So we're home. I didn't have to get up this morning. I didn't care what the tide or the weather was doing. I was in my own bed. Work beckons. Pete's gone home and there's a bit of a feeling of anticlimax. Was it all worth it? Yes of course. It's been a mixed bag of experiences - good and bad, scary and exciting, fun and boring. Obviously the bad weather has played the biggest part in the whole thing. People asked "Why go anticlockwise?" to which I replied that it would be summer and there wouldn't be the prevailing winds of winter all the time, as we would have the usual summer high pressures meaning light and variable winds most of the time. Obviously I was proved wrong by the summer of 2007. Every day the weather charts looked like they would in winter, with a troop of depressions marching steadily in, one by one, across the Atlantic, giving us north wind as we went north and south wind as we went south. And when we had wind it wasn't the gentle zephyrs of summer but the raging storms and gales of winter with the associated rough seas and low temperatures. Now, every time I hear "rough to very rough" mentioned on the shipping forecast it makes my toes curl and my belly go tight as I now know how scary it can be.
Of course there were some good, even great, days sailing and a few when it didn't rain on us, but to my mind the ratio should have been the other way round. I expected a few challenging days, it goes with the territory, but never expected each day to end up being a fight against a bucking boat, strong winds, rain and cold.
It's been a very steep learning curve for me and for Pete. As I've said before, I never knew quite how much I would have to rely on my yachtmaster training. It all seemed so picky and un-necessary when day-sailing out of Fowey with little tide to have to worry about and lots of nice deep water, but a completely different matter when bucking a foul tide and wind to get into a shallow harbour before all the water disappears and hoping the latest entry time I worked out was accurate enough to prevent us going aground on a falling tide.
Another lesson well learned was on the subject of crewing. My original offer to take along all and sundry was based on my experiences of day sailing in good conditions out of Fowey and being able to take inexperienced friends for a day out. How different this becomes once the conditions get worse and I start needing a crew rather than passengers. This is in no way meant as any disrespect to the inexperienced guys who came along - it was great to have your company and I'm so chuffed so many got to share our wonderful experience, but there were times when I wished that either I had trained crew or I could send the novices below to get out of the weather and out of the way, but this usually wasn't an option due to being below bringing on seasickness. This would have lessened the stress on me a thousandfold. I hope that the rough conditions didn't scare anyone too much, or put them off future sailing. I hope you'll all understand that these thoughts come from a purely selfish and personal point of view. I find it difficult to express how much relief I felt when Jon and Graham were aboard as I knew that with them I had crew, apart from Pete, I could rely on if it got mucky. I had to take crewing strength into account when I made the two decisions to turn back - once in Scotland and once leaving Milford. With the prospect of a long, 100 mile plus, passage and bad weather, the last thing I needed was to be instructing a competent crew course in a rough force 6. My particular sympathy goes to the two Simons who only managed a long (but not without excitement) day with us before we had to abandon the crossing to Scilly and they went home. Especially my brother, who I know had been so looking forward to the last few legs back to Fowey and who had done so much to raise money for the RNLI. His was the single largest sum donated at £500! Well done Si and so sorry it was so short lived. We'll do something next year.
I feel I must say a few thank yous and mention a few people. This is in no particular order of merit so no squabbling!
The volunteer lifeboat crews and full timers around the country have been brilliant. We have been welcomed by them all and once they found out what we were doing fell over themselves to help. Be it with weather forecasts, local knowledge, use of the lifeboat-house showers and internet, or just a bit of a chat, they've been fantastic to a man. Well done guys and keep up the good work. Also thanks to Tamsin and Amy at RNLI Southwest for co-ordinating all the PR stuff for us and such a great homecoming.
The marina managers and harbour-masters along the way deserve a mention too. Those who gave us reduced or waived fees, bless you. Also to those harbour masters on the phone or radio providing a welcoming voice as we arrived at a new and strange harbour or talked us in, or even led us, through the shallows, you have no idea how much that boosted my confidence at moments when, after a long day at sea, I was faced with the final challenge of getting into a strange and foreign place with a stupidly deep, 6ft keel! (A word of advice - if you're thinking of sailing around Britain, do it in a shallow bilge keeler. It's a lot less stressy!)
A big thanks to those along the way who have shown great interest and hospitality. John Scott and his family in Tarbert who entertained us to a lovely meal, sorted out a reduced fee berth, lent charts and generally showed interest from the time of the conception of the trip. Nick and Dee Sawyer for their hospitality in Aberystwyth. Once again a waived fee, a lovely barby at home and general interest and organisation. And a welcome pack of Welsh goodies on our arrival. Nico, who made a special effort to come and see us in Brightlingsea, thanks go to you. And I have to mention (again) Mike "Why eye, bonny pet" Fellows for egging us on to drink too much and for his friendship and support both in Hartlepool and on the phone and internet. Not sure what the final score was but you definitely win mate. You have showed a couple of Malibu and shandy drinking southern poofs how it should be done. Big respect!
