The Final Leg

After close study of the weather for the following days I decided that there was a reasonable window of good wind starting overnight on the 16th, giving us 24 hours of NWesterly followed by a SWesterly, perfect for getting round Lands End. So with the addition of Graham Tyson, who is a very experienced sailor and a comforting hand to hold for me, we left Milford Haven at 1030 on the 16th. This time I managed to get the locking-out protocol correct and avoided the previous bollocking from the lock-keeper. We nosed out of the entrance of Milford into a big and rather confused sea. This was the legacy of the big blow which had caused so many problems with the Fastnet race a few days previously. This wasn't the short, steep sea that I've spoken about in previous posts, but a long and high ocean swell coming in off the Atlantic which can be fairly comfortable on it's own. But this was mixed with a shorter sea from a different direction caused by the local, force 5 to 6 NW wind. The combination of the two meant that we were thrown about quite a lot and steering required a lot of concentration, especially as we were having to steer by the compass which is an art in itself. A long day, during which we were only rained on very slightly! As the sun went down we picked out the lights of Trevose Head and Padstow off to port. Hurrah! We could actually see Cornwall and managed to hear BBC Radio Cornwall on the stereo. Nearly home. From about 2230 we lost any remaining light from the sun and the moonless night fell pitch black. Only the loom of the lights from the shore, Newquay, St Agnes, St Ives, gave us any directional reference. It's quite a scary experience to be at sea and have one of your primary senses, sight, completely removed. Almost like being in fog.
After some discussion and reference to the chart and GPS we identified the various lighthouses dotted around Lands End and the Scillies and made a long and very slow (against the tide) loop around the foot of England keeping well offshore. Daylight reappeared as we passed the Runnel Stone buoy near Penzance and, as we were feeling reasonable good and the conditions were ok, we decided to keep going to Falmouth. I had a brief call from Shawn on BlackAdder who was about 60 miles astern of us by the Scillies, on his return leg of the Fastnet Race. As we rounded Lizard Point I had a call from David White on BBC Radio Cornwall and proceeded to over-enthuse about being home in Cornwall.
We sailed through the start of a yacht race in Falmouth Roads - this being Falmouth Regatta week - and saw a small RIB with a Lifeboats flag flying from the stern. As it came closer I saw it was being driven by Roger, the lifeboatman who had done the RNLI SeaCheck on Gamaldansk before we left. He was pleased to see us back in one piece and arranged a place for us in Port Pendennis Marina in super quick time. This was a real feat as the place was packed out 2 or 3 deep with boats visiting for the Regatta. The guys at the marina didn't charge us for our stay there, for which we royally thank them.
I had previously decided to stay put in Falmouth for the next day as the weather was blowing up again and so had arranged our homecoming for the Sunday. Sally was adamant that we needed to arrive in Fowey at a particular time as she wanted to do something for our arrival and the RNLI wanted a PR moment. So a rather grey and drizzly day was spent in Falmouth doing a few jobs on the boat, catching up on some sleep and a last chance to visit a couple of pubs to get the tally up.
A really good offshore blow the next day whizzed us the 22 miles back to Fowey, so fast in fact that we were about an hour and a half early for our pre-arranged entrance cue at the harbour mouth, so we tooled about in St Austell Bay for a bit, being entertained by a mayday message on the radio which turned out to be a mistake by a yacht nearby but resulted in the launch of the lifeboat and the SAR helicopter, and trying to retrieve the RNLI flag that had escaped to the top of the mast on the spinnaker halyard and was flapping around in the wind like an old tea towel and making us look scruffy. We finally passed Cannis Rock Buoy, outside Fowey Harbour, only 25 seconds early. But the phone rang and the producer (Sally) said they weren't ready and to go round in circles for a bit. What sort of a shoddy production was this? We finally got the Go! from Sal and headed into the harbour from where was coming the all weather lifeboat and a tourist boat containing Sally, my kids, press and a TV news cameraman. On the rocks by the harbour entrance was a banner welcoming us home and a reception committee on the pontoon waving and cheering.
It was great to see everyone and it was a very special moment as some people had travelled miles (Rick and Katie) to be part of the welcome.
A quick interview for the local ITV news and off to our mooring where the first job was another trip up the mast to retrieve the flag and halyard. At least this time I managed to get a "down" photo.
A great evening followed in The Lugger in Polruan with lots of congratulations and lemon top shandies!