Day7- tuesday 24th May- Newlyn

It certainly seemed like a student town when I hear revelry screams when i awoke at dawn on the mooring,! Managed to sort out my bank problems after a trip to Nat West. Seems my get started on this trip had caught up with me and i don't get paid until tomorrow.

Filled up with petrol at £1.85 a litre on the pontoon.I commented on the difference in price from the garage forecourt. He said it was £1.99 yesterday but they had reduced it to keep it under £2. I said it was already under £2. his answer was not illuminating. However my engine is very frugal using about 1 litre per hour so my four x 5.l tanks weren't going to break the bank. Not quite anyway!

Jane sent me an email entitled "Bloggin on the Ooggin". Great title. I'm beginning to welcome nice long emails-from followers -hint! This sailing lark can be a lonely business. Then just as I set sail Justine phoned me to answer a stack of IT related queries I'd left with her. Then I picked up an email from Gyll and managed to talk to Wendy so I began to feel connected again.I could probably have done without Joe's account in his email of getting so pissed a couple of days ago he slept in the yard outside his flat as he didn't manage to get through the door

The sail to Penzance was good overall apart from a lumpy bit around the Lizard. My outboard is positioned off centre on the back so when motor sailing and on starboard tacks its dug well into the water. however on port tacks it often leaves the water and screams until it re-enters. In certain strong waves it is also knocked sideways. The bit around the Lizard was rough and I was on a port tack.

Not surprisingly, being at sea involves a lot of time looking at the water. The waves that roll toward you never look much on photos. You need to be there to sense the difference between being in the hollows and rising to the crests. people who write about these things comment bout the difficulty in capturing this effectively.

In the way around I spotted the hotel where the management team went in February 2005 for a bonding session. I got to thinking that's the last of those I shall ever go on!

The waves smoothed out once around the Lizard and I savoured passing St. Michael's Mount. Its a very special and atmospheric place. It merges with the rest of the coast line so I was almost upon it before it stood out clearly.

It has such a presence and looks even more dramatic form the seaward side. It has been occupied by the St Aubyn family since the 1600s. it was once the main port for the Bay until penzance harbour was built.

And just to prove I was there:-

Moored in Newlyn.The Harbour master was a very friendly fellow. I commented that my Pilot Guide said that the mooring would be £4 rather than the £12 he wanted. We pondered on the effects of inflation since 2001! He also suggested that Cornwall has not got much to offer other than pasties and fish. Getting abit of money off tourists/ yachties probably compensates a bit.

Day6.Monday 23rd May. Yet more Fowey, and then Falmouth!

The mooring in Wiseman's Reach was just as peaceful as the night before.This was so much so that I started to think they had got it wrong about the Force 5/6 gusting7/8 south west wind. However, by the time I'd motored back into the harbour I realised they'd not been so off track!

Enroute to the harbour entrance i saw how they go about their garaging in thses parts!

As I'm still in familiar waters it doesn't seem like I've truly set off yet. The cheese and onion pasties in town are great, but they are not compensation for getting a bit further on.Radio Cornwall features the work of the Coastguard. yesterday 6 kids were rescued after their dinghy was washed onto the rocks near Falmouth. They had only one life jacket between them and one of their mothers was loath to call the emergency services because she thought she needed to pay!!

Without wishing to dwell on maritime accidents, a yacht just  came onto the town pontoon to drop off the 80year old guy who'd crushed his finger in a winch.His son told me he had insisted in going out instead of sheltering in the river. They were going to take him to Plymouth. He is a concert organist, so his son was concerned this would have a big impact on him. It's enough to take up gardening or maybe sketching!

Before setting out I wondered if it made any sense bringing my big vertical bike pump. Well it came in handy today putting extra air in my fenders. The constant pounding on the pontoon was flattening them.

The wind dropped a bit and set moved into the WNW pretty much as the forecast predicted to I set off at 4 bound for Falmouth. It was still gusting force 6 after rounding Dodman Point and it was a long tack to get there. The setting sun broke through as i approached putting all the cranes into silhouette.

I went for a pint and a Chinese takeaway. the price of a pint of Doombar seems to decrease as i work my way west. £2.50 is best so far.It's named after a sand bar at Padstow I think. Perhaps a pint should be free for anyone who crosses the bar.

