Leg 8 Fowey to Falmouth

Date:- 27.05.11 Name: Morgen Crew: RD (Richard Dempster), Freddie From: Fowey To: Falmouth Comments: The best days sailing so far

Wind Strength / direction: Westerly force 4 Sea State: slight Distance: 25.8 nautical miles Time Taken: 6hrs 27mins

I was determined to get the planning right for this leg as I didn’t want to spend hours fighting against the tide like I had done getting to Fowey. I took extra time calculating the tide streams and strength and at what times through the day they would change. I even cross referenced everything back to high tide at Dover to check I had it right.

4:30am rise and ready to leave at 5:00am. I had prepared the boat the night before and basically had to get up get dressed have breakfast and cast off the mooring lines. It was a lovely calm morning with a reasonably clear sky and just a breath of wind unlike the previous two days which were gusting up to 40miles per hour.

A really nice morning. But it’s a very odd feeling ghosting out through a harbour with houses all round whilst the inhabitants sleep or are just rising with the odd light coming on through the windows. The peaces though is fantastic. Passing the old ‘Tall ships’ that are anchored in the harbour and the early morning and you are transported back in time and you mind thinks of pirates and armadas’ going of to fight the Spanish on the high seas! A great start to the day.

With no wind to talk off I motored out of Fowey harbour and was met with the most amazing sun rise and for the very first time a completely smooth sea.

What a morning

I played with the idea of putting the cruising chute up but as this thought went through my head the wind increased and I played on the safe side and put up the main sail and the jib. This proved to be the right choice as the wind continued to increase and by 6.30am was a steady force 4. However the sea state remained flat and Morgen raced along at a steady 7knots all through the trip. By far and away the best leg so far. Everything went as planned, even the planning! I caught the tide just right and it was with me for almost the whole time the wind was as forecast and above all the sea remained flat. Yesssssssss

When the sailing goes as well as this its just like I thought it would be. A great feeling. You have the time to think as your moving along and you dont feel like your just surviving but you can really appreciate everything you can see. A great feeling.

It was quite an interesting trip, not just because the seas were flat and the speed I was cruising at but you see all kinds of things from sea birds to odd craft.

Entrance to Falmouth

In fact everything went so well that I was actually at the entrance to the river Fal and Falmouth by about 10.30am a good two hours faster than I thought I could make it. I still felt reasonably fresh and not completely worn out like I normally do.

Leg 7 Plymouth to Fowey

Date:- 24.05.11 Name: Morgen Crew: RD (Richard Dempster), Freddie From: Plymouth To: Fowey Comments: Very long day

Wind Strength / direction: Westerly force 3 Sea State: slight Distance: 24.6 nautical miles Time Taken: 6.10

It took a very long time to get out of Plymouth harbour. Due to my own poor seamanship. I tried to raise the main without turning the boat perfectly in to wind. This always means that the battons in the main sail gets entangled with the lazy bag lines. So the only answer is to drop the main again and start all over again. The second time I was raising the main and realised that I was running out of room as I am still motoring forward. So had to drop the main again turn and head a bit further out and raise the Bl---y thing again. At last Ive got the sail up and can continue on my way.

For once quite an uneventful trip but very cold. Its surprising how cold it is out at sea. Even though it may be warm on land I have found that I still need to wrap up like its winter. With full waterproofs on, hat and gloves and quite a few layers on to trap the heat. I’m really looking forward to a lovely summers day. Even though it was uneventful it turned out to be a very long day as the wind had dropped a bit so the going was slow especially as it is still a westerly wind and I am constantly beating in to it.

I finally arrive in Fowey at about 6:30pm and the wind has dropped completely turning in to a very nice evening and I can at last take off all the waterproofs. About eight and a half hours and I had calculated on about four and half to five. Whoops got it wrong! Have to pay more attention to route planning in future.

Fowey is in many ways similar to Salcombe. A rather grand entrance and a lovely natural harbour inside with some very grand boats as can be seen in the photos. I moored up and walked Freddie and then talked to the harbour master who told me that there was a really nice walk through some fields at the top of the hill which Freddie would enjoy which leads to a very good pub where they serve good quality food. That’s settled then ‘dinner out’.

Whilst eating out I met a retired couple who ran a farm and they were on holiday in a caravan site at the top of the valley and they often ate in the pub of an evening. They were a lovely couple who it was really easy to talk to. And they thought Freddie was a great looking dog. I explained what I was doing and they immediately made a donation. I am continually impressed and touched by the people I meet who like myself knows someone who has been touched by cancer and they want to contribute in anyway they can. I thanked them and in turn they thanked me for doing what I was doing. And once again I as we left my overriding thoughts were what a lovely couple. I gave them the blog address and hope they are following the trip now from home. But if they are Thanks!

After the following day of exploring Fowey.( what a great place to visit)(just look at the pictures) I bought a few provisions from the small town. Freddie had decided to muck around in the dinghy, which is unusual as he is normally very good in it and just as I moored up and tried to get him off he missed his footing and went straight in between a couple of dinghys. It wasn’t just a leg or a paw he went right in so I grabbed the handle on his life jacket and pulled him up as fast as I could this only had one outcome as he is so big, the handle just came off in my hand and he went swimming again for the second time. Lucky enough a passing boater was walking past on the pontoon and between the two of us him on the pontoon and myself trying to balance on a wobbly dinghy managed to pull him out. To which his immediate reaction was to shake himself vigorously soaking the pair of us. Cheers Freddie, and I thanked the man and apologised at the same time.

Another lovely evening so I walked to the pub and had a pint and was able to see the same couple as the day before again we chatted very easily. They asked me if I was going to carry on with the venture tomorrow and I replied that I doubt it because the weather is to bad and added that they were both welcome to come down to the boat the following day and have afternoon tea with me and Freddie.

I also met an American lady with I presume her granddaughters who were initially attracted to us because of Freddie. They asked if he was friendly and could they pat him. Once again I was asked what I was doing and when I explained the woman was very touched and said ‘she had suffered with Cancer last year’ and thrust ten pounds in to my hand and asked me to put it in the collecting tin when I got back to the boat. So many people with so many stories of their own.