2019 Epic Sailing
12 May Falmouth To The Isle Of Man My Photos
2nd May I traveld t almouth from Trowbridge on a very scenic train journey (involving 3 changes), meeting Colin and Jeremy en route at Exeter. At Falmouth Dockyard we met Nigel and Tony and moved onto Wave Wash. We were treated to a military style briefing as to how things were done on WW. No locking ropes on the cleats - OXO method used etc etc. The boat was moved to an outer harbour berth (after small issue of the bridge being closed on us as we approached) and we went ashore for some victualling and a fish and chip supper.
3rd May Set off for the Isles of Scilly at 7:00 in thick fog. All watching the instruments, me on the fore deck looking for hazards. Fog cleared into a beautiful day around 10:00 as we passed the Lizard. The first dolphin of the trip spotted about half way to the Scillies and they escorted us all the way into St Marys via Crow sound pilotage. Weather started to deteriorate as we searched for a mooring and the first buoy selected proved to be a fisherman’s who soon arrived and turfed us off. Very evident that something was going on in Hugh Town with dozens of gigs cruising around.
4th May A very bumpy night. No sailing today. The harbour taxi picked us up at 11:30. After a swift pasty we found a vantage point on a cliff top to watch the women’s gig race from St Agnes to Hugh Town. This was an amazing spectacle in bright sunshine with 160 gigs from all over the UK racing hard against a strong North easterly wind. We then continued along the coast path through through the Garrison and back round to the other side of Hugh Town (which straddles an isthmus). The party split here and C, J and myself headed off to seek Harold Wilson’s grave. After some unsuccessful searching Colin came up trumps with an old photograph. Last taxi back to boat at 4:30pm.
5th May The need for water and fuel required an early start to the day. Much competition for fuel and it was my job to fend off boats waiting as Wave Wash first in queue. We needed to be first for the right tide for beaching in Appletree bay on Tresco. It was a glorious day as we stepped onto the golden sand of a deserted Tresco beach. It was only a couple of minutes walk to the world famous Tresco Gardens and so that was our first stop. Absolutely enchanting, even from my perspective. A gardener would be blown away. Mental note made to return here with Jan. From here we walked to New Grimsby before making it back to Wave Wash just a few moments too late to avoid having to paddle and make a difficult rope ladder climb to get on board. The waiting for the tide period was occupied with preparations for the overnight voyage to Ireland which include a thorough fore to aft boat clean, inside and out. As soon as we floated in enough water we were under way and the watch system started. Four on and four off, Jeremy and I taking the first shift of 5pm to 9pm. Dolphins again all around.
6th May The dreaded dog-watch passed very pleasantly with starry skies and a glassy sea. First light was spotted about 4am. Much discussion about tides and weather ruled out Dublin as our destination and we were looking at Rosslaire or Wexford. As the 134 miles to our first waypoint slowly counted down, the watches came and went and the dolphins were such constant companions that we stopped alerting each other to sightings. All passed smoothly until we reached the first waypoint. From here the wind moved aft and we started running. It was only another 15 to 20 miles to go but it took us four hours and the final approach into Wexford was extremely challenging with a buoyed channel that was hard to pick out and some very shallow bars to get across. At one stage with the sounder reading 1.2m I was convinced Nigel was going to abort. But we carried on and eventually found a part of the quay, just below the town bridge, to tie up alongside. 29hrs at sea 150 miles. Wexford was not as I remembered. Our first contact ashore was with a suicide watch team, fully rigged out with flashing red and white light life jackets ready to jump in and rescue jumpers from the bridge. Then the search for food. A Chinese was sent back to Nigel and Tony whilst the crew went to a busy chippy and then onto a lively pub. At 11:30pm we emerged from pub to be greeted by an ambulance treating victims of drink and disagreements. Back on board the skipper called for a volunteer to remain on watch until the boat grounded. I stepped forward as my two colleagues were definitely in need of sleep.
7th May Time Waiting for the boat to ground passed easily with a long phone call back to Jan. She had been tracking our progress on AIS. The boat grounded about 1am at about the same time as the local quayside emptied of drunks. I got about 5hrs sleep before waking to hear N and T discussing the options. N was worried about forecasts predicting Easterly gales coming in later (which means 12 hrs in weather forecast language). Tony thought we could make Arklow to ride out the bad weather in a more friendly harbour. I agreed with Tony when Nigel asked my opinion and so we set off at 7am. it was much easier finding our way out of the channel in flat calm and with a rested crew than it was coming in. I had loads of brownie points from my noble actions on anchor watch. A really delightful and fast passage getting in about 12:30. A lovely lunch was followed with another thorough boat clean. Once boat had been sorted we had permission to shower. Before eating Colin and I did a fix on the leaky window above my berth. We ate in a pub called Christie’s which was a great choice. Good food and Guinness and, in the drinking bar, on the TV Liverpool vs Barcelona in the Euro semis finals. Tony and I stayed on for an extra drink to watch the match whilst the others returned. What a match! Nice chatting to Tony.
