the Force 9 forecast by every resident of Fowey that night.
We sailed for Falmouth on Friday morning commencing what was to be a very entertaining and lively passage. The entertainment started when a Dutch Naval vessel put out a warning that they were about to commence live firing at sea. Not only were they firing into the strech of sea that we wanted to sail through but, according to my calculations and the co-ordinates they broadcast the the Western Channel, they were also going to fire on Falmouth and most of South West Cornwall!
I decided to put my VHF skills into practice and I called said warship to ask might they have got their co-ordinates wrong? We imagined the scene on the bridge of the Dutch ship as the captain realised his junior officer had giving out a wrong position for their exercise to every other vessel in the Channel. Having sorted that out we then realised we only had a narrow channel of 'sea room' south of Dodman headland to get through to Falmouth. This would have been reasonable had it not been for the strong head wind and deteriorating visibility in rain squalls.
Eventually we were caught in a vicious storm for an hour or so in which the winds reach Force 9 for about 15minutes. Once we weathered that the sky cleared and we had a pleasant afternoon sail into Falmouth harbour.
Although we did not get to the Scillies or France, we did have an eventful week which was excellent preparation for my Yachtmaster exam.
Many thanks to another excellent crew!