Special thanks to Mark, Debbie and Paul at Delta Sound for the crew shirts.
To the guys (and girl) who joined us for the trip. Thanks for putting up with me and providing laughs and companionship along the way.
To everyone who has made a donation however large or small. Thanks from me and the RNLI. I don't know the final tally but it's looking like about £6,500. Well done.
To my wife Sally. She has been a complete star in the lead up to and during the trip. She allowed me to desert her for 7 weeks while she was at home, or the remains of home after the builders started, being very pregnant and managing all the building and domestic stuff, all the while being the official weather forecaster and getter-of-things-together in my absence. All my love to you Sal and it's so good to be home.
And last, but by no means least, a huge big-up, thanks and respect to my (first) mate Pete. It has been a joy and privilege to have sailed with you for 7 weeks and to have shared so many new and sometimes scary experiences with someone who took it all in his stride and only complained when someone trod in the breakfast (again)! You took on the catering and stores side of things and did us proud. The stuff that came out of Chez Caskey in even the worst conditions was always fantastic and and really appreciated. A bacon and mushroom butty will never taste the same again. As crew you have improved beyond recognition and you will always be my first choice. Thank you for your good humour always and for backing me in some very tough decisions (like which pub we should go to).
Big thanks to Dave the Barman for keeping our thirsts quenched.
And finally a big thanks to you for reading my chunterings and showing interest in this harebrained venture.
What next? Who knows? Watch this space..............
Tuesday, 21 August 2007
Monday, 20 August 2007
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!
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!
Saturday, 18 August 2007
The last leg...
A note from Mrs C
Just to say Gamaldansk and her crew are now officially on their way home, hurrah! Steve left Milford Haven in marginally better conditions than 3 days earlier and with first mate Pete Caskey and new crew member Graham Tyson on board, completed a 24 hour straight run to Falmouth. I spoke to them at 1am as they were rounding Lands End when they were in a very dark and big sea, so it was with huge relief that I spoke to them again in the morning and found they were just a few miles away from Falmouth.
This journey has been a massive achievement all round and certainly more challenging than I think anyone imagined - I am very proud and can safely say they have earned every penny of the sponsorship money they have raised - on and offline it stands at around £6,000 plus what they have collected in buckets on the way round.
They are due to arrive back in Fowey tomorrow Sunday 19th August at 4pm where we will be waiting on Albert Quay to welcome them home - anyone who could make it down to join us would be more than welcome - followed by drinks in the Lugger, Polruan.
Thanks to all for your support.
Sal xx
Just to say Gamaldansk and her crew are now officially on their way home, hurrah! Steve left Milford Haven in marginally better conditions than 3 days earlier and with first mate Pete Caskey and new crew member Graham Tyson on board, completed a 24 hour straight run to Falmouth. I spoke to them at 1am as they were rounding Lands End when they were in a very dark and big sea, so it was with huge relief that I spoke to them again in the morning and found they were just a few miles away from Falmouth.
This journey has been a massive achievement all round and certainly more challenging than I think anyone imagined - I am very proud and can safely say they have earned every penny of the sponsorship money they have raised - on and offline it stands at around £6,000 plus what they have collected in buckets on the way round.
They are due to arrive back in Fowey tomorrow Sunday 19th August at 4pm where we will be waiting on Albert Quay to welcome them home - anyone who could make it down to join us would be more than welcome - followed by drinks in the Lugger, Polruan.
Thanks to all for your support.
Sal xx
Monday, 13 August 2007
Aberystwyth to Milford Haven
Writing this blog has been a bit of a test for me. I was never very good at essays at school and never imagined that I would one day be writing stuff that people were eager to read and who were anticipating the next instalment (Dee please note the speling of instalment). It's difficult for a variety of reasons. I don't want it to be just a diary along the lines of "Got up, went sailing, arrived, went to the pub, went to bed" nor do I want it to be a thesis on the Yachtmaster exam, but sometimes, when I get the opportunity to sit and write as I am doing now, it's not necessarily the time I can summon up the witty and interesting side of me ( apparently ther is one). And perhaps, like now, I have the time to think of rivetting things to write but I don't have an internet connection, so when you get to read this it might be a couple of days old. Some of the past blogs I have posted have been a bit short and sweet and just been a diary of events and for that I apologise. There's been so much I haven't put in due to time restrictions (with my typing speed it can take an hour and a half to do one post) and not wanting to bore you with minutiae, but I realise now that I should have included all that stuff, as this is my only record of the trip apart from some photos and good/bad memories, and what appear to be just day-to-day, not very interesting things are what have made the trip what it has been and is for me. Sometimes I'm so knackered that I just can't be bothered! My intention, when it's all over, is to edit and add to the posts I've written and do my best to add some of the detail that's missing at present. People have suggested a book but I don't think it would be a best-seller. Perhaps a kids book - "Steve goes sailing" - "Look Mother and Janet" said John. "There is a boat. The sailors are drinking beer and showing us their...." No. Perhaps not.
