Month: April 2017

Sunday 16 April

Mate woke early but didn’t find any evidence of a visit from the Easter bunny – I guess that’s the price you pay for always being on the move. Once Skipper had roused himself they tidied me up for the last three miles into Waterford City, where we would tie up to a pontoon on the edge of the river. Unfortunately they didn’t time our arrival well, and the stream was in full ebb, with an awkward crosswind to make it even more difficult to ‘land’. The promised gap had been commandeered by a small sailing yacht, so my crew eventually got me rafted up to a boat already secured to the mooring, but I was lying at a very strange angle with my bow resolutely out into the river. By the time the flow had eased, so had the wind; the little yacht’s crew had returned to take her elsewhere, and we were able to slip into the space without further drama.
We were the first visitors of the season, so the kind and helpful harbour master, and his lovely Alsation, Geordie, gave us a discount on the berthing fees. Mate was glad to catch up with the laundry at very good rates, and enjoyed hot showers ashore in the facilities. I had a good wash down and my water tanks were filled up at last. Shore power soon got all the electronic toys in full working order again, so good use was made of the wifi.

Friday 14 -Saturday 15 April

The day dawned bright with little wind, so we took the short cut through St Helen’s Gap and out past Round Island, with its comforting lighthouse. Skipper’s plan was to set a course that we could sail, and see where the wind took us towards the South coast of Ireland. In fact the wind varied a little between Southwest – West – Northwest but a fairly consistent Force 4, so we held a port tack all the way. The sun didn’t last long and there were occasional showers, so it didn’t feel very warm. A couple of kittiwakes danced around my rigging for almost the whole passage, providing welcome distraction and entertainment when Mate once again succumbed to the green sea monster. However, she bravely stood her watches, but was glad to leave the sail handling to Skipper.
We finally arrived at Dunmore East, at the mouth of the Suir estuary that leads to Waterford, after 28½ hours, having covered 156 nautical miles. We stowed the sails (too early) to motor a further ten miles upriver, spotting a pair of harbour porpoises in Duncannon Bay, while Skipper snoozed, worn out from looking after me as well as his crew. We found a lovely anchorage near a small blue chain ferry in the King’s Channel, and somebody took our photo and put it on our Marine Traffic profile.

Thursday 13 April

This was our last day in this very special cruising ground, and we tried to make the most of it, and see as much of the area as possible. We motored out of the Cove into St Mary’s Sound, across the South side of Samson into the ‘gap’ between Bryher and Tresco: at the very low water Springs at the times of the Equinoxes, people walk across the sands, and enjoy pop up food festivals between the Islands. Tresco is famous for its tropical Abbey Gardens; sadly we didn’t have time to stop. We followed the channel up New Grimsby Sound and followed the headland Eastwards into Old Grimsby Sound, spotting Men-a-Vaur rocks beyond. We found a sheltered pool between St Helens and Tean (Tee-ann), surrounded by rocks and islets that break any seas coming in, and enjoyed a calm and peaceful night, with another seal for company, and enticing views of St Martins just out of reach.

Wednesday 12 April

Today my people left me to doze in The Cove, while they took my little sister ashore to explore these islands I’m lying between. They landed at low water onto a rocky and weedy foreshore, and struggled to carry her high up the beach to a safe point above the high water mark, where she could be secured to a sturdy boulder.

First they crossed the sandbar to walk a full circuit of Gugh, from whose summit could be seen almost the whole archipelago. The coconut-fragranced gorse was enhanced by acres of wild daffodils and narcissi, white- and bluebells, violets and a single wild gladiolus, while birdsong filled the air.
Crossing back towards St Agnes to seek lunch, they were too late at the Turk’s Head at the quay, so enjoyed the local brew soaked up by some crisps, before following the unwaymarked track, pausing at the tiny church to admire the unusual windows, and finding themselves at Troytown farm, where Scilly cows provide creamy Jersey-style milk for the dairy fairies to turn into delicious butter, yogurts and ice cream. There is a campsite including a fishing net hammock, and nearby a stone circle maze laid by an ancient lighthouse keeper. The Post Office offered a comprehensive range of fresh provisions, groceries, fruit and vegetables, and they retraced their steps past the piglets to find l’arrêt now conveniently near the waterline, for an easy return to me to rest weary legs.