Falmouth has turned into a real university town now. Dartington College moved down here as part of the university expansion last year. Falmouth' gain is Totnes's loss. The place has taken on a more studenty feel than when I was last here.There were some great earnest conversations going on in the pub.

Day5 Sunday 22nd May-Fowey for a bit longer.

The swell was heavy in the harbour last night and much larger boats than mine were bouncing up against the pontoon. I decided to go up river a bit and found serenity in Wiseman's Reach. On one side is the Imrys quay, which is where boats are loaded and the other side is just a beautiful Cornish river. I felt very smug as I ticked into my pasta washed down by a Cabernet-Shiraz-Merlot.

i awoke early at 5.50 and the place was silky smooth. There were only the sounds of owls and sea birds.

I was moored next to a lovely classic boat and I took many pitctes trying to optimise the composition of boat and reflection. I toyed with the idea of sketching it but I wanted a bit more sleep and it would still be there later.

The forecast was for a stong south westerly decreasing and veering to the south. This meant that later I may stand a chance of getting to Falmouth. In order to benefit from the west running tide. I went to the cashpoint first and was shocked to see my balance, It shouldn't be that low. How was I going to sort that out on a Sunday, particularly as I'd forgotten to bring my on line banking details with me.

 I set off at midday. I had the main sail fully reefed and started off motor sailing.However I made the mistake of towing my iinflatable.Within a short time it went airborne and then turned upside down. Its nose started to dig into the water and I believed the strain would rip the rope off it. I decided I should return and wait for better conditions, I was also rattled by my bank account situation. how can a day start so well and deteriorate so quickly?

Back in the harbour the wind continued to drop and I felt tempted to restart my journey. proper yachtsman wouldn't piss around in harbour! Get out there again my inner voice said, but I knew I'd lost the tide and didn't fancy trying to get around Dodman Point with the tide against me.

I now had time to wander around the galleries in town. There was a large sculpture of a wolf howling at the moon. What sort of frame of mind would you need to be in to spend a couple of grand on a subject like this?

The weather continued to improve and I savoured the sites as I made my way back to Wiseman's reach. there was the shabbiest wreck of a boat I'd ever seen on a mooring. there was also a wonderfully narrow proportioned house that was little wider than a boat shed.I took photos of both but gave up waiting for them to upload despite taking them on a low resolution setting.I'm finding this very frustrating and will probably post fewer photos in future. My laptop is also refusing to charge on both my mains and 12v leads!

Day 4- Saturday-Fowey

The forecast was strengthening winds from the west and rain in the afternoon. I decided to take a break and stay for the day. It was a good decision. First off i went to shower at The Galley. When you are tired and feeling scruffy there seems no better value for money than  £1for a 6 minute shower!

On the water there was a club yacht race with the square rigger as a back drop. It made a good picture. i sat in the yacht club later doing this blog and listening to the tales on someone hitting the rocks today. There was no damage, but a scarier storey was an earlier race where someone's spinnaker had jammed and the the dinghy plowed under water like a submarine!

There was a great art exhibition in St. Fimbarrus Church. It is a fantastically light church and was great to see it being used this way.
There was a picture of six bell ringers on the church wall dated 1732. It had a rhyme under it which includes:-
"Good is our Life fuch Ufage let us have",, which is eyebrow raising until you remember that an "f" was an "s" in ye old days!

I liked the way the reflections in the glass showed the church windows to create some great abstract       combined images.                                                                                                                                 

 

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Outside there was a typical English scene, with people watching under umbrellas in the rain as a band from Wales performed.

                                                                                                                         

I was very taken with a poster on a notice board i wasn't sure what sort of service Steve was offering or why he'd ended up on television!!

Day 3- Friday 20th May

For those who have been puzzled by the dates I have been posting on this blog, I apologise. I thought I was a day later than I am, so I have gone back and corrected them. Doesn't inspire confidence in someone who has been working out tidal flows and doing navigation work does it?

Left Plymouth late morning. I had needed to do some minor running repairs, but the main cause for delay was trying to reduce the disorder on board. I am carrying far more stuff on this trip then ever before, and I always struggled to travel light. I have put most things in sealed lidded boxes and labeled them. they are jammed into very possible corner. Whenever i want anything its in the box at the bottom or the back. This is a small boat so there is nowhere to put the box which is on top or in front, other than where I'm standing. Its like playing that game where you slide the tiles one at a time until the correct pattern is found- solo. By the time I get back I'll either have it completely sussed or there will be a trail of plastic boxes around the coast.

