Falmouth to Plymouth to Salcombe 12/7 - 15/7/19

This is rather summarised due to no working laptop.

Departed Falmouth Friday 12/7 and had a great day's sail to Plymouth, probably the best sailing of the trip this far. Anchored Cawsand Bay for the night and having contacted George, a local Jester I met on the Challenge, made way to Mountbatten where he came out in his dinghy to help me onto a mooring.

We had just finished breakfast when a knock on the hull.

It was a youngster on an Elizabethan 31 a couple of moorings down. He was Anthony, just started out on his adventures from Eastbourne where he noticed AS after we got towed in by the Lifeboat. He had this guide to the Canary Islands on him! What an amazing set of coincidences!

He saw Arctic Smoke in Eastbourne after towed in by the lifeboat and his brother bought him a Pilot to the Canaries and there's a photo of Arctic Smoke in it! Then he saw us pick up a bouy a couple of bouys away from him and was blown away by seeing the boat again. He came over and we had a good chat. He referred to me and Arctic Smoke as "Legends" which tickled me somewhat. Never been held in such high esteem! We went out for Fish and Chips that evening before he set of on the Sunday for the Canaries. Fair winds Anthony.

Met up with my old pal Neal and his wife Trina for a great Pub lunch and then back to their place for a cuppa where Neal showed me his amazing collection of old toys, models and all sorts of interesting artifacts. A quite amazing collection.

On reinflating the dinghy to get back to the boat one of the valves broke and so had to go through the comical palava of pumping up and then getting the dust cap on ASAP before too much air escaped! Just managed.

Then picked up Bob (ex colleague and pal from Logical days) at Mayflower Steps. Sailed back to Cawsand Bay where spent a dolly night. Monday we beat to Salcombe. A lovely sail despite the beating. Dropped Anchor at 1800 after a slightly twitchy run up the river in a fickle failing wind. We ordered a valve repair kit before leaving and hope it will be at the Harbour Master's office today.

Plan to leave for Dartmouth tomorrow and then Poole to drop off Bob and pick up Mick and brother Basty and see Badge and Jane.

A few photos - Cape Clear to Falmouth

Written Log, Cape Clear to Falmouth

Dead Laptop with 90% of next Post on it so..

Apologies to my many readers but that's rather messed things up in terms of providing a detailed account of the last few days. On the other hand you could have had a lucky escape😁!
The dam laptop started blowing the boat's fuses yesterday and today I have tried to charge it up ashore but it won't play. Must have gone on strike in sympathy with the engine.

Anyway herewith a summary of the passage from Cape Clear to Falmouth.

Last Saturday a breeze sprang up from the West at around 1100 - just enough to get us out of South Harbour. A couple of pleasant days sailing followed in gentle westerly breezes which got us down to the west of the traffic seperately zone west of the Scillies. We were visited by Dolphins more than once on both days. On the Monday we were treated to a sighting of Whales breaching and blowing about half a mile directly ahead. They had large dorsal fins, a characteristic I had not noticed on previous sitings and so I must try and figure out what species they were. On the Wednesday morning I saw sharks swimming in the glassy sea during one of the numerous calm spells.

Around the Scillies traffic separation zones the winds became increasingly flukey we basically spent the best part of two days going very very slowly east or north or just drifting with the tide. Each successive shipping forecast which I was now able to pick up on Longwave indicated the possibility of westerly winds arriving later (after 12 hours) and every time a breeze arrived I thought this was it but nothing reliable materialised until mid morning yesterday and we finally were due south of the Lizard at 1330. There were only 15 miles left to cover to get to Falmouth. Once we were moving reasonably again I felt quite ok with the prospect of carrying on to Plymouth but I wanted to visit the Maritime Museum in Falmouth and it's a lovely place anyway. I dug out the last bottle of Pico white whine from 2016 and put it in the fridge to celebrate with later on arrival at tea-time.

What a silly thing to do. No sooner was the bottle in the fridge than the wind died. Not completely but there wasn't enough for Angus and so the electronic tiller pilot was pressed into service.

The Anchor finally went down in Falmouth Harbour at 2000. Passage over. Quite possibly the slowest ever recorded from Cape Clear to Falmouth!

For those hungry for more details I will post photos of my written log shortly (or try to do so at any rate).

