Csárdás

Well we were up at the crack of dawn yesterday morning and as soon as Runaway slipped her lines we followed suit and headed out of Falmouth harbour at 7.45am. A perfect southerly force three gave us a close reach on our easterly course towards Start Point and we were soon cracking along at 7 knots. On the whole it was a pleasant morning with only a few grey spots threatening the odd shower. We settled into our three-hours-on-three-hours-off watch routine and enjoying the sailing the time flew quickly. After lunch our course change for Portland Bill put the wind just aft of the beam so we hoisted the spinnaker and carried it until sundown. By then the wind had backed slightly anyway. Unfortunately it had also dropped and for a few hours we made only 3-4 knots until the wind picked up as forecast over night.

Around midnight, just off Portland Bill, while I was off-watch getting some shut-eye down below thick fog descended upon us and, rather concerned, Ange called me up on deck. It was utterly dark. Visibility must have been less than 50 yards. I have never experienced darkness like it. Even our mast-head tricolour was fuzzy and created a strange grey arcing shadow radiating downwards. Another yacht going in our direction had been around 300 yards to port and was now completely invisible. We could hear an engine noise to starboard and the fog signal of a power driven vessel. It was eerie and somewhat unnerving. Thank goodness for the new radar which was only fitted earlier this year. I powered it up and was able to keep track of other vessels. At first we were able to get a fix on the yacht that had passed us but eventually lost it. We weren’t too worried about him as we knew he had passed us and was heading in the same direction. More concerned about fishing boats and ships moving about! There was almost no point sitting in the cockpit as there really was nothing to see. We concentrated on the radar screen. It was like this for around 5 hours until past Anvil Point.

I was struck by how small an echo yachts give on radar. I don’t know if the other yacht had a radar reflector but when the fog lifted he appeared less than 1/2 a mile away but we’d lost him on radar hours ago. Speaks volumes for the new “Sea-me” active radar transponders. Think I might get one!

Once the fog had lifted we were now running downwind towards the needles and we poled out the Genoa. We had made excellent time and still had plenty of tide with us so made it into the Solent at 5am. The South Westerly breeze was gusting F6-7 in the Solent, creating a bit of a swell and with genoa poled out we hit 10 knots surfing a wave mid-solent!

We were tied up in our berth at Hamble Point by 7.45am. Exactly 24 hours from berth to berth, covering 150 miles, sailing all the way. A great passage to end our holiday with!

Marcus

We were hoping to leave Falmouth today and head to Fowey for a change of scenery, but changed our minds soon after we were awoken by the irritating sound of squeaking fenders that seemed exaggerated down in our cabin and the boat being pulled about by the 42 foot boat rafted to us named “Runaway”. Actually that had to be a good reason to leave, but the rain was coming down hard and the wind was force 5 and gusting from the east. So there really wasn’t much point. The wind was supposed to turn later today and go more to the south which would make our journey sailable and more pleasant so we decided to stay put and then make a long ~24hour leg back to Hamble to be home before Friday. We will leave early tomorrow along with Runaway who are heading for lymington so we may have some company.

I’ve pretty much seen all that Falmouth has to offer man and dog. For dog, there is not a lot to see if you go up the river. I took Vassy on the fold up boat bike to see if I could find somewhere we could go for him to have a really good run out (not that he needed it after keeping up with me on the bike!). There was no way to get down to the river because of all the privately owned houses and hotels, but because the tide was out I found a small spot where I could see other dogs playing in the sea so we had some fun down there for a while.

If you go south to Pendennis castle there is a bit of walking ground, although close to the road. I also found a nice walk up by Falmouth College through some trees.