So, back to the plot. We had a great day in Aberystwyth courtesy of Yeti's dad, Nick, who had arranged a full social agenda for us. We anchored off the harbour on arrival at about 1030 as we had to wait for the tide to get into the small marina in the harbour where Nick had arranged a free berth for us, and were just about to get our heads down after a long night when Nick called us on the radio to say he was coming out on a fishing boat to a) pick up Mark who had to get a train back to London, and b) bring out a news camaraman who wanted to do a piece about us for the local TV news. Here comes my 15 minutes of fame. So there followed a mad dash to clean up the boat and get it looking shipshape, which involved hiding the empty beer cans and fag packets, coiling ropes, putting on the crew shirts and putting up the anchor ball for the first time. Interviews were done on board and I did my best to be eloquent and witty, then we bade farewell to Mark and off they went. A couple of circuits of Gamaldansk to get some atmosphere shots and Dave, the fishing boat owner, suddenly became the director, shouting that he was going to do some close passes, then a long distance shot, followed by another couple of circuits and some close-ups. A raw talent wasted on fishing methinks.Pete and I then had a chance for a nap until about 3 when the tide was enough to get in to the harbour. A bit of a rushed shower, meet my brother Simon and Simon Garrett (the Wing Co) from the train, and then a lift with Captain Hugh, a friend of Nick's, to Aberaeron about 16 miles along the coast, for a barbie and drinks at Nick and Dee's (Marks step-mum) lovely house by the harbour, from where I did the last, rather rushed, blog. A great evening for which we gratefully thank Nick and Dee. An early start again the next day to get the high tide out of the harbour, and for a while it seemed we would have a fair wind for the long passage to Milford Haven some 84 miles distant to the SW and we were escorted for a couple of minutes by a pod of huge dolphins. But as usual the wind came round onto the nose and we had to start tacking. Then, just to make the whole thing familiar, it rained. Not much, but just a token to remind us that it was Summer 2007. I had a nap below, leaving the ropes to the others, but was woken to get permission to start the engine as the wind had died. Not a problem - just drop the sails and motor onwards. But the tide had other ideas. It was now running in the opposite direction from that which we wanted to go and we were managing only 2.5kn forwards looking at a lighthouse to port which appeared to be completely static. Putting up the sails and using the little bit of wind that had sprung up made no difference, the lighthouse stubbornly remained on the port beam. We were going nowhere at 2.5kn! We were looking at that damned lighthouse for 4 hours! We saw the FastCat ferry go into Fishguard and were still in the same place when it came out again. Bored, I called up the ferry on the radio and had a bit of a chat with the duty officer just for something to do. I used the pretext of getting him to tell me what my RADAR echo looked like on his screen and it was nice to hear that he had seen Gamaldansk on his unit from miles away. He wished us fair winds and went on his way at 35kn. Finally the tide slackened and we made progress to the SW as the sun started going down. There followed a succession of lighthouses as we rounded the various headlands towards Milford. The tide, which had been so frustratingly against us earlier now picked us up and whisked us forwards at 7.5kn. So fast in fact that a shortcut I tried was to no avail as the tide tried to sweep us down onto the island we were tring to bypass, so I went outside it only to discover the "Wild Goose Race"! Suddenly it was a re-run of our little meeting with the Christchurch Shelf in the Solent. Only this time it was a pitch black night. We couldn't see the waves coming at us but we could certainly hear them. There would be a shout of "Big one" and everyone would hang on for dear life, not knowing which way the boat would be thrown or when. This only lasted for 10 minutes or so until we were through but it sure made everyone sit up and pay attention! Soon we arrived a the entrance to Milford Haven, a huge natural harbour on the very SW tip of Wales. Stupidly I hadn't made any pilotage notes (the up close navigation to get you in and out of harbours) so I had to do what is probably the most intense pilotage of the whole trip. There were lights everywhere. Not just nav lghts but an oil refinery, docks , jettys, pierheads, ships, roads and buildings. All showing some kind of light and confusing the ones I was desperatly looking for to get us safely in. For me it was a textbook excercise and I was in control and really enjoyed it, but to the others it was all black magic and a bit scary with just lots of flashing lights, so I got lots of hugs and congrats when we eventualy got to the entrance to the marina.The plan for the next day was to leave in the late afternoon for a 24 hour 120 mile passage to Scilly. As we left Milford there was a huge sea running outside the harbour and of course the wind was blowing straight from the Scillies. We managed 4 or five miles slamming into the sea and having the not very strong wind knocked out of the sails, before, after chatting with the others, the decision was made to return to Milford and try again the next day as an overnight passage in those