After the Jester Baltimore Challenge

The next morning (Friday) I cooked breakfast for me and Bernie and we swapped tails of our respective Challenges. Bernie had it a lot tougher in little Mischief – a light 24 feet. The headwinds and seas were particularly trying foe him and he did incredibly well to get in only seven hours after Arctic Smoke. After breakfast we went ashore and met up with a number of other Jesters – many of whom Bernie had met two years ago when he completed the Challenge on his even smaller boat (lengthways at least) 'xxxxx', a McWester 22'! It was a delightfully sunny day and we had our Guinness in the sun and went for a walk to 'Lots Wife' – the large white Beacon standing above the entrance to Baltimore Harbour. It was enjoyable getting to know some of the others – who I had met briefly at the Skippers' Briefing in Plymouth. A number of us went on the Historical walk and learnt about the infamous sacking of the town in 1603 (or thereabouts) by the Barbary Pirates from North Africa. There's a certain ironic justice to be found in that event. After the death of Queen Elizabeth, King James virtually closed down the navy and as a consequence many ex navy personnel became pirates and set up base in Baltimore. A handy location from which to intercept the returning Spanish and French ships, loaded to the gunnells with ill gotten gains from the Caribbean. Baltimore was therefore an English Pirate enclave for some 60 or so years in the 17^th Century. The Pirates were of course officially on the Crown's wanted list, punishable by death! However, the local economy flourished on the back of Piracy and so a knowing blind eye was turned to their activities and very few ended up on the gallows. Eventually, the vast majority were pardoned!

That night was the Pirate Party put on by the locals – a successful piece of historical marketing that bolsters the local coffers today. It was of course great fun and there where many impressive fancy dress costumes in evidence. Photos can be seen on the recent photo post. That night I performed a mercy mission – after I dropped Bernie off on Mischief, I was hailed by John Passmore on his Rival 32. He had locked himself out of his boat. He had a combination lock but his phone battery was flat and he couldn't read the dials. Of course he rewarded me with late night drinks and by the time I got back to Arctic Smoke it was 0300!

The next day – Sunday – Bernie and I were to go sight seeing on Firkin Island but it peed with rain all day as only Irish rain can. I therefore stayed on the boat all day and wrote up previous blog entries and generally slobbed out. Of course I was slightly hung over too.

The next day Bernie decided to make tracks back to blighty and so I cooked us both another fry-up and he left around midday.

Later that day George from 'xxxx' - a lovely one off wooden 30 foot sloop made of teak – and his wife who had driven over helped me get AS onto a mooring. We lashed the two dinghies to the stern and with their outboard motors pushing AS along we were soon on the mooring. I would fly home on Wednesday for a week – my good friend Tom and his wife Nina, were visiting from the USA for a few days. That all went off fine and it was nice to spend time with Sharon and the kids too. We even fitted in a trip to Wimbledon as well as the London sight seeing with Tom and Nina. The Saturday nigh we had large family BBQ on the hottest day of the year.

I had contacted a local mechanic before leaving and was hopeful that he would have a go at the engine but nothing came of it and so on my return to Baltimore on Wednesday 3^rd July it was once again to a boat with no engine. To rub it in, my spare key had gone walkies and as it was around 2000 the harbour master who had my other key was not around. Therefore after getting a lift out to the boat from a friendly local I had to break in, making a right mess of the companionway hatch in the process.

Thursday was a lovely day so I decided to get going after settling up with the Harbour Master and enjoying a coffee and croissant at the water front café. A very reasonable £100 Euros was the charge for the mooring for 10 days.

After a quick look at the tides I realised I would have 2-3 hours of the ebb flowing west and would then have to punch the flood if I left at around midday. The winds were light and variable and for a while I was in two minds – was there enough wind to beat out of the Harbour? The breeze picked up and I decided to go for it. We exited the harbour without incident and turned west. The first possible destination was South Harbour, Cape Clear Island – only about 5 miles. Initially progress was good and we could lay our destination but then the breeze faltered and headed us and of course the flood kicked in. We tacked slowly westwards barely making any progress at all at the end of each tack. To start with I was frustrated but then realised that if I just had to drift around for hours so what – I was in no hurry. I just had to ensure I didn't get too close to the coast. Eventually the breeze returned and we picked up speed. South Harbour was extremely difficult to locate even with all my modern navigational aids. It didn't open up until we were right on top of it and for a while I was very unsure.

