Having persuaded my family to have their celebration (Lucilla & Mark's 25th wedding anniversary, plus a delayed Christmas get together) over the August Bank Holiday weekend, we were able to drive down to Plymouth on Tuesday August 31 to start the next leg. Alex and David arranged the hire of what was meant to be an estate car but turned out to be a vast Mercedes SUV. We had to dismantle the wheelchair and it was a bit high for Sam to climb into but otherwise it was very comfortable. We repeated the route via the Midlands and with only a few traffic hiccups arrived back at Mayflower by 1730, which gave us time to get Sam on board, go to Lidl to stock up with food & booze while we still had the car, and have a slightly late dinner. Sam was so exhausted he fell asleep holding his fork!
Wednesday was a day for rest and planning. A high over Scotland has meant days and days of grey clouds on northeasterlies, and the pattern continued. Fortunately we had always planned to start the cruise with a trip to Falmouth, which was originally planned to be the end of ASC21. The models seemed to show different wind strengths but they all agreed it was going to be gusty. I dithered extensively, discussed with WOA SW secretary Bob Walker who came by to say hello and stayed for a lovely chat, and eventually after a slightly restless night decided to go for it.
With one reef in the main (after a few minutes in Plymouth Sound to free off the reefing horns which were jammed under the luff cleat, thank you David for your strong hands) we crept cautiously around Rame Head and set off in the direction of Falmouth, with Fowey as a fallback if it got too uncomfortable. In the end we motored much of the way for speed and stability, and by the time we reached the approaches to Falmouth we were probably seeing the odd 2m swell, so it wasn't very comfortable. But we had moments of sunshine, the gusts were not too strong and we reached Falmouth having covered 40 miles in around seven hours.
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| Alex and David celebrate our arrival in Falmouth |
It was just as well we kept the speed up. I'd been in communication with Falmouth Haven Marina, which doesn't normally accept bookings, and their manager had very kindly offered us a berth with finger pontoon... but apparently hadn't told the harbourmaster on duty who assured me that I had the wrong marina. We ended up picking our way slowly between the buoys while I juggled tiller, handheld VHF and the email on my phone. Eventually he confirmed the berth, turned out a RIB that was moored there, and here we are on C05. The office closes sometime between 5 and 6pm, so if we'd been later we would just have had to raft up on the outer jetty with everyone else.
Falmouth is not surprisingly very busy and full of youngsters on holiday. Marina facilities are ok but there's really no disabled access to showers, which is a shame. I spent Friday morning walking up to the Premier Marina to see if I could get a replacement bulb for our heads light - the electrical people didn't stock them but fortunately the very unpromising-looking chandlery managed to find me an LED which fits and works, so that was a result.
In the afternoon we got Sam off the boat for a pleasant walk around town in fitful sunshine, and on our way back from our coffees and beers were astonished to walk into Clare and Simon Evans, here on holiday - I've been singing with Clare most weeks for almost 30 years, and Simon has sailed with us a couple of times, but I had forgotten they were down this way, and it was astonishing chance that we were both on the same little cut-through road at the same time.
And in the early evening, after slightly more organisation, we met Sophie and Alistair Velzian - Sophie worked with me extensively when she was at Microsoft and I was contracting with Aviva, and in subsequent years she has changed husbands, bought a boat, moved to Cornwall and changed jobs. It was lovely to see her and catch up.
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