conditions and with an in experienced crew was not an option. We had the embarassment of having to return to the marina lock where earlier, as we left, I had forgotten to call the lock for permission to enter and had received a verbal rocket and a huge glare from the lock keeper as I narrowly missed a barge coming the other way, which was repeated later in the marina office. Pete had said as we left " They can stick it. We're not coming back anyway". How wrong he was and how I regretted not reading the rules as the duty marina manager wagged his finger at me!By now we had heard of another huge depression coming in from the Atlantic which has now postponed the start of the Fastnet Race and scuppered our plans to get to Scilly before it hits. There are gale warnings for the St Georges Channel and the Bristol Channel and severe weather warnings all over the Southwest. So it's with a huge feeling of defeat and impotence, as we can almost see Cornwall, that Pete and I have decided that we'll have to pack up the boat, leave her here and go home for a while. We have both shed tears of rage and frustration as a result of this insurmountable hurdle thrown in our path so ridiculusly close to home, and after all we've been through up to now it seems so bloody unfair. It seems 3 consecutive days good weather is too much to ask for. We both have work commitments and I want to spend some time with Sally before work as she is due to drop the sprog in about 8 weeks. We plan to return when we have a weather window of at least 4 days and can muster a crew who can cope with a long haul back to Fowey.
To be continued................
So, back to the plot. We had a great day in Aberystwyth courtesy of Yeti's dad, Nick, who had arranged a full social agenda for us. We anchored off the harbour on arrival at about 1030 as we had to wait for the tide to get into the small marina in the harbour where Nick had arranged a free berth for us, and were just about to get our heads down after a long night when Nick called us on the radio to say he was coming out on a fishing boat to a) pick up Mark who had to get a train back to London, and b) bring out a news camaraman who wanted to do a piece about us for the local TV news. Here comes my 15 minutes of fame. So there followed a mad dash to clean up the boat and get it looking shipshape, which involved hiding the empty beer cans and fag packets, coiling ropes, putting on the crew shirts and putting up the anchor ball for the first time. Interviews were done on board and I did my best to be eloquent and witty, then we bade farewell to Mark and off they went. A couple of circuits of Gamaldansk to get some atmosphere shots and Dave, the fishing boat owner, suddenly became the director, shouting that he was going to do some close passes, then a long distance shot, followed by another couple of circuits and some close-ups. A raw talent wasted on fishing methinks.Pete and I then had a chance for a nap until about 3 when the tide was enough to get in to the harbour. A bit of a rushed shower, meet my brother Simon and Simon Garrett (the Wing Co) from the train, and then a lift with Captain Hugh, a friend of Nick's, to Aberaeron about 16 miles along the coast, for a barbie and drinks at Nick and Dee's (Marks step-mum) lovely house by the harbour, from where I did the last, rather rushed, blog. A great evening for which we gratefully thank Nick and Dee. An early start again the next day to get the high tide out of the harbour, and for a while it seemed we would have a fair wind for the long passage to Milford Haven some 84 miles distant to the SW and we were escorted for a couple of minutes by a pod of huge dolphins. But as usual the wind came round onto the nose and we had to start tacking. Then, just to make the whole thing familiar, it rained. Not much, but just a token to remind us that it was Summer 2007. I had a nap below, leaving the ropes to the others, but was woken to get permission to start the engine as the wind had died. Not a problem - just drop the sails and motor onwards. But the tide had other ideas. It was now running in the opposite direction from that which we wanted to go and we were managing only 2.5kn forwards looking at a lighthouse to port which appeared to be completely static. Putting up the sails and using the little bit of wind that had sprung up made no difference, the lighthouse stubbornly remained on the port beam. We were going nowhere at 2.5kn! We were looking at that damned lighthouse for 4 hours! We saw the FastCat ferry go into Fishguard and were still in the same place when it came out again. Bored, I called up the ferry on the radio and had a bit of a chat with the duty officer just for something to do. I used the pretext of getting him to tell me what my RADAR echo looked like on his screen and it was nice to hear that he had seen Gamaldansk on his unit from miles away. He wished us fair winds and went on his way at 35kn. Finally the tide slackened and we made progress to the SW as the sun started going down. There followed a succession of lighthouses as we rounded the various headlands towards Milford. The tide, which had been so frustratingly against us earlier now picked us up and whisked us forwards at 7.5kn. So fast in fact that a shortcut I tried was to no avail as the tide tried to sweep us down onto the island we were tring to bypass, so I went outside it only to discover the "Wild Goose Race"! Suddenly it was a re-run of our little meeting with the Christchurch Shelf