Eventually we ran in on a broad reach through the entrance which looked like it would be a challenge to beat out of and of course the winds were pretty fluky due to the high cliffs. We rounded up safely and dropped the hook in 8 metres. An absolutely wonderful location. Photos will be posted in a separate post when I get a decent connection. Even this will have to wait until back in the UK because we are shielded from the telephone masts my the high cliffs.

I cooked a decent dinner – a sort of chicken stew and put a serving aside for another day. At least the fridge still works which is a blessing. There were no other boats so I had the place to myself before a fancy French yacht came in at dusk. My night's sleep was not great due the blasted cold I had picked up but I've had a lot worse.

Friday was another gorgeous day and I dragged myself out of bed around 0830. I spoilt myself with hot water for a wash and a shave and started to feel almost human. A light breakfast of toast and my mum's home made marmalade followed and after clearing up I tackled a few jobs. First was a bit of maintenance on Angus the wind vane. The chord that stopped the vane swinging too far had almost worn through and needed replacing. I checked Angus over, applied a little grease on the spindle and put him back in position.

Next I tackled the Navtex antenna. I had not received any report on the Navtex (a weather information service transmitted in text over VHF) since leaving Cuba and even then they had been very hit and miss. I concluded that the most probable explanation was that the cable between the antenna and the receiver had corroded and so whilst I was at home I got some more cable and fittings. I opened up the antenna connection and to my surprise the cable looked fine but it did appear that one of the connections had parted. Some delicate work with the gas soldering iron – Mick's favourite tool – followed and I felt very smug once I had completed the job. At the time of writing however (Friday night 5/7/19) I have still not received any broadcast. I hope it's because we are shielded by the high cliffs around the harbour. Certainly all other forms of radio transmissions are very iffy. I'll have to wait until get off shore to know whether it works. I'll have a day or so beyond the normal Irish VHF transmissions and the UK ones and so it would be helpful if it did.

After a few other jobs I had a sandwich and headed for shore to have a look around. The quay was only a few hundred metres and I thought I could do with the exercise and so rowed over. A 10 minute walk across the narrowest part of the island took me to North Harbour. Amos t a town compared to sleepy South Harbour. The Ferries from various locations on the mainland and Firkin Island use it and quite a few yachts were there too. A proper little harbour complete with Fishing boats, a café and a visitors centre but I was more than happy with the solitude of South Harbour. Civilisation was only 10 minutes away in any case. After a look around I had a coffee and local ice cream and continued on my walk up the hill and across the island by a longer different route. I was rewarded with the most stunning views imaginable across to the mainland and Firkin Island. I'll post photos ASAP.

I got back to South Harbour around 1700 and cadged some water from the local guest house. Back at the quay one of the guests was having a swim. I asked him how it was and he said lovely! I resolved to have a dip off the boat when I got back aboard. Lovely it might have been but it was absolutely freezing – I lasted 30 seconds and was back up the boarding ladder as quickly as I could manage with my dodgy back – I put it out earlier lifting Angus off his perch.

I've decided to take advantage of the predicted North Westerlies due tomorrow and provided they materialise soon enough I'll leave at high tide – a very civilised 0900. The passage back will be the subject of another post. I’ll probably head for Falmouth if weather and tides permit. I should be able to get in under sail. I'd like to visit the Maritime Museum there and possibly see Knox Johnson's boat Suhali.

Postsrcipt: Actually left very slowly a 1115 when a slight breeze from the West arrived.

Photos from the Jester Baltimore Challenge, Baltimore and Cork

Cork. Not a place for the Red Duster!

Cork Busker

Cork Centre

By the Water in Cork

Local Transport

Modesty

Sunday 30th June

John

Bernie, Duncan, Don, Me, John, Mike

What a view  (over  Baltimore)

Me and Mike

Bernie and Mike

Lot's Wife (entrance to Baltimore)

The Finish Line (Loo Bouy)

The Cove, Baltimore)

Quiz Night

TJ

The Jesters

Pirates Dinner

Bernie in the Baltimore Sailing Club

John, me Austin

John, Austin, Bernie

Baltimore Sea Front

We made it!

