Fowey to Salcombe

You know how the forecast says it will be calm and the sun promises to peek through and you expect a perfect day on the water and then …… IT WAS!!

Leaving Fowey with little wind and a hint of the sun to come was a treat. The town was very quiet and peaceful:

Readymoney beach was deserted:

We took a straight course across to Bolt Head (about 36 nautical miles) and so set the autopilot and just enjoyed the ride. Very calm, just some ripples from the gentle breeze and a little swell from the earlier blowy stuff. Not even enough to upset an electric toothbrush that stood upright very happily for the entire trip, unaided.

The only downside was the fun of spotting yet more strange fishing pot markers. This time, as well as black oil drums and milk bottles, we saw another first:

Either the Plymouth Argyle players are practicing their corner kicks out to sea or the fishermen have started using kids’ footballs in nets as pot markers. We fear the latter of course.

Approaching Salcombe was a reminder of what a great place it is when not over-run by the summer hordes of DFLs. (DFL= Down From London). We crossed the bar about an hour before high water so no depth issues to worry about. For the non-boaters, the bar here (sandbank not alcohol related) had a fearsome reputation in olden days.  A nice strong wind against a spring ebb tide and it all gets interesting, with some rocks nearby to add a little spice to the navigation. Today, it was as rough as the average bathtub:

Heading down towards the town itself after a lovely 6 hours out to sea:

After the time in Fowey, we needed water (fresh, drinking and washing kind) so we popped onto the pontoon off the town and topped up the tank:

This was before heading around to a visitor mooring in “The Bag” – our favourite spot. The harbour staff are way better than of old. Very helpful and friendly.  We really like the off season when people have time to chat and the harbours have space. Of course, Easter is around the corner when the madness starts. We need to go back to Scotland soon where it is always quiet(ish)! Just a little boat maintenance around the lift out at month end first. Oh goodie.

Maintenance news: Not a lot really. The big Lugger has been behaving just fine, enjoying all the hours of exercise since her lazy winter period. The Captain did top up the coolant a little prior to departure today, just in case.  No signs of any leaks or a drop in the level – it just felt good to give her a little attention….

The built in navigation PC threw a wobbly en route to Fowey and rebooted itself. It is starting to behave like 7 year old Windows devices do i.e. erratically. Of course, our new Windows 8 laptop has behaved like that from day 1. It might be a winter 2014 activity to sort it out if these tantrums continue. As the PC runs on 24 volts, has 5 com ports and must run on Windows XP, you cannot just pick a new one up from PC World if it finally fails!