Angie

BTW - Runaway is a lovely rugged looking Camper & Nicholson’s design which arrived yesterday morning having sailed all the way from the Azores where they departed last Saturday. They were taking part in ARC Europe which is the ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers) in reverse. Starting in Bermuda the fleet sail to Horta in the Azores and then split with some going to Lagos in Portugal and the rest sailing for Plymouth. Apparantly they had decent weather until the thunderstorms and strong Easterlies 100nm out from Landsend. Nice welcome home! One of Runaway’s crewmembers was suffering chest pains half way through the trip which seems to have stemmed from a fall on a rib earlier in the week. Fearing the worst and after a satellite call to a doctor by way of Falmouth Coastguard it was decided that the patient should be airlifted off the boat and once in range of Landsend a helicoptor rendezvoused, picked him up and took him to Truro hospital. So Runaway retired from ARC Europe to land in Falmouth instead of Plymouth to be able to visit their pal who is now said to be recovering well and should be out of hospital in a few days. Friends from Rally Portugal last year, Brian and Sandy in Moonshadow Star, went on to do the ARC after Rally Portugal and have just returned to Portugal with ARC Europe. It was good to talk of them to Runaway who had been moored next to them in Bermuda. Nice to see a boat kitted out for ocean sailing and to talk to a crew just returned from a long passage.

Marcus

Abbey Garden Photos

More to follow …

If you just want to get to and fro the Isles of Scilly there’s a very good helicoptor service which takes less than an hour. But if you’re mad into yachts you’ll sail there in around 5-6 hours from Penzance, 10-12 from Falmouth. You’ll pick good weather and enjoy the sail there. But as every British yachtsman knows, when it’s time to turn around and head home the wind will blow from the direction of home, dead on the nose. It will probably drop too.

It rained all night last night. Being at anchor I half-slept. I had set my alarm for the turn of the tide at 2am just to be on the safe side although I expected we’d remain wind-rode. The anchor held but the wind had gone further round to the East. It was still raining in the morning and we were tempted to remain in bed and stay another day on the islands. But we needed to be heading home and the forecast was for stronger wind from the east on Monday. If we were to bash into it we might as well do so with less of it. By 8am the rain had stopped and it looked clearer in the East so we decided to go for it. We motored out of the cove heading towards Lands End. For the first couple of hours we smashed into an Easterly swell and it was rather uncomfortable, but it eased as we approached the mainland.

There was enough wind to sail by but not in the right direction. Of course we could have sailed and tacked back and forth towards our destination but when you can motor the rhum line and you want to get ahead it’s psychologically hard to take the more time-consuming option. We had initially decided to head for Penzance and anchor there for the night, but on passing Lands End decided we should plug on and get round the Lizard for Falmouth. We’d only have to do that tomorrow anyway. So we made a course for the Lizard and bashed on. I decided we had enough diesel to continue motoring all the way.

Vassy was extremely relaxed and seems to have got used to this sailing malarky. The poor thing hadn’t been ashore and done any business since early yesterday evening. By the time we were half way between Lands End and the Lizard he began to whine. We guessed he might need a pee and gave him permission to go in the cockpit since the foredeck was like a rollercoaster and rather wet. Vassy immediately obliged. My goodness he needed to go. I think the automatic bilge pump had kicked in by the time he was half way through and we must have been close to sinking!

On approaching the Lizard I checked the fuel guage and it appeared disconcertingly low. No matter, we had a spare 10 litres in a jerry can in reserve and once passed the lizard and heading more NE, then finally N into Falmouth, we would be more free of the wind and able to sail.

I should have known better. On the route home when the wind has the uncanny knack of blowing from your intended direction it often also has the evil mind to head you at every course change. Every time we rounded a headland and put more north into our course the wind would back! The fuel guage was dropping dangerously low and every time I thought we could sail our course the wind would back and blow from our heading. Well, so what, I thought, we’re in a sailing boat, we’ll just have to tack about our course. So what if it takes all night! So just rounding the lizard and with about 15 miles to go to Falmouth we stop the engine and start sailing. With that the wind drops to around 7 knots true and a vicious easterly swell kicks in knocking the wind from the sails on every passing wave. Grrrr. I decide we’d motor just until we reach the Manacles. Then our course becomes dead north and we’d be free to sail. I knew this because on one tack we’d made 000 degrees magnetic quite easily. Guess what? On reaching the Manacles the wind veers again and blows from just east of north and drops again.