The Fastnet - honest!

Land ho

Drying out under way

Bernie's last shot at the beast!

Arctic Smoke and the Jester Baltimore Challenge Part 5 - Sailing The Challenge - 16th -20th June 2019

Mischief and Arctic Smoke let go our mooring at Cargreen around 1900 shortly after high tide on Sunday 16^th June some 8 hours after the start of the Challenge from the Plymouth Breakwater at 1100 that morning. It was a beat all the way down the river into a strong blustery wind and we both had two reefs in. With no engine there were 3 potential hazards I was a little concerned about. The first was the Tamar bridge (or rather bridges – there are two next to each other), the wind can be unpredictable through there. The second was the chain ferries that have right of way. I would need to be extra careful without an engine not to get in their way – particularly given that the ebb tide would be pushing us down river. However the headwind should ensure I had plenty of manoeuvrability. The third was 'The Bridge' – the short cut by Drake's island. It seemed likely the wind would be dead on the nose through that narrow channel. We got through the first two without undue anxiety. The Bridge looked more challenging however. The wind in the Bridge itself seemed very strong – it was out of the shelter of the nearby hills – and was almost on the nose. Outside the bridge there were breakers on either side indicating the shallows through which the bridge cut. The lead up to the bridge was an area of very fluky winds one minute gusting strongly the next almost calm as the affects of the nearby hills and trees waxed and waned. I tacked closer through the gusts and lulls keeping to the west of the entrance in order to try and ensure I had the wind free right up to the start of the channel hoping that if I got headed in it I would have enough way on to drift through on the tide. I looked back to where Mischief was a few hundred yards astern and noted that Bernie was taking an alternative approach – he was getting lined up well before so as to go through on the same point of sail all the way through. Probably a better tactic. But by now I was committed. I would either have to go through from this point or abandon exiting via the Bridge and sail round Drake's Island. I decided to go for it and on a close reach in a gusty Force 6 but initially flatish water, we stormed down to The Bridge at 6-7 knots. At the entrance I hardened up close hauled and within about 30 seconds with white water to Port and Starboard, Arctic Smoke squirted out the other side like a cork out of a champagne bottle and in to the now decidedly bumpy waters of Plymouth Sound. It was quite exhilarating! I looked back as Mischief completed the transit safely too.

After all the excitement I decided to head over to the shelter of Cawsand Bay and heave to to stow the anchor properly and to tidy up the chaos down below. I had neglected to stow things properly including putting the stove on its gimbals and the cabin sole was strewn with various bits and pieces. After completing those chores I made myself a mug of Bernie's 'secrete' hot chocolate/Co Co mix and filled up the non-spill/non-knock over travel mug my Daughter Ursula had bought for me. Unfortunately Ursh, it won't stay upright in strong blow but the contents stayed in until I dropped it later in the passage and lid came off! It's nevertheless a very useful addition to the Galley and was made good use of.

I got underlay again after about 45 minutes and exited the Breakwater at about 2200 hours, 11 hours after the official start. There were a few yachts in the Bay as I left and I guessed that some of them may have been Jesters.

I steered SE close hauled on the Starboard tack under two reefs until around 0500 when I put in a tack to make some Westing. We were heading north of west with the tide against us but at least it felt like we were sort of going in the right direction. The tide was due to turn in around 3 hours and I was hopeful of rounding the Lizard on before the end of that west going stream. The wind eased slightly around this time and so I unfurled the Genoa to its full size.

At 1000 on Monday I put in another tack to head south eastwards once again. My principle objective at this time was to ensure I was well away from the Traffic Separation Zones (TSZ) around the Isles of Scilly by the time the expected calms arrived on Tuesday. At 1300 I tacked westwards again and found I could lay the waypoint I had set south of the southern TSZ. That I hoped would give sufficient margin for drifting. By 1500 I was having second thoughts about that. Progress was slower than I had hoped, the winds were failing ahead of time and the tide was now pushing us north toward the TSZ! Over the next few hours in fitful winds we tacked repeatedly trying to find a course that would enable some progress to be made.