I admit that I have some unnecessary stuff on board- the ukulele, books I couldn't get into, sketching gear. I had the image that I'd find loads of time on a trip like this to do the thingsIi hadn't got around to at home. what are the chances? I promise I'll post photo if I get around to playing the a ukulele or doing some sketching.

Fowey seems like a short hp from Plymouth, but when the wind is almost on the nose, 6 hours tacking seems like a long time.In fact according to the GPS it was 25.6 nautical miles, and as there are 1.1515 miles per nautical milesthen this is about 30 miles.My aim is to do about 50 miles each day I travel.

Fowey is a beautiful little harbour, and this evening it was bathed in sunshine. Chips and some Cornish scrumpy was my reward for a hard slog across Whitsand Bay. One piece of equipment, which is not superfluous is my hand held Geonav chart plotter. the ability to confirm you are where you think you are so quickly gives you confidence. also to be able to zoom in and out to save looking through a range of charts is really useful. It also gives a precise sate of tide, so there are no calculations, and therefore errors, to make.

Day 2 19th May

Woke to the sun streaming through the windows at 6.00.I needed to get past Start Point at slack water, which was at about11.00, so had plenty of time. The sunshine helped recharge my battery through the solar panels. It had run down abit during the night as I'd left my laptop and mobile phones on charge. this was by way of an experiment as I needed to know how quickly my solar panels (65W total) would recover a full charge in the battery.

Enjoyed a leisurely breakfast in Alf Rescos. I'd never been there that early before and there was a different crowd. It was full of the guys who keep other peoples' boats going, they were the do-fores of Dartmouth as opposed to the done-fores who hadn't yet got up. I recognised the guy I'd done my competent crew course with about 15 years ago. I was too engrossed with his mates to interrupt, but I wonder what he would think of me doing this trip a few years later.

Back on the boat i learned that last nights bump with the submerged tree wasn't so damaging. The wheel was a bit jammed with bark, but was in working order, so harm done.

The wind changed quickly from north to south then to the south west as I headed towards Plymouth. This meant I had to motor sail for much of the way until I passed Bolt Tail and then I had one long port tack across Bigbury Bay. The only glitch on a great sail in force 3/4 winds was the fuse going which put the auto helm out of action. I rely on this piece of gear above almost anything else. It means I can leave the cockpit and sort out sail changes, tangled sheets and stuff. It had to wait until i got to Plymouth before I could sort it out.

Before I left work. My team had prepared a fantastic buffet. Sue had made a cake with a picture of Britain and a marzipan representation of Hylje. I had kept some for the journey. it tasted good in the sunshine. Most other Fridays I would have been at work! I've tried rotating the picture of it, but it still prints it on its side!

Day 1 -17th may

Leading up to the departure,I had many anxious moments, especially as the wind was so strong all over the country ,However sorting stuff out kept my mind occupied and there was so much to do. Today after getting Hylje loaded up I had the engine serviced and wanted to watch to get some tips.The poor lad had a real struggle putting the lower half of the outboard together, "This is the worst one I've worked on" he said as he tried to line everything up.His boss moaned and muttered about most people getting their engines service in the winter and it was all interrupting the other things he had to do.

Finally I took the car back home said goodbye to my lodgers,Nairere and Aziz, then cycled down to the boat with my new folding bike. It was high tide and there was a full moon yesterday,so the tide was high, lapping at the top of Vire Island.

I motored down to Dartmouth as the sun was setting,It was still and beautiful, but halfway I hit a large submerged log, which damaged the  the paddle wheel on my log,so unless I fix it I won't know what speed I am doing through the water or how far I've travelled . The GPS will tell me how far I've travelled, but its really useful to be able to compare the speed though the water with the actual speed over the ground,

In Dartmouth I had a pizza at the Dartmouth Arms and studied all the photos on the wall of the various times Bayard's Cove had been used as a film set. The Onedin line, was only one example and there was an unrecognisable photo of a very young Kris Kristopherson. I wondered what these stars made of Dartmouth and whether they still remember the place.