So we continue to motor. Slowly. Eyes glued to the fuel guage. We heard a call on the VHF from the coast guard asking if anyone could assist a small yacht in Falmouth bay. We didn’t catch what the problem was.

We tiptoed into Falmouth harbour doing around 3-4 knots with just slight whiff of diesel in the tank. With luck we’d arrived on the tide and had a knot of current with us. I kept the mainsail up until we were less than 50m from the pontoon! Plan B was to sail onto a swinging mooring (though by this time there was only 2 knots of breeze). Plan C was to turn around and run downwind to Helford river and anchor under sail. Plan D - put tail between legs and call the harbour master?

After mooring up we were told that several yachts had been towed in today having run out of fuel. Perhaps that is what had happened to that boat we’d heard on the radio. Luckily we made it in under our own steam. Just!

Thankfully we arrived just before the chip shop closed and we enjoyed fish and chips and a well earned beer. What a dull and tedious day but I suppose you have to take the rough with the smooth. If you just want to get to Scilly take the helicoptor!

Quick Update…

We are currently anchored in the cove between St Agnus and Gugh (pronounced New).

We made it to Tresco on Friday and visited the Abbey Gardens today. Wow, what a sight, the gardens are just fantastic. Full of really exotic plants from South Africa, New Zealand and Chile. Agaves the size of houses and the most fantastic Proteas. Yes I have got far too many photographs and will upload them as soon as we get better mobile phone reception than here [phone is currently tied to the backstay with just enough reception for an ordinary analog dial up. Not enough for GPRS. Marcus]

Apart from the Abbey Gardens, Tresco was a disappointment. Only so far as we had to keep the dog on the lead at all times. Not only in the garden, which would be quite acceptable, but around the whole island aswell. The island is privately owned so it is understandable but we found it all a bit contrived. It was like a kind of Jurassic Park. Transport by buggy, strict rules and regs, dead expensive Tresco stores. The whole place was unnaturally manicured which kind of spoilt it for us, and Vassy. An air of snobbery prevailed which was a shame, so after having seen what we came to see we headed for where we are now.

The weather had turned a bit grey and uninviting and the swell was fairly large as we left Tresco, but we soon got through that as we turned the corner into the lee of the islands, and very quickly the sky returned to a pleasing blue.

Our first attempt at anchoring was interesting. It felt like we were anchored amongst rocks which isn’t good as we could spin and the anchor can dislodge. So I got my shorty on and jumped in to the freezing cold water (13 degrees) to have a look and see what the anchor was embedded in. I saw through the blue haze and jellyfish that we were anchored on a submerged cable! Not good. We managed to free the anchor from the cable and found a much better place in sand the second time.

Me and Vassy rowed ashore which was fun. At least here he could run around to his heart’s content without me feeling like a criminal. We walked a little way around Gugh chasing the rabbits and had a nice view of Csardas at anchor.

When I set out for the boat again after 7pm I left Vassy on on the beach and made him swim a short distance to catch up with me. one day it would be nice to swim ashore with him without the Dinghy but I think he needs a bit more practice before we can attempt that. Even I was aching in odd places after my swim the other day, and he’s only a year old.

Tomorrow we may head off early for Penzance. The wind is all wrong. We are heading north east and tomorrow is the best of the lot. It will be a shame to leave the islands just when we’re beginning to start exploring but at least we have more to come and check out next time!

Photos to follow

Ang

We have been so lucky with the beautiful weather on this holiday so far.

We had an early start at Penzance, gorgeous, and we motored out towards Scilly with two other boats heading for the same destination.

Once again I didn’t actually do a lot en route (really Ang? you surprise me!). This was mainly due to the fact that we had no wind and therefore motored pretty much the whole way so I was tryiing to top up my tan and before I could say Henry Shackleton we were approaching the Isles of Scilly, and I had to text my Dad, and a few other friends because I was so excited.