in the Solent. Only this time it was a pitch black night. We couldn't see the waves coming at us but we could certainly hear them. There would be a shout of "Big one" and everyone would hang on for dear life, not knowing which way the boat would be thrown or when. This only lasted for 10 minutes or so until we were through but it sure made everyone sit up and pay attention! Soon we arrived a the entrance to Milford Haven, a huge natural harbour on the very SW tip of Wales. Stupidly I hadn't made any pilotage notes (the up close navigation to get you in and out of harbours) so I had to do what is probably the most intense pilotage of the whole trip. There were lights everywhere. Not just nav lghts but an oil refinery, docks , jettys, pierheads, ships, roads and buildings. All showing some kind of light and confusing the ones I was desperatly looking for to get us safely in. For me it was a textbook excercise and I was in control and really enjoyed it, but to the others it was all black magic and a bit scary with just lots of flashing lights, so I got lots of hugs and congrats when we eventualy got to the entrance to the marina.The plan for the next day was to leave in the late afternoon for a 24 hour 120 mile passage to Scilly. As we left Milford there was a huge sea running outside the harbour and of course the wind was blowing straight from the Scillies. We managed 4 or five miles slamming into the sea and having the not very strong wind knocked out of the sails, before, after chatting with the others, the decision was made to return to Milford and try again the next day as an overnight passage in those conditions and with an in experienced crew was not an option. We had the embarassment of having to return to the marina lock where earlier, as we left, I had forgotten to call the lock for permission to enter and had received a verbal rocket and a huge glare from the lock keeper as I narrowly missed a barge coming the other way, which was repeated later in the marina office. Pete had said as we left " They can stick it. We're not coming back anyway". How wrong he was and how I regretted not reading the rules as the duty marina manager wagged his finger at me!By now we had heard of another huge depression coming in from the Atlantic which has now postponed the start of the Fastnet Race and scuppered our plans to get to Scilly before it hits. There are gale warnings for the St Georges Channel and the Bristol Channel and severe weather warnings all over the Southwest. So it's with a huge feeling of defeat and impotence, as we can almost see Cornwall, that Pete and I have decided that we'll have to pack up the boat, leave her here and go home for a while. We have both shed tears of rage and frustration as a result of this insurmountable hurdle thrown in our path so ridiculusly close to home, and after all we've been through up to now it seems so bloody unfair. It seems 3 consecutive days good weather is too much to ask for. We both have work commitments and I want to spend some time with Sally before work as she is due to drop the sprog in about 8 weeks. We plan to return when we have a weather window of at least 4 days and can muster a crew who can cope with a long haul back to Fowey.
To be continued................
Thursday, 9 August 2007
Girvan to Portpatrick to Port St Mary to Holyhear to Aberystwyth
I'm under orders from head office (Sally) to get a new entry on here as apparently loads of people have been eagerly anticipating the next installment. I'll have to be brief as the crew are waiting for me to get this done so we can go to the pub.
A special note for my mum - Bizarre! There I can spell it properly. I got a "nine out of ten, see me" from her the other day for poor spelling!
After what seemed like an age waiting in Girvan for the weather to improve and the wind to blow in the right direction, we finally left, a day behind schedule, in pouring rain, and I mean absolutely throwing it down in stair rods, on Sunday afternoon on the high tide bound for Port St Mary on the Isle of Man where Jon was due to get a flight the next day. I was feeling particularly rough, having picked up a bug of some sort in Girvan, which had made me sick the previous night and I think I was probably running a temperature and really not wanting to sail overnight for 80 miles. As luck would have it the weather forcast and conditions meant that we had to stop for the night in a place called Portpatrick
on the Mull of Galloway. A lovely pub there but I had to bail out as I was still feeling pants.
Next morning the wind was blowing in the right direction and it was only raining a little bit so off to the Isle of Man some 50 miles away. Jon had thankfully re-arranged his plans and with the help of a lift from the harbourmaster to Stranrar managed to get home by bus and train. He was very philosophical about this and said "Well, you shouldn't make appointments when at sea" Very true.
A really good sail to IoM. Gentle sea, beam reach and sun. And it didn't rain on us. To date (day 40) we have had 37 days when it's rained.
We had to use a swinging mooring at Port St Mary so the rubber dinghy and outboard had to be put into use once again, the last time being in Essex all those weeks ago. Seagulls - what fantastic outboards they are. A bit agricultural perhaps but it started fourth pull! Not bad for an engine that has been out in more than we have, strapped to the back of the yacht. And a little pat on the back to the bloke who services it (me).