8th May I had a dry night, in all senses. A very wet and windy day in prospect. So windy I fact that a chaffing spring broke and another untied itself. So much for the security of unlocked cleats. A very pleasant storm bound day passed easily. I had a bit of a walk through the town and back via the river Avoca, meeting up with C & J for a Guinness in the Bridge before back on board. Jeremy cooked a great dish from turkey mince, and conversation varied from religion (at times quite heated as Nigel shed doubt on Tom’s atheism) to the acoustic blues of Sleepy John Estes via most music genres of the 60s - 90s. Unfortunately whilst the music discussion animated 80% of the crew, Nigel was unable to contribute and so dozed in the corner. Much beer was consumed.
9th May Departure for the Isle of Man was planned at 20:00. Nigel went off to his ‘office’ (Starbucks) to use the WiFi and catch up with his busy life ashore, whilst T,C, J & I went for a walk along the Arklow trail. We learnt all about the explosives industry that really put Arklow on the map during the 19th century. Then it was back to the Bridge for lunch and Guinness. J & I visited the maritime museum on our way back to WW and had a personal tour by the curator. Jeremy engaged him in conversation about Brexit an we were horrified to hear that we were most unusual in our desire to Remain. Most of his UK visitors wanted out. Back on board intense preparation for the night passage to the IOM continued with Nigel changing our destination to Peel at the last moment. We slipped at exactly 2000 in an extremely heavy downpour that soaked all our weather gear which then dripped in the wet room (heads) when we were off watch. Jeremy decided to take the midnight watch again, so no sooner had we started, got ourselves soaked, we were back down below, off watch, trying to sleep.
10th May On watch at 00:30. The lights of Dublin on our port side provided an attractive background to a tricky bit of pilotage which was to look out for two cardinal buoys that we had to pass between. The watch passed swiftly and as the false dawn lightened the north eastern sky shadowy figures of a pod of dolphins emerged, slapping the water to attract our attention. Our next watch seem to last longer than four hours, probably due to not being 100% sure of my stomach. The sea was very lumpy. However, I slept so soundly when off duty at 12:30pm, I was most surprised, on awaking at 3:30, to realise we were making our approach into Peel on a flat sea. Peel is a delightful harbour with a narrow entrance guarded by a castle. Our lines were taken by a local yachtsman who later told us all the things we need to know about the harbour and town. All the gate codes, best pubs, museums and kipperies. Her name was Val, and she was awarded the nickname of Viking Val with the crew. After the customary tidying of the boat we settled down below for the traditional toast to the memory of Tom Jacobs, who was responsible for bringing us disparate shipmates together - and then it was off to The Creek for dinner. We had a lovely meal of seafood dishes, with the perfect ambience for the occasion of the end of the voyage for Jeremy, Colin and Myself and the end of leg 2 for Tony and Nigel. Live music was heard in the adjoining bar and so after eating the four musos relocated there, and Nigel returned to his Vessel. Tony and I were so impressed with the band that we interrogated them about their equipment at the break. They were all locals and knew Val and were called the Blue Stragglers (a physics term apparently akin to Blueshift).
11th May The flattest and quietest night saw me fall out of my bunk twice in the night. The first was a painless but hard and noisy landing that woke Nigel. The second was much softer landing due to our thoughtful skipper placing cushions on the floor. An early morning trip to the shower was made particularly memorable by two very attractive black and white sea birds with gleaming red feet on the pontoon. I had no idea what they were but later research found them to be Black Guillimots. Tony and I left the boat together and caught a bus to Douglas. We had a large English breakfast before Tony caught another bus to the airport. I had a walk along the seafront and around the town before starting my journey home on the Manannan, a fast catamaran to Liverpool. Then, the final leg, train to Bristol where I was met by my lovely wife.
12 June Sailing The Solent
Jan and I had a very successful 4 day sail with Rob & Colleen. Three glorious days of sailing plus one exploring day in Yarmouth, where we used the bus to go to the needles gun emplacements. Also set Tom’s memorial paper boat off on its travels from Yarmouth.
21 July Half Nelson Crosses the Channel
Tim, Andrew and I set out from POG on 13th July on an adventure to the Channel Islands and beyond. We were accompanied by Wahoo, whose skipper Jonathan Jowett had been instrumental in motivating Tim to venture outside the solent.The cruise first took us to Cherbourg in time for Bastille day celebrations and fireworks, then onto Guernsey via the Alderney Race followed by Jersey via lunch at an anchorage in Sark. On arrival in St Hellier Jonathan was hospitalised due to severe dehydration caused by gastric enteritis which may have beeb the moules he ate in Cherbourg. I left the boat on Thursday 18th to fly home for Kate’s 40th Birthday party, but the two boats sailed on to St Malo. All crew were reunited back in Jersey on 23rd with the addition of Howard (another sailing club friend of Tim’s). The Journey back home took us via Guernsey, Alderney and Lymington. On return Half Nelson was moved into her new permanent berth at the RNSA pontoons in Cold Harbour.