The best bit about it though was being able to grab a buoy at St Mary’s and jump straight into the lovely cool water. Vassy desperately wanted to come too so we left his life jacket on him which makes it easier to haul him up onto the boat again. we also tied a line to him just in case as it was the first time we had attemped this trick we wanted to be careful.

Well after having had swim back in the harbour at Penzance he was already dying to get in with me so Marcus gave him a helping hand and lowered him off the back of the boat, his little legs already kicking with anticipation. He kept trying to climb on me so I had to swim away from him, only he was way quicker than me and i had to just hold him at arms length until he got used to the fact he was ok. Then we had a lovely swim around the boat. He got out a few times for a quick shake break before leaping back in again for more. It really was fantiastic. This is one thing I’ve been looking forward to doing as I love swimming. And the water is so blue and clear here.

After the swim, we pumped the dinghy up and rowed ashore for some sight seeing. St Mary’s is a cute little place. It does give you a sense of going back in time. The first thing I noticed were the more tender plants around the place, such as Aeoneums and Sempervivums growing on the walls. There were allotments surrounded by large pittosporum hedges (tobira I think), and larger Phormiums in flower.

We walked through town and over to the other side of the island where we had seen other yachts anchored in Porth Cressa, then we followed the coastal path for a while. It was so hot and lovely, not sure how long this weather is going to hold out.

Ang

Photos Here

After a quick trip into town to stock up on a few provisions etc we fuelled up at Falmouth Visitor’s Yacht Haven and motored out of the harbour. We had decided to head towards the Penzance/Mousehole/Newlyn area and either anchor for the night or head into Penzance when the harbour opened at high tide. Less than 4 knots of wind meant us motoring most of the way but in glorious sunshine. Just round the Lizard, however, the wind picked up slightly from the SE so we switched off the engine and hoisted the spinnaker. We sailed for around an hour but the spinnaker would collapse frequently and we were keen to arrive so we motored again.

We checked out the anchorage off Mousehole harbour but it looked quite open. Although the SEly wind was only slight and was due to go N/NE we decided a night in Penzance harbour would be preferable and the harbour gates were just about to open anyway, it being 2 hours before high tide. So we motored the short distance up to Penzance and arrived at the same time as around four other yachts all waiting to enter, as well as an old tug which according to a sign on it’s side was from Merseyside Maritime Museum. Were they lost? After waiting for a large fishing vessel to exit and the tug to enter us yachts were allowed to go in and we were berthed alongside a Dutch boat. Another smaller boat came in and moored next to us, making us part of a 5 boat raft. Luckily all five boats are due to leave this morning, most for the Scillies as far as I am aware.

After arriving we managed to get Vassy across three boats and up the high harbour wall and took him for a swim and a walk in town. He wasn’t so happy to get down the harbour wall back onto the boats and had to be carried down the ladder. So far no one seems to mind him walking across their boat. Some people can be a bit funny about things like that. I remember some people taking offence to a dog walking across their bows last year when rafted up, despite the dog making no mess, certainly none more than a human would make when walking across a boat which one has to do when rafted up. If you raft up you have to expect such things, so it surprised me to see these people complain. Luckily this year, so far, only dog lovers.

Now 5.30am and the gate has opened for the morning tide and we are just waiting for the people on the boat outside of us to wake up and leave before we can depart. Today we are heading for St Mary’s in the Isles of Scilly. Weather is still good, hardly any wind, but what there is due to go easterly so should be sheltered in the Scillies.

Marcus

We slipped away from Dartmouth early bells, after taking Vass for a quick squiz up the creek. It was a gorgeous time in the morning to leave such a lovely place and enjoy the beautiful scenery once more before we motored out passed the Castle feeling good about the fact we had walked right up to Day Mark at he highest point around Dartmouth. See photos.

Our trip to Falmouth was, it has to be said, pretty uneventful from a sailing point of view. We motored most of the way. However, I find that when I go sailing I have no excuse not to read, and enjoy a good book. Something I rarely ever do and usually find an excuse for, such as gardening. So with no garden to tender (apart from our mascot in the form of a purple Streptocarpus, wedged in the corner of the saloon, which seems to be coping well in the arrid salty conditions) I have not a lot else to worry about on the boat since Captain Tettmar has it all under control. I can settle down in the cockpit and read to my hearts content. I read the whole of “Light on Snow” by Anita Shreve. It’s the first book I’ve read of hers and I loved it. I could not put it down.