Tuesday 11 April

Everything my crew read about navigating around the Isles of Scilly warned of strong and unpredictable tides, hidden unmarked rocks, and an absolute need for calm conditions and good visibility. They were so lucky to bring me to this magical, beautiful place in the best possible weather, and today decided to test the accuracy of the chart plotter by exploring the outlying Western Rocks, in search of the elusive puffin. We cruised carefully around Annet, in sight of the majestic Bishop Rock lighthouse, and wove our careful way through the channels with the trusty binoculars seeing more use than usual. Sadly it seemed the special little seabirds have not yet returned to their breeding grounds for this season, but my people were enchanted by sightings of Atlantic grey seal – several, or one who followed us around. We dropped anchor in The Cove, lying between St Agnes and Gugh. The Cove was inhabited by more wildfowl than humans, so not entirely peaceful, but not busy either. Being Springs, the sandbar joining the two islands became covered either side of high tide, but we remained very sheltered, albeit I could feel the tide rush past me down the temporary channel.

Monday 10 April

Thanks to our early morning wake-up call from the very helpful Charlie, the crew were soon up and about to putter ashore in l’arrêt to explore this lovely island. The wind was cool but the warm sunshine made the turquoise seas sparkle, and this early in the season few visitors were around to crowd us. They walked around Peninnis Head lighthouse, trying to identify some of the local flora and fauna, and enjoyed a wonderful al fresco lunch overlooking Porth Cressa bay at the delightful ‘dibble & grub’: anyone remember ‘Trumpton’ from the late 1960s?

Sunday 9 April

At watch changeover at 0300, Mate found us motorsailing, and watched Orion gradually sink into the sea to the South. By 0500, as the wind continued to veer onto the nose, she struggled with the lack of winches to release the preventer in order to haul the mainsail onto a close reach, winch in the staysail sheet, still feeling very stiff, and finally give Trevver a rest: peace at last. The new bimini frame also impedes her reach to the clutches that hold the sheets when they’re not on the winch, and a knee that is too painful to kneel on doesn’t improve things.

Now officially in Atlantic waters (more or less), conditions changed again as the wind felt fresher and a high level misty cloud had blown in, obscuring a beautifully bright third quarter moon. 0600 saw a murky lightening through fifty shades of grey at watch handover, but it felt surprisingly warm even without a triumphant sunrise to lift the spirits. Some risk of murking this morning – big ships sneaking up on me by lurking in the murk.

At 0800 Skipper woke the Mate to begin preparations for our final approach: the Isles of Scilly were distinct on the horizon at last. Trevver was roused from his brief respite, the sails were furled or dropped and the pilotage notes were checked at regular intervals. Already aware of the weather forecast, and of the best anchorages for each wind direction, the crew decided not to head for the typical first Scilly landfall of St Mary’s harbour, but to seek protection from the incoming Northerly wind by tucking into Porth Cressa, on the South side of the isthmus. This was where the fun really began…

There seemed to be a mooring field just where Skipper had elected to drop the anchor, so he decided to tie up to a mooring buoy instead. Trouble was, there was no pick-up buoy, and he struggled to lasso the buoy with a mooring warp. Mate went forward to ‘help’, and somehow in leaning over the bow they both managed to activate their MOB1 man overboard alerts, stored inside their lifejackets, causing the chart plotter alarm to sound. Having realised it was their own signals, Mate decided they must inform Falmouth Coastguard of the false alarm, and both crew were preoccupied with this while the unsecured mooring warp gently slipped off the buoy and we started drifting gently towards the rocky beach. Fortunately Skipper noticed before I was in any real danger, and I was soon firmly tied on. Apart from this inauspicious ending, the crew were quite pleased with themselves at completing a passage of 192 sea miles in just under 38 hours.

No sooner had I settled to my mooring than it looked like the harbourmaster was hot on our tail for mooring fees – usually not payable at anchor. However, it soon became clear that this was but a local fisherman returning from a regular inspection of his pots, and he had booty aboard. After a very pleasant chat, he offered my people a pair of beautiful lobsters for what they considered a very reasonable price, along with a lump of seaweed to keep them calm under, in the fish bucket, until it was time to cook them for supper. The freshest of seafood with a glass of cool white in beautiful surroundings and a stunning sunset – Paradise regained.

