Penarth to Falmouth

We mentioned before about a little weather window that involved rain but calmer waves. Well, according to Mr Windy and the various forecasters who provide information to the grib files we downloaded to study, it existed. If you looked at the UK Meteorological office information though, it was less optimistic:

Red around the coast is bad news, as was the force 7 they offered for part of the Bristol channel:

It is so nice when you get conflicting forecasts from the various professionals. Makes the "do we go or not" decision so simple. Sure, the boat would be fine but for the first proper sea trip of the year we really didn't want a bumpy one. Since the one outlier was the Met Office, things looked like a go. We collected our spare boat keys from the marina office and told them that we would probably be away until late August all being well. The marina manager was half encouraging, half worrying with his comment though. This ex lifeboat man told the crew that "if any boat in the marina can make it to Falmouth, it is yours". Read into that what you will.

We made a last weather check in the morning and decided that the majority opinion would be accepted. The only drawback was that it meant leaving Penarth in the rain and a nice gusty force 6 wind - although it would be "up the chuff" (ie astern of us) as we headed down the Bristol Channel. After preparing the boat, we planned to leave the berth around 9:45 to join the 10:00am outbound lock from Cardiff bay. Plenty of time normally. Only this time when we called to be let out of Penarth marina we were told that we would have to lock out as the water level in the bay had dropped a lot overnight. Perfect. Even better was that the swirling water in the Penarth lock (they'd tried to establish  a free flow before we entered and had to give up) grabbed the boat and tried hard to push the bow against the floating pontoon. Plenty of reverse power was needed. Not the ideal start. Things got way better at the barrage itself. We were the only idiots locking out to sea at 10am, so they lifted the bridge for us:

and we picked our own spot in the lock. Folks from the marina came to wave us off - or was that to make sure we had really gone?  Paula took some pictures so you can see us in the barrage lock, and the captain in waterproof gear on the flybridge:

You can also see how grubby the domes and the top of the stack are. We have some serious cleaning ahead of us. Departing the barrage into the muddy waters of the Bristol channel in nice grey overcast weather was so tempting:

We settled back into the being underway routine rather well considering how long the layoff had been. Unending grey gloom outside refused to clear though:

but at least it stopped raining. The waves were building astern of us but nothing too dramatic and they didn't disturb the captain who had a snooze in the pilothouse:

Patrick the penguin was rather concerned about the crew being left in charge for the first time in 2025 and kept a couple of button like eyes firmly fixed on what she was doing:

As we headed down the Bristol channel, the wave pattern became more serious (as per the forecast) but from our stern so not too uncomfortable at all. The stabilisers were busy keeping us upright(ish) and we just pottered on, running around 20 rpm more than normal (1670) to try and optimise the tides for the full length of the route. It was very empty out there, we didn't see another pleasure craft, probably a message in that, and only a few commercial ships heading up to Avonmouth, Newport and Barry. There was one unusual movement of a solo tug:

who seemed very out of place. The help from the tide grew nicely and it felt as though we were surfing when we hit 10.3 knots:

for a through the water speed of 6.6. 

Finally, late afternoon, there were a few breaks in the cloud. They helped to deliver a stunning sunset across the water:

We settled into the normal night routine of radar and FLIR camera, watching both carefully. Whilst the crew was sleeping, the captain had the fun of watching three dolphins on the FLIR who changed their course to come over and play in our bow wave. Lovely sight even if only through an infra-red camera! The crew was at the helm for the stretch around Land's End and managed it with aplomb. Sunrise was almost as lovely as sunset:

only as the sun rises in the east and we were heading in that general direction, it made pot spotting trickier. The image from MarineTraffic shows us at the bumpiest part of the trip. 

Approaching the Lizard peninsular (which can often get unpleasant), we had the combined effects of a headwind over the tide and the residual waves from the strong easterly winds the day before. So, we nodded our way past, managing to give the anchor a wash a couple of times. Only 2 metre waves but the wavelength was very short (ie steep waves) so the boat tends to fall off one wave right into the next. Nothing dramatic, just some noise from the crockery.

As we headed up towards Falmouth we were reminded of just how many pot markers there are in the area and how poorly marked many are. The one great thing about the upper Bristol Channel is that you just don't see any of the pesky things. There are many bad bits about the area (muddy brown water, strong tides, relatively featureless compared to the Devon / Cornwall cliffs) but the lack of pots markers is a huge bonus.

Alex, the Nordhavn 55 owner you've met before emailed us to say that the Port Pendennis marina webcam showed lots of free space. We had intended to either pick up a buoy off the town or go upriver. However, the soft option of a berth there appealed - easy access to town, chance to get the bikes out etc, Hence we called them and arranged a slot. Amazing that they had spaces over a bank holiday weekend. (When we arrived, there were a couple of the larger visitor buoys free as well - the weather seemed to have put off most visitors)

Passing the docks and the usual mix of fleet auxiliary ships:

we then happily stopped alongside the big breakwater at Port Pendennis.  Our stalkers were already checking us out using the Port Pendennis webcam. Spot the Nordhavn approaching the pontoon::

and then in our allotted place:

Luckily, as we were being watched closely by a few stalkers, the boat came alongside beautifully and the crew handled the lines in a most professional manner. The old line of "you can fool some of the people all of the time....." 

The trip was 169 nautical miles through the water (more over the land) in around 26 hours - probably the fastest we've ever managed. We didn't see another pleasure craft for the entire journey until we were just off Falmouth when the weekend sailors were out enjoying the sun. Only a little salt on the boat above hull level to wash off too, only we were too tired to do so. We just had brunch and a clean up before wandering into town to make sure our legs still worked and to get some exercise.

We celebrated the start of the cruising season with a good dinner on board, washed down with a bottle from the winery we had visited in Spain last year:

Excellent stuff, shame it was the last one standing. Might need a revisit.

Maintenance news:

Nothing really. Hardly worth reading this bit. The big Lugger engine ran happily, no dramas there. The stern gland dripped nicely.and the stuffing box stayed nice and cool thanks to that. The electronics all behaved too. A bit boring for folks who like stories of changing major engine components underway. We, on the other hand, are very happy not to need to do that.