Friday 31 March
The moorings master was spotted doing his rounds, but we escaped charge and later decided to stay a second night. Although the trees are still bare, as at Fowey, the Helford is very pretty.
Exposed rock and undergrowth adds much colour, while elegant houses and landscaped gardens enhance every view. My crew enjoyed the free cabaret laid 
on by a large workboat, whose crew and pair of divers were working hard to service and clean the mooring buoys ready for the new season.
My people took advantage of daylight to rearrange our mooring by setting up a bridle warp around my bow – as they should have done last night. Leaning forward over the dolphin, Skipper noticed considerable further damage (from the accident in Falmouth) to my bow roller, rendering my anchoring mechanism unusable, a serious problem when there aren’t any marinas in Scilly, and ‘slinging the hook’ will be our main method of securing ourselves around the islands.
Plans were changed once again, as a fair forecast to Scilly was also a fair forecast to Cherbourg: it being Friday afternoon, a hurried e-mail was dispatched to the boatyard where I was built, followed up with a phone call, and initial arrangements were soon in place for emergency repairs to be carried out the following week. Skipper prepared a detailed passage plan, and it was decided to depart for a longer-than-usual channel crossing the following morning.