Saturday 8 April

Skipper took a long watch from 0300 – 0800, allowing Mate some much-needed rest. While dodging vessels using the shipping lanes he experimented with twin headsail combinations and was able to sail without the engine for a while…and the first twelve hours was under my keel. As soon as Mate took watch half-a-dozen dolphins played around me for about 15 minutes – she must be a Dolphin Whisperer, as they rarely appear when Skipper’s on watch on his own. Her theory is that they know when she needs their support and entertainment to distract her if she’s not feeling great, but whatever, their visits are always a privilege and a joy.

We were motoring again in very light zephyrs and a flat sea…Mate even got her knitting out for a while. She burned her finger on the touchscreen of the chart plotter, so turned it off to cool down as it seemed to be overheating. Unfortunately this meant it was no longer recording our distance travelled, but there is another gadget on the other binnacle that logs sea miles covered. After lunch together, Skipper decided to change course to “make the most of” the available wind, and he hoisted the mainsail and unfurled the gennaker to pick up a following breeze. Now 40˚ off course we were at least sailing, and on a very comfortable reach, and in the end we only covered about 20M more than expected in the planning. At 1500 he added to the log: 35M S of Rame Head (Plymouth)…but it certainly wasn’t visible.

Skipper must have taken pity on Mate, as he let her sleep until 1800, and she came on deck to find us slightly heeled under staysail and main, making good speed but less good course. At 1900 she restarted Trevver to charge up the batteries to keep Jeanny and all the electronics running. With AIS overlay on the chart plotter as well, all the toys are thirsty, but essential to stress-free cruising. Skipper applied his culinary skills to placing two French style ready meals in the oven to heat through, and they were much enjoyed, especially by Mate who’d settled enough to feel hungry.

At 2000 Mate proved her weather prediction correct as the wind died towards evening. She hauled in the mainsail and furled the uncooperative staysail, guiding ‘the boys’ to pick up our correct course. By 2200 we were 30M South of the Lizard, well out of any overfalls that run to about 5M offshore, and parallel to the course we’d plotted last week from the Helford river. Dolphins joined us in the dark around midnight, when the Wolf Rock light was identified to the North at the watch handover.

The crew agreed to keep the remaining watches short so that they were both relatively fresh to make landfall in Scilly in daylight, where careful ‘eyeball’ pilotage is essential. As Mate retired, Skipper got us sailing again into the new day.

Friday 7 April

Sated by a reasonable continental breakfast chez Chantereyne, the crew cycled into town for fresh provisions to sustain them during the long passage to the Isles of Scilly. Back in the chantier (boatyard), the multi-talented and endlessly patient Pierre-Julien skilfully towed me back to the waiting PNU crane and I was lowered gently back into the water. I was tied up to the technical pontoon while my crew enjoyed a fresh spider crab salad in the sunshine for lunch.

I was prepared for departure and we slipped the lines at 2030 into a calm sea with no wind, allowing Mate to cook supper underway: fresh lemon sole with new potatoes and green beans. This proved tricky to eat in shifts at the saloon table by red torch headlight! There was a lovely sunset and a bright moon rose in a clear sky, as we retraced our inbound route, identifying the orange flashing leading lights into Braye harbour on Alderney, and the white lighthouse of Casquets rocks. Dolphins joined us briefly several times.

Thursday 6 April

French time being an hour ahead of the ship’s clock, Skipper set his alarm for an early call to be at the yard before work started, in order to complete the necessary preparations, such as disconnecting all electrics before welding took place. The welder appointed to the repairs was Thierry, who built my hull in the first place, and had the muscle for any manual adjustments needed along the way. Skipper took advantage of the lift out to clean and inspect my hull below the waterline, and was able to scrape away the pesky barnacles that attach themselves to my prop, bow thruster and Forward-Looking Sonar (FLS), as well as polish up the anodes. He discovered that my propeller was a little loose, so it was lucky I was in the yard for that to be tightened up before it fell off into the sea, although apparently that wasn’t really very likely. He learned a lot about aluminium welding, and was very impressed with the care and quality of workmanship. He’s confident I am now stronger and better than ever.

Meanwhile, Mate stayed in the hotel, enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and settled down to bring this blog towards up to date, thanks to the hotel’s free wifi. It was such a beautiful sunny day that in the end she took Daisy out on the Tourlaville road to the Leclerc hypermarket for some provisions she’d been unable to source in town. She made a mad dash back to the yard to stow the shopping aboard before they closed the gates at the factory, and after a leisurely shower back at the hotel, the crew enjoyed a very good prix fixe menu at L’Equipage, the yacht club at the marina.