By 1800 AS was going a little better and the tide was slackening enabling us to make some distance southwards. Around 2100 we were encouraged on our way by a pod of Dolphins as we made slow progress southwards. By 2200 were sailing slowly rather than simply drifting on course for our waypoint south of the Souther TSZ. By 0100 on Tuesday 18/6 the wind had died again. At 0300 we had just enough wind to get steerage way but the tide had changed again and although we were heading South we were actually going North! Just after 0400 a slight breeze sprang up from the SE and we were once again moving towards our southern WP. By 0800 the wind had died back to almost nothing again and we moved very slowly southwards.

Things picked up a little during the morning and we rounded our southern WP and cleared the next to the SW of the SW TZS and for a while we had a light breeze from the SE and were goose winged on course for the Fastnet! However, the wind veered during the day and within a few hours we were close hauled into winds north of West and struggling to lay Fastnet. The sailing for the most part was good during the day but the weather was miserable, cold, wet and grey. We didn't see the sun at all and no charge got into the batteries.

We were becalmed again between 0100 and 0200 on the 19/6. By 0330 the wind had strengthened to Force 3 but we had foul tide slowing us once again. This was also pushing us South of west and so we tacked back in a northerly direction. The wind backed gradually over the next few hours and we were almost able to lay Fastnet on the Starboard tack but I knew the tide would start pushing us NE again that afternoon. Around 2000 I noted we were only making 3k over the ground. We still had 60 miles to go to our waypoint west of the Fastnet TSZ by this point but we were once again on course for it and I nursed a hope that we may be able to avoid another dispiriting tack to the SE. At 2100 I again noted our disappointing progress. At the time I put this down to the foul tides being around for longer but I subsequently realised I was probably pinching the boat too much – trying to sail too close to the wind such that the boat's speed is adversely affected. I should have noticed this before but after my long lay-off from sailing AS I was perhaps not as well in tune with her as I once was. Later I also suspected that Angus' wind vane was also working slightly lose in the lumpy seas and that resulted in steering closer to the wind than the angle to which I had set the vane. I got the pliers out later to tighten it up. The wind had also been increasing over the last few hours and I released that I probably also had too much sail up for the conditions. This will naturally force the boat to steer closer to the wind AND lean her over more which can give the impression of increased speed when in fact the opposite is occurring. At around 2100 I therefore eased her off the wind a little and took two reefs in the main and an immediate improvement of 1.5k in speed was apparent. Our track over the ground did not suffer either probably because sailing better she was making less leeway.

At 2300 we had the only close encounter with a fishing boat and had to tack to the SW to avoid her – fishing boats having right of way over sail. Having been forced into the tack, I decided to stay on it for an hour to gain the westing that I suspected we would eventually need if we were going to round Fastnet to Starboard. I had not been in these parts before and was keen to both see the Fastnet up reasonably (but not too) close and to complete the full Jester course and had decided so to do despite the 'additional' hours this would incur. At midnight on the 19/20^th I tacked back NW again. The rest of the night was pretty bumpy with the two reefs proving to be a good investment. At 0600 on the 20^th I had to tack south of west once more because we were being pushed too far NE by the wind and current. At 0700 I tacked back for the Fastnet TSZ WP again and it appeared we might make it on that tack. At 0800 I noted that the wind had eased and perhaps should shake out the reefs which I did about an hour later. We reached the WP around midday and turned headed for the next North of the Fastnet which we rounded at 1515 and headed East for Baltimore. As luck would have it the tide had just turned in that direction too. Now with the wind and tide behind us we had a most glorious run to Baltimore in the sun and I even got down to shorts and T shirt. The previous night I was so cold I had 6 layers on!

At 1634:30 the Looe Buoy in the entrance of Baltimore Harbour bore due east and we had completed the Jester Baltimore Challenge. Now I needed to find somewhere suitable to Anchor. After stooging around and very nearly putting the boat aground on a bank when we missed stays under mainsail alone, I anchored at 1500 in 3.5 metres off the quay.

Passage over.

I stayed on board that evening and tidied up the boat.

On my approach from Fastnet I picked up an email notification from Marine Traffic giving Mischief's noon position some 20 miles to the East of Baltimore. I new Bernie would therefore have a long final stretch against both the wind and current. He got in at midnight whilst I was asleep but I noticed him at Anchor when I popped my head up at around 1400.