Then another fab day from IoM to Holyhead. Feeling a lot better today. At last we're out of Scotland and feeling like we're heading home. A relaxed day in Holyhead before a night sail 80 miles to Aberystwyth. We left at exactly 1730, having been advised by Brian, the coxwain of the Holyhead lifeboat, to be off the "Stacks" 40 minutes before high water when the tide races there run at their slackest. Duly negotiated in very little wind we motored south over a very calm sea. I noticed something about a cable (0.1 mile) off to port on the surface of the sea. Was it a dolphin or perhaps a whale or, as Pete later admitted thinking, a leatherback turtle. It didn't seem to be moving and curiosity got the better of me and I turned the boat round and went to investigate. It turned out to be an upturned dinghy, about 9ft long and a bit smashed up but none the less still floating. A quick recce of the area proved there were no people associated with it but a call to the coastguard seemed appropriate. They wanted to know everything about the dinghy so Pete and I managed to get it aboard onto the foredeck. There was no identification on it and, judging by the damage to the hull, it looked like it had escaped from its' mooring and had had a fight with some rocks before drifting out to sea. However the coastguard wanted to see for themselves and asked me if I would take it to Porth Dinllaen (or something like that with not enough vowels in it). I said I would have to look and see if I could get into the harbour with my big draught and they said not to worry a they would send the lifeboat out! We motored towards the harbour some 11 miles away, saw the maroons go off and 30 minutes later the big all weather lifeboat loomed out of the dark and came alongside. Poor Yeti was left on the helm as this huge thing came in. What do I do? he said."Nothing" said I. Let the man-who-can do everything. They came expertly alongside Gamaldansk and the dinghy was duly handed over and off they went into the dark wishing us bon vayage. Quite exciting really.
At present in Aberystwyth and off to Milford Haven tomorrow.
Must finish as they've all gone without me.
Love to all. Home soon. xxx
A special note for my mum - Bizarre! There I can spell it properly. I got a "nine out of ten, see me" from her the other day for poor spelling!
After what seemed like an age waiting in Girvan for the weather to improve and the wind to blow in the right direction, we finally left, a day behind schedule, in pouring rain, and I mean absolutely throwing it down in stair rods, on Sunday afternoon on the high tide bound for Port St Mary on the Isle of Man where Jon was due to get a flight the next day. I was feeling particularly rough, having picked up a bug of some sort in Girvan, which had made me sick the previous night and I think I was probably running a temperature and really not wanting to sail overnight for 80 miles. As luck would have it the weather forcast and conditions meant that we had to stop for the night in a place called Portpatrick
on the Mull of Galloway. A lovely pub there but I had to bail out as I was still feeling pants.
Next morning the wind was blowing in the right direction and it was only raining a little bit so off to the Isle of Man some 50 miles away. Jon had thankfully re-arranged his plans and with the help of a lift from the harbourmaster to Stranrar managed to get home by bus and train. He was very philosophical about this and said "Well, you shouldn't make appointments when at sea" Very true.
A really good sail to IoM. Gentle sea, beam reach and sun. And it didn't rain on us. To date (day 40) we have had 37 days when it's rained.
We had to use a swinging mooring at Port St Mary so the rubber dinghy and outboard had to be put into use once again, the last time being in Essex all those weeks ago. Seagulls - what fantastic outboards they are. A bit agricultural perhaps but it started fourth pull! Not bad for an engine that has been out in more than we have, strapped to the back of the yacht. And a little pat on the back to the bloke who services it (me).
Then another fab day from IoM to Holyhead. Feeling a lot better today. At last we're out of Scotland and feeling like we're heading home. A relaxed day in Holyhead before a night sail 80 miles to Aberystwyth. We left at exactly 1730, having been advised by Brian, the coxwain of the Holyhead lifeboat, to be off the "Stacks" 40 minutes before high water when the tide races there run at their slackest. Duly negotiated in very little wind we motored south over a very calm sea. I noticed something about a cable (0.1 mile) off to port on the surface of the sea. Was it a dolphin or perhaps a whale or, as Pete later admitted thinking, a leatherback turtle. It didn't seem to be moving and curiosity got the better of me and I turned the boat round and went to investigate. It turned out to be an upturned dinghy, about 9ft long and a bit smashed up but none the less still floating. A quick recce of the area proved there were no people associated with it but a call to the coastguard seemed appropriate. They wanted to know everything about the dinghy so Pete and I managed to get it aboard onto the foredeck. There was no identification on it and, judging by the damage to the hull, it looked like it had escaped from its' mooring and had had a fight with some rocks before drifting out to sea. However the coastguard wanted to see for themselves and asked me if I would take it to Porth Dinllaen (or something like that with not enough vowels in it). I said I would have to look and see if I could get into the harbour with my big draught and they said not to worry a they would send the lifeboat out! We motored towards the harbour some 11 miles away, saw the maroons go off and 30 minutes later the big all weather lifeboat loomed out of the dark and came alongside. Poor Yeti was left on the helm as this huge thing came in. What do I do? he said."Nothing" said I. Let the man-who-can do everything. They came expertly alongside Gamaldansk and the dinghy was duly handed over and off they went into the dark wishing us bon vayage. Quite exciting really.
