Day 13- Tuesday 31st may Padstow to Ilfracombe

I slept poorly in the night. I didn't want to miss the lock gate being open and had no alarm. I'm sure there is one on my phone but didn't think about that. I left the pontoon at 6.30 and there were a couple of boats ahead of me. The wind was blowing straight into the estuary and there was quite a chop, even down by the harbour. A boat was either coming in or was turning back. Its rough out there the skipper shouted. I carried on as I was encouraged by being able to see another yacht beyond the Bar. the waves built and I could imagine what it must be like to surf in. I decided I really didn't fancy that so I was committed to carrying on.

As so often happens,the swell reduced in deeper water. The North West wind was helpful in my making progress up the coast. Gyll had emailed me to say I hadn't mentioned the wildlife much. On previous trips I had seen dolphins, sunfish and basking sharks, So far I had seen nothing in the water, However, today I noticed the birds. The guillemots with their stubby bodies and thin wings were skimming along just above the water.They are not unlike swifts in their movements. Sometimes they would be on the surface and when I came close they would either take off or dive.I never saw then resurface. They must be able to swim quite a way. I must find out about their feeding habits. its hard to see what they do in such deep water. there were also gannets about. I know more about their feeding habits because of their impressive dives into the sea,

I had entered waypoints for Ilfracombe and Lundy. If there had been less swell I'd have liked to spend the night anchored off the island. However there was an outside chance Wendy might meet up with me if I stayed on the main land. It was a cracking sail, but other than the one boat I followed out of Padstow, i didn't see another one in whole 11 hours it took me to get to Ilfracombe. I seem to be the only one out here!

There are very few harbours, and with this onshore wind even those are tricky to get into, It was interesting moving into a new coast gaurd area. A very welsh accent introduced the weather update on behalf of Milford Haven and Swansea Coast Guard. The new art gallery is in the two structures which look like cooling towers close to the front.

About 2 hours from Ifracombe Joe phone me. he has his exam on Thursday morning and the will be the end of his degree, he's been feeding  his results into a programme and reckons he his a borderline 1st/2.1 It probably all rests on the exam. No pressure then.

As I came Ilfracome, the local lifeboat seemed to be helping a newly arrived yacht.Nobody seemed very worked up, so it can't have been a big problem It is a drying harbour so I bolted my legs on before coming ashore to find a pub with wifi.I have not worked out where I go from here.

On the row ashore I was taken aback by the scale of a development that was going up. I'm sure they put up a convincing case that the height of the building was no taller than others around it whilst ignoring the fact that the ground was being dug away to create more stories!

When I got back from updating my blog Hylgje was sitting upright on the sand. The family whose boat had been helped in by the lifeboat were hanging around under the boat. They said they'd picked up some heavy duty fishing net around the prop. The furling jib had jammed and the tide was against them. The two young lads said they were never scared!