After four slightly expensive nights on the Town Jetty in Dartmouth, I was starting to feel that we had done most of what we wanted to do. Guy and I took a trip on the steam train to Paignton one afternoon, which was very enjoyable, although Paignton itself is very much a kiss-me-quick resort, and perhaps not entirely to our taste.
We also investigated a slow water leak from the engine, which turned out to be coming from the back of the water pump. As it happens, I know of a marine engineer (Spencer Hamlyn) based in Plymouth, who serviced Kalessin’s engine last time we were here three years ago. So I gave him a call to ask his advice. He said it was probably a seal at the back of the pump, it would not get any better and might fail catastrophically, and Dartmouth was well within his area, so he would come and take a look on Wednesday morning. He duly arrived, much earlier in fact than he originally thought, remove the pump, took it away for checking and to buy spare parts in Salcombe, and had the whole thing fixed by lunchtime. I felt a real sense of achievement – if only weather problems were as easy to fix!
Several boats had come and gone from the town jetty while we were there, including Flying Swan, to whom I chatted extensively, and who very sweetly bought us a box of chocolates before their departure westwards. Next up was Shadowfax, crewed by a couple who had owned her for 45 years, and clearly sailed her the way they always had – multiple different headsails, no broadcasting on AIS, although they did receive, and rarely switching on the VHF when they are under way. They invited us on board for a drink, so we could admire their beautifully kept interior. They are also clearly much tougher than me, as they had sailed from Plymouth with a Force 6 behind them, and were heading across Lyme Bay on Thursday, leaving much later than I would’ve done, because they don’t do night sailing, and are also very familiar and comfortable with Portland Bill.
Having examined the forecasts very carefully, I felt we would have a much better sail on Thursday than on Friday, which might have almost no wind at all, although my tidal calculations led me to believe that 0100 was the best time for departure. We duly got the boat ready and went to bed early, having admired TS Royalist and Pilgrim of Brixham, both of which were sharing our pontoon.
Around midnight I woke up with a jump and checked the forecast, only to discover that they were now mentioning a force six which wasn’t there before, and the detailed Met Office forecast on Windy showed gusts up to 35 kn. After agonising for a bit, I woke Guy to tell him that we were not leaving, but of course did not get back to sleep until about 4am.
In the morning, I felt like a terrible wimp, and also that I very much needed to get away from Dartmouth one way or another, so I decided that we could head nine miles around the corner to Brixham, where I had never been. As ever, there was virtually no wind inside Dartmouth Harbour, but there was more wind once we had rounded Froward Point, and quite a lot of wind once past Berry Head. Never mind, there was room on the Harbourmaster pontoon in Brixham, and surely it would be more sheltered inside the harbour. It transpired that in a north-westerly, the pontoon has virtually no shelter at all. Kalessin was emulating a rocking horse as the waves came in, so Guy and I went for a wander around the town hoping that the wind would be less by the time we got back to the boat. We found a fabulous leather shop, which happens to be called Sam Brown, and bought a T-shirt from the lovely owner, which was all I could afford. But when we got back to the boat conditions had absolutely not moderated, Kalessin was now imitating a rodeo horse, and clearly the berth was untenable and potentially dangerous. I called the Torbay Harbour Authority to see if there was an alternative mooring, and they told us that if we could get across the bay to Torquay, they would find us a berth and not charge us again. So that’s what we did, motoring for four very uncomfortable miles straight into the wind, to a much safer and more secure berth in Torquay. Two towns for the price of one. It’s not an approach I would really recommend. But the sheltered berth was absolute bliss by comparison with the horrors of Brixham. It’s now 1800, and the wind is finally moderating, so that’s even more blissful. Really hoping that we can finally get across Lyme Bay tomorrow.
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| The Sam Brown shop |
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| Kalessin in rocking horse mode. From the coffee shop in the old harbour we could see her mast swinging more and more wildly |
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