We did a spot of fishing… thought it was about time we awakened Vassy from his soporific state. I introduced him to a mackerel and they became friends (ahhh).

We had a little upwind sail into Falmouth and rafted up to a Moody at the visitors pontoon at the yacht haven.

We had a beer and Moules Frites in the local pub. I love it here, it’s old, and winding and dirty, with pigeons and water dripping from buildings and has great buzzing pubs.

Tomorrow we’re planning to anchor at Mousehole (local pronunciation - mowzul). Hoping this beautiful Summer weather will hold out till we reach Scilly.

Ang x

Poor Vassy. How could we be so cruel taking a boistrous English Springer Spaniel on a 15 hour passage accross the sea???

Frequently asked questions:

1. Doesn’t he get seasick? - we weren’t sure to begin with but are now, yes he does.

2. Can you tell if he’s unhappy? - erm, not really. But I’d hazard a guess that when a dog throws up, he’s not really that happy. Although I’ve seen him deliberately eating plants to make himself sick. Why do dogs do this (any vets out there)?

3. How does he go for a poo? - um, well, he doesn’t. He prefers the newer model of Hanse boats such as the 461, and especially if it has teak decks, then be assured he will not hesitate making a swift move to the foredeck and squating for the perfect poo. (joke’s on Swagman of Hamble). Seriously though, on this particular trip he didnt go at all, he didnt even show any signs of wanting to go, despite us occasionally trying to take him on to the foredeck and repeat “go poo” far too many times for anyone over 2 years old. After about 8 hours however he did go for an enormous wee. So our efforts were not in vain. Any dog mess on the foredeck of Csardas is easy to wash away.

4. How do you exercise him? Well on this trip I took him for one mammoth bike ride around hamble common before we set sail, so he slept most of the trip, exhausted after that. Then the rest of it he had to just deal with, but I did run around the foredeck with him once or twice before I realised this was in fact what was making him sick (no wonder!).

To be honest with you, I think we actually worried about Vassy far too much. He ate his tea happily and was even more happy when I gave him fresh fish guts from the Mackerel we caught just off the needles and enjoyed for dinner that evening. It’s lovely to watch how quickly a dog learns. I tried to excite him with the first trolling session but he wasn’t all that bothered until after the fish was caught. It only took me to start pulling the line in for the second time for him to jump up from the cockpit and excitedly look out in high expectation for another.

He refused to go in his cabin to sleep, as he needed to be with us. It was only when I went below for a sleep at about midnight that he came with me and curled up beside me stinking of fish.

When I awoke at about 3am, Vassy was out for the count. When we approached Dartmouth he was eager to sniff out the new land ahoy and as soon as we started to get the fenders ready I think he knew we were going ashore.

Since we arrived, he has become quite territorial of the boat and started barking at people on the pontoon last night. Today a boat rafted up next to us and Vassy was the first to greet the newcomers, he took it apon himself to jump aboard the boat and greet all the crew in turn.

Dartmouth has some great walks for dogs. At about Midday on Sunday we set out for Dartmouth Castle. I was following the walk described in a small book I had bought in the book shop in Dartmouth “Exploring from Dartmouth”. We had a little trouble finding the paths that were in the guide and ended up on a far greater walk than we had anticipated! That didn’t matter so much once we had reached the top of the longest and steepest field in Britain and happened upon the most beautiful views over the sea from Little Dartmouth. The weather was blazingly hot and neither of us was dressed for such a hike, but Vassy on the other hand was in his element and was certainly thanking us profusely for bringing him to such an eden for dogs, and that the sail here for him had been worth it just for this (well I’d like to think he was thanking us for it).

I was doing some wild flower spotting, such a wonderful variety of native fauna, and birds. I saw an iris in profusion and had to look it up in my book when I got back to the boat. I think it is iris foetidissima, the Stinking Iris. Anybody know for sure (see picture)?