At present in Aberystwyth and off to Milford Haven tomorrow.
Must finish as they've all gone without me.
Love to all. Home soon. xxx
Saturday, 4 August 2007
Tarbert to Girvan, 2nd August
We had a great evening with John and his family who entertained us to a full sit down meal and good company. Thank you very much guys and I hope John and I didn't bore you too much with our endless blathering about GK29s. I learned an interesting fact during the evening. People have often asked me why the boat is a GK29 and I haven't known the answer. Well now I do. When the designer was asked what he was going to call it and his reply was "God knows". Apocryphal perhaps but a good story.
We left Tarbert at 8 the next morning in glorious sunshine for our 42 mile trip down the east coast of Aran and on to Girvan on the South coast of the Firth of Clyde. We had the most fantastic sail of the trip yet. A beam reach in 10 to 20kn of wind, sunshine although still not warm and a calm sea, averaging about 6kn all the way. Fab! And for the first time in over a month it failed to rain on us for a whole 24 hours! Big smiles all round. We had a twitchy moment on the way as a large RFA ship was bearing down on us on a collision course. I trusted that as she was RFA ther would be a good lookout and she would take the appropriate action and give way to us. She got closer and closer and I was just about to tack away when her aspect changed and she altered course to pass astern of us. I don't like it when it get's that close but hurrah for the RFA and Coll. Regs. (The rules governing rights of way at sea.)
I spoke to David White on air at BBC Radio Cornwall and I know a lot of people heard it as a result of me being able to forewarn Sally who contacted everyone and told them to listen. I'll probably do an update again next week if they can stand me chuntering on the radio again.
We arrived in Girvan a day early due to not going round the top of Scotland and because of a planned crew change the next day had to stay in the harbour and lose the day we had in hand. We lost Mark Bonner and gained Mark Sawyer (Yeti) But not a bad thing as it turned out as the wind was southerly all that day and the next - not much good for sailing south - so we are actually stuck here in Girvan until Sunday lunchtime when the wind goes round to the West and I'm hoping to have a good reach down to Port St. mary on the Isle of Man and then onward to Holyhead and Wales. It feels really good to be making passage south towards home. Only about 10 days to go now.
I must give a big mention to the Coxwain and mechanic of the Girvan lifeboat who is also the harbourmaster here. Rod Leitch is a top bloke and has many tales to tell of lifeboats and derring-do upon the high seas. But, God, can he blather! He has no off switch, but it's all interesting stuff and what he doesn't know about the local waters isn't worth knowing. There are no facilities here in the harbour but he has very kindly let us use the showers in the lifeboat station and I'm writing this on the computer in his office. Big thanks to you Rod.
I met up with Heather yesterday. She's someone I know from Fowey and now lives here in Girvan and she let me use her bath. Oooh! How good did that feel. I lay for hours in hot water and just luxuriated. The only thing that was missing was a big soft bed to crawl into after the bath. I can't wait to get home and sleep in my own bed with a warm wife to cuddle.
Speaking of Sally, she called me yesterday to say that her little sitting room in the studio had been flooded by a broken pipe. I felt completely helpless and unable to do anything to sort it out. JL and Joe went round and heaved out the carpet and furniture but it still leaves Sal with nowhere to escape to while the builders are in gutting the ground floor of the house. Just what we didn't need.
So, another enforced day off in Girvan. There are a lot of pubs here so perhaps a half in each one to get the tally up, but it's looking like the Shandy Swilling Softie from Hartlepool (you know who you are) will win, unless we can get in some really Olympic standard drinking done in the next week or so.
I must let Rod have his computer back, so love to all and I'll try to get something up when we get to IoM.
PS Dave the barman is back and is stocktaking today so the on-board bar is shut, which means we'll have to go to the pub.
We left Tarbert at 8 the next morning in glorious sunshine for our 42 mile trip down the east coast of Aran and on to Girvan on the South coast of the Firth of Clyde. We had the most fantastic sail of the trip yet. A beam reach in 10 to 20kn of wind, sunshine although still not warm and a calm sea, averaging about 6kn all the way. Fab! And for the first time in over a month it failed to rain on us for a whole 24 hours! Big smiles all round. We had a twitchy moment on the way as a large RFA ship was bearing down on us on a collision course. I trusted that as she was RFA ther would be a good lookout and she would take the appropriate action and give way to us. She got closer and closer and I was just about to tack away when her aspect changed and she altered course to pass astern of us. I don't like it when it get's that close but hurrah for the RFA and Coll. Regs. (The rules governing rights of way at sea.)
