Penarth to Falmouth

Our plan was to use Falmouth as a stopping off spot en route to the Solent area. We will fit the new anodes etc, get the engine mounts swapped then go over to Guernsey for fuel before heading back up to Scotland for the summer. This is as detailed a plan as you will get from us, sorry for those of you that need more up front planning of when we have to be where and hence feel cheated. In fact, we feel very sorry for you. Chill out!

To take the fierce spring tide with us in the narrow bit of the Bristol Channel where it runs the hardest, we wanted to lock out just before high water. That meant the 8:30 departure through the Cardiff Bay Barrage locks. Of course, it started raining, hard, at about 8:15 just as we left our berth in the marina. Lovely. Still the Captain could hide under the nice new Bimini. The crew was less lucky (less lucky = drenched).

As we locked out, the rain eased up but the fog came in. Kind of a repeat of our trip to Cardiff from Milford which was completed in a real pea-souper (for the non UK readers that means a very thick fog). So, no pictures. With the tide turned, we roared down past Barry (the best thing, not a place to linger in or off) and towards Lundy. Proof of the tidal assistance:

Actually, a little later on we made 10.8 knots over the ground with only 6.2 through the water @ 1450rpm. Very economical. Of course, when it turned life was not so rosy – but the tide strength was lower. For the insomniacs who listen to the shipping forecast on Radio 4 here is Hartland point as seen in the murk from the pilothouse.  (Very English, it would take too long to explain it to the non UK readers so we will not even try but you can look at Wiki on Shipping forecast. People have even written books about it Shipping forecast inspired book. It really is a national institution of the quirky English kind ). The tide around the headland was pretty strong so we crawled along at 1.9knots passing it.

Lundy was a grey blob in a grey sea and grey sky so no pic of that lovely island. The NE’ly winds in the Bristol Channel meant a small chop of up to 2 metres on our stern quarter that kept the stabilisers amused.  As the wind moved to the SW, things flattened out and no real head sea built up as we pottered down the north Cornish coast overnight.

Daylight saw us approaching Lands End. As we headed out of the shelter of the land, we encountered the Atlantic swell that had built up from the strong winds further out to sea. A nice 2 to 3 metre swell on the beam as we passed the iconic Longships lighthouse kept the stabilisers very busy.

Watching the bigger waves roll in above the window height in the pilothouse is fun – only if you have complete trust in the boat and how she will behave of course! The wind was, by now, southerly so we had the swell on our beam and a little wind induced chop on the nose hence this was the liveliest part of the trip. Nothing at all dramatic but enough to make Shelia the emu (Patrick’s buddy) leave her normal seat. Patrick, weighed down by all that millet stuffing, did not budge. A proper salty old sea-penguin.

As we turned SE’ly to head into the English Channel towards the Lizard the sun came out (as did some fishing boats from Newlyn that we had to avoid) and we surfed our way along very happily. Spotting the first black pot markers being towed underwater by the strong tides was a nasty reminder that we were back in “sort of civilisation”. Off the Lizard, the sea was was the normal lumpy mess inshore but we tend to give this headland a wide berth just in case:

It just looks grey and boring in this picture though....

Anchored off the Manacles just before the Helford river entrance was the usual tanker awaiting orders:

See how it gets sunny for Falmouth? We stormed up to the estuary entrance – not through help from the tide but because we needed to give the main engine a “good burn” after many hours running. Think we’ve mentioned before how this is important to help keep the cylinder bores in good condition and to blow any soot out of the exhaust system. The only scary bit about it is the fuel consumption – over 33 litres/hour at wide open throttle when the boat is only doing 8.5 knots or so but dragging up some impressive wake behind her. Now you know why we cruise at hull speed for the boat (see the info on fuel consumption here Fuel burn post)

It felt like we’d arrived for a summer holiday in a way as this was a favourite destination when we cruised the south coast & Channel Islands for a couple of weeks whilst working. The Crew had previously commented on how nice it was knowing that the mid-river pontoons always had space and that was, of course, wrong! Our favourite spot (just above Smugglers Cottage, called Ruan Creek) was very busy with only small gaps left. Luckily a nice man moved his boat to “tidy up” the spaces for us. Apparently, the pontoons are used by live-aboard people (like us!) until the end of April when the harbour office starts to charge summer rates. In most places the summer rates start on April 1^st. The benefit of this is that they don’t collect any visitor charges until May 1^st either. The downside is a feeble Vodafone signal and no data connection at all.

We arrived tired after a 33 hour “berth to berth” trip (about 31.5 out to sea) covering 205 nautical miles on the log and around 195 over the ground.  First job was a shower, then we were invited by the aforementioned “nice man” (he is Jeremy by the way) and his wife Patricia for a drink on board their 50 year old Rampart 48 motor cruiser, “Tudora”. For the non powerboat folk, they are a classic wooden craft with a great reputation. No picture of the actual boat but here is a similar craft for you stolen from the web:

They also live on board, were heading for the Thames traditional boat rally this summer at Henley and then planning a winter in Ipswich prior to a Baltic cruise in 2015. The boat has been beautifully restored / preserved. Might even see them in the Baltic next year.