When we got back to Dartmouth we had a taste of the best fish and chips we had had in a long time. Having a dog is a God send for keeping the seagulls at bay, horrid things that they are. I had the not so joyous experience of “overhead excretion by shitehawk”, and then proceeded to watch one seagull drop a small baby seagull (not old enough even to fly) to its death not 2 meters in front of us. Yes not a big fan of seagulls.

We all slept for hours when we returned back to the boat, got up for a few hours for a bite to eat and then slept another 10 hours.

Vassy is certainly enjoying himself now, there is no doubt in my mind. today we went for another mammoth walk. This time we followed the guide book again around the Kingswear side. Even more beautiful views and wonderful tropical plants. The climate here must be a gardeners dream.

I’m now looking forward to getting to the scilly Isles to Tresco and the famous Abbey Gardens.

bye for now,

Angie

Photos Here

Much activity in Hamble Point Marina on Friday afternoon when we arrived. The Round The Island Race was on Saturday morning so the marina was a hive of activity with people getting their boats ready. The pub had a late license and barbecue night to get people in the mood. After filling up with diesel and stowing luggage on board we went up to the pub and had a couple of pints with the Hanse crew who had just finished preparing their Hanse 342 for the race. We half wished we were joining the 1600 boats in the race. Next year, definitely.

The weather forecast was predicting light winds mostly from an Easterly direction for the weekend. Sod’s law says when heading round Portland Bill one can usually expect either no wind at all or a gale on the nose, so to have an Easterly forecast meant to make the most of it and we decided we should head direct for the Dart. A check of the tides suggested we should leave Hamble around Noon on Saturday to get the last of the tide out of the Needles and slack to fair water round the Bill.

We awoke Saturday morning after all the race boats had set off for the start and the marina was half empty. It was a lovely, hot and sunny day. A promising start to our Summer holiday. Peter Barrow, his Dad and brother Chris popped down for a coffee to see us off. Unfortunately they have had to delay their holiday due to work commitments, so won’t be sailing with us, but were down on their boat for the weekend.

At noon we slipped our lines and sailed out of the river. Very light winds from a more or less South Easterly direction, so after lunch we hoisted the spinnaker and tested out the new guys. Everything went swimmingly and as we approached Yarmouth we had to gybe, so we gybed the main, snuffed the kite, gybed the pole before unsnuffing the kite again. Unsure of what the wind would do as we left the lee of the island we got rid of the kite as we approached the Needles channel. Due to the light winds we were a little late and had a couple of knots of tide against us at the narrowest point but making steady progress.

Once past the Needles on our course for our first waypoint off Anvil Point with a light wind settled on our port quarter from the South East we hoisted the spinnaker again. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing gently behind us and we were making around 5 knots under spinnaker sailing easily. What more could you want?

With just the two of us I don’t think it’s wise to carry the spinnaker during darkness. So around 8pm we snuffed the spinnaker and put it away. Leaving the pole up we outhauled the Genoa the wrong side and I set a preventer for the main as our next course change would put the wind further aft. With this set up our speed was only a knot less than under Spinnaker and it was a much safer and easier ride. The autohelm could now cope better and the sails could not wrap up. Even with the spinnaker pole out the genoa could still be furled away quickly from the cockpit should it need to be.

We carried this sail plan until around 10 miles from Dartmouth when the wind went 180 degrees to the North West. We sailed into the entrance of the river Dart at 5am. What a lovely sail. It doesn’t go like that very often in this direction!

Yesterday after a few hours sleep to recuperate in the morning we walked up the hill to the West of the Dart entrance, around the Castle, right up to the top of the cliffs where the old coastguard cottages are. What an amazing view from up there! It must have been around 30 degrees centigrade and by the time we’d made it back to town Vassy was panting like mad and we were already for a drink. We collapsed and slept all afternoon!

Now in Dartmouth we will spend another day here today and the intention is to head around to the Yealm tomorrow.