I spoke to David White on air at BBC Radio Cornwall and I know a lot of people heard it as a result of me being able to forewarn Sally who contacted everyone and told them to listen. I'll probably do an update again next week if they can stand me chuntering on the radio again.
We arrived in Girvan a day early due to not going round the top of Scotland and because of a planned crew change the next day had to stay in the harbour and lose the day we had in hand. We lost Mark Bonner and gained Mark Sawyer (Yeti) But not a bad thing as it turned out as the wind was southerly all that day and the next - not much good for sailing south - so we are actually stuck here in Girvan until Sunday lunchtime when the wind goes round to the West and I'm hoping to have a good reach down to Port St. mary on the Isle of Man and then onward to Holyhead and Wales. It feels really good to be making passage south towards home. Only about 10 days to go now.
I must give a big mention to the Coxwain and mechanic of the Girvan lifeboat who is also the harbourmaster here. Rod Leitch is a top bloke and has many tales to tell of lifeboats and derring-do upon the high seas. But, God, can he blather! He has no off switch, but it's all interesting stuff and what he doesn't know about the local waters isn't worth knowing. There are no facilities here in the harbour but he has very kindly let us use the showers in the lifeboat station and I'm writing this on the computer in his office. Big thanks to you Rod.
I met up with Heather yesterday. She's someone I know from Fowey and now lives here in Girvan and she let me use her bath. Oooh! How good did that feel. I lay for hours in hot water and just luxuriated. The only thing that was missing was a big soft bed to crawl into after the bath. I can't wait to get home and sleep in my own bed with a warm wife to cuddle.
Speaking of Sally, she called me yesterday to say that her little sitting room in the studio had been flooded by a broken pipe. I felt completely helpless and unable to do anything to sort it out. JL and Joe went round and heaved out the carpet and furniture but it still leaves Sal with nowhere to escape to while the builders are in gutting the ground floor of the house. Just what we didn't need.
So, another enforced day off in Girvan. There are a lot of pubs here so perhaps a half in each one to get the tally up, but it's looking like the Shandy Swilling Softie from Hartlepool (you know who you are) will win, unless we can get in some really Olympic standard drinking done in the next week or so.
I must let Rod have his computer back, so love to all and I'll try to get something up when we get to IoM.
PS Dave the barman is back and is stocktaking today so the on-board bar is shut, which means we'll have to go to the pub.
Wednesday, 1 August 2007
Dunstaffnage to Crinan Canal to Tarbert, Loch Fyne. 30th July to 1st Aug.
Since Mark and Jon have joined us things have taken a turn for the better so his blog should be a little more upbeat than the last couple of attempts.
We had a lovely sail out of Dunstaffnage Marina to a small, almost land-locked loch, about 12 miles away, where we anchored for lunch and had the days token rain whilst there, returning in a bit of grey mizzle at about 7pm in time to meet Terry for a drink and food. It was great for me to let Jon skipper for the day and not have to worry about where we were going, what time was high tide, is it deep enough and the myriad other minutiae associated with sailing. I managed to relax enough to fall asleep on the foredeck on the way back, but awoke stiff and freezing cold!
Terry drove us into Oban for food and a few beers in the evening - fish and chips on the seafront with the tourists and clocked up another couple of pubs. Before we went out I had spoken to John Scott, a fellow GK29 owner, who lives in Tarbert, Loch Fyne, who reminded me that we would be coming past the notorious Gulf of Corryvreckan the next day and that I should do some homework beforehand. That was the end of my day of not skippering. Once again the almanac said that we shouldn't go there and painted a picture of death and doom if we did. We only needed to skirt past the really dangerous bit, where there is a whirlpool called "The Hag" and very strong tides, and it just required a bit of calculation and planning. I came up with the answer of 8. That's AM start to get to the relevent bit with the tide behind us and the later whirlpooly bit at slack water. Perhaps I should have said 0700 as we had the wind on the nose as we left the marina (so what's new?) and we didn't make very good speed for the first few miles, arriving at the important bit just as the tide had turned. We just about made progress through the tide. It's like going up a down escalator. We were sailing at about 5.5 knots through the water but only making just 2 over the ground. This was only for a short while and soon we were entering the Crinan Canal sea lock for the next part of the journey through the Scottish mountains.
The nice folk at Crinan gave us a 50% discount once again and we spent a couple of hours gently motoring through some beautiful countryside, swing bridges, locks and views, all in beautiful sunshine. One thing of note was the strange man standing in the canal up to his thighs in the water, holding a sponge and shouting strange slogans at the boats as they went by. His house was a brightly painted shed from which he appeared to be selling paintings. Bizzare.
We stopped for the night at the highest point of the canal just before a staircase of locks going back down to the sea. A good pub and restaurant there, where Mark B stood us a really nice meal which he did very gracefully after our constant mickey taking about him not reading the e mails I sent out to everyