Back to Devon

After a couple of days in Paimpol we decided that the weather forecast for the coming week necessitated a change of plan. We'd hoped to sail west along the Brittany coast but the wind had other ideas - Tuesday looked like a perfect 15 knot westerly to sail north back to home waters while the following days predicted adverse northerlies. 

Heading back across the Channel - Steve in off-watch snooze position!

We arrived into Salcombe, just as the light was fading, after an early start (in the dark) and an excellent crossing. The anchorage up at the Salt Stone, away from all of the busy visitor moorings gave us a peaceful night after the long day at sea.

The unplanned extra time on the Devon coast meant we could head west to the River Yealm to walk some of the South West Coast Path.

Busy dinghy pontoon on the Yealm

On the coast path

After a day of almost total calm and bright sunshine, we didn't expect much from the wind on the sail back to Dartmouth but were delighted when it blew hard enough to fill the Parasailor.

The foredeck crew

Barbara and Steve headed home on the Friday; we really enjoyed their company and loved the fact that Barbara was back in the helming 'groove' by the end of the trip. We stayed on board for a couple of extra days, so were able to attend the Britannia Royal Naval College open day on the Saturday - an excellent event.

Band of the Royal Marines

Di with the Merlin helicopter

On the Bridge Simulator, helming a destroyer

The images on the 'window' screens made us feel that the bridge was rolling - apparently some people get 'Simsick' 

It was a great end to a lovely cruise. Thanks go to Barbara and Steve for their company.

 

Guernsey to France

Sorry, this is a bit of a catch-up updater as we've had a busy and entertaining time since the last post.

We had a slightly uncertain, 'will-we, won't we?' departure from Guernsey after a couple of days exploring (and with Barbara and Steve taking the ferry to walk the coastal path of the neighbouring island of Herm); the fog rolled in.

Visibility decreasing

Five minutes later!

Thankfully it began to burn off just after lunch which was perfect for our planned departure to Lezardrieux in Brittany. As soon as we left the southern coast of the island astern, the fog lifted completely and we had warm sunshine, though precious little wind for the 50 mile passage.

We managed to fly the Irish Flag for a while and took a detour through a patch of water which we'd normally give a very wide berth.

The shallows and rocks of Plateau de Barnouic are marked by a stone beacon to the east and a cardinal mark to the west. In strong winds and currents this would be a dangerous place to drift into but we sailed through it.

The Barnouic beacon just visible beside the forestay

We arrived into the Trieux river just before dusk and with the rising tide pushing us nicely up river to the visitors' mooring pontoon opposite the marina. Having been here last year made it a less stressful arrival for the navigator and we enjoyed the rocky scenery as we approached Lezardrieux.

The bridge at Lezardrieux was  covered in scaffolding last year; now fully restored

A day here gave us the option for a good coastal hike, a restock of food and wine and a fantastic meal at the Auberge de Treiux, an excellent and popular restaurant where we were lucky to bag the last table.

Our next trip was around to Paimpol, another favourite haunt from last year. The coastline here on the Rose Granite Coast is imposing and a challenge for the navigator in the large tidal range. We managed to sail with a following wind to a lunch stop at the Ile de Brehat.

As the crow flies it's only 3 miles to Paimpol, but by boat it's closer to 10

Detail of the rocky channels of the Ile de Brehat

Barbara in photo mode

The drying harbour of Loguivy de la Mer

Local hazards to navigation

Our lunchtime anchorage, with rain squalls

Our lunch stop allowed us to take the rising tide up to the lock gates of Paimpol and the place was very busy with local and visiting boats - we'd happened to coincide with the last day of a Breton folk festival.

Waiting for the lock to open

A busy port. Maunie was rafted alongside a Jersey yacht.

Traditional Breton dancing, with bagpipes

Lunch of Breton Galetes at Les Alizes - the owner recognised us from last year and was very welcoming.

A sailing trawler from 1914

Steve and Barbara enjoying the 'harbour cinema' 

We all enjoyed the contrast of the two French ports and planned further coastal voyaging to the west over the next few days. The weather, however, had other ideas.....

To Guernsey and Beyond!

We're cruising again, this time with crew. Great friends Barbara and Steve, veterans of several voyages aboard Maunie, and her predecessor Gentoo, have joined us and it's lovely to have their company. After a wild (30 knots) shakedown sail on Tuesday, we crossed the Channel on Wednesday in a 'game of two halves' passage. For the first 4-5 hours we had no wind but the westerly breeze then kicked in for a very nice beam reach into Guernsey. Shame the visibility was less than a mile for most of it!

We're now in the Victoria Marina, St Peter Port, and the conditions are still and sunny so our onward passage to Brittany later today will be a motor, unfortunately.

A few photos from St Peter Port:

The view towards the harbour

The entrance to the marina, with a cill (under water dam) retaining water to keep the visiting yachts afloat when the tide drops

In the outer harbour there are some all-tide access pontoons which were very busy

There's a big tidal range here

The dawn arrival of a cruise ship

BACK TO DARTMOUTH

 We're safely back in our home port after a brilliant couple of weeks aboard. In contrast to the light winds of the first part of the trip, we had cracking conditions to propel us back to Falmouth and then on to the Yealm and finally to Dartmouth.

There's a short video of the rolling spinnaker run from Scilly HERE

In Falmouth we managed to get a berth for a night in the excellent Port Pendennis marina for restocking, showers and a much needed laundry. The other side of our pontoon was populated by some huge yachts:

The J Class 'Hanuman', a replica of the British yacht Endeavour II, but with some very modern rig and deck gear.

There's a short video of the boat racing in the Caribbean HERE

As ever, the  ore modestly proportioned byt equally lovely Maunie looked after us very well in this voyage and the relaxed nature of the cruise gave us time to reorganise things on board. Storage lockers were systematically emptied, cleaned and their contents rationalised so we feel that she's ready for the next trip - in a couple of weeks.

Dodging the Scilly Rocks - or Not

The Isles of Scilly have claimed many ships over the centuries - the most famous disaster was in 1707 when four Royal Navy warships, commanded by the splendidly-named Sir Cloudesley Shovel, misjudged their position after days at sea returning from the Bay of Biscay. They all foundered on the unlit rocks and about 2000 sailors perished - an event which drove the journey towards better navigation systems, including the availability of accurate timepieces to allow for the accurate calculation of longitude for ships on extended voyages.

Even today, with all our GPS technology, navigation around the islands has to be taken very seriously. The tidal range covers boat-breaking rocks with seemingly tranquil waters, while currents surge around the islands making it very easy for a boat to be swept sideways into danger.

We decided on a challenging little passage from Bryher, around the top of neighbouring Tresco and down through Old Grimsby Sound.

The green areas dry at low tide so we crossed on a rising tide with about a metre of water under our keel

A chicane to avoid the Cones

Most people these days rely on chart plotters and digital charts but we carry detailed paper charts for the islands and they carry the following warning, so it's vital to look through the clear water to confirm the position of any charted dangers:

Sadly for a Swedish couple, this warning was unheeded. Once we'd arrived safely in St Mary's we saw the Lifeboat bringing their sinking 40ft yacht into the harbour, with emergency pumps running to keep her afloat.

The official report suggested that they'd struck an isolated rock off the north coast of St Martin's and had damaged their propeller saildrive, causing a significant ingress of water. The lifeboat coxswain had to carry out a risk assessment as they arrived on scene; the RNLI's primary concern is to save lives at sea so they evacuated the yacht's crew and put two of the lifeboat's crew onto the deck, with a petrol-powered salvage pump. For a while they weren't sure that the pump would keep up with the in-flooding but they were clearly keen not to have the yacht founder (with risks of pollution and navigation dangers to other water users) so were relieved to keep the yacht afloat. The fire brigade added their emergency pump as soon as the yacht came alongside in St Mary's and the Lifeboat carefully put the casualty vessel alongside the old quay to dry out at low tide.

The poor Swedish crew now face a huge set of challenges, starting with emergency hull repairs to keep the water out as the high tide refloated the boat. After that there would be the tasks of finding a permanent fix to the hull, plus the unenviable job of cleaning and drying the boat out. After such a catastrophic event, damage to engine, electrics, batteries and woodwork would all need professional assessment and repair. No wonder they looked profoundly shocked  - we offered to get them a tea and the skipper was still in disbelief - "We were in 20m of water, had just checked the chart and then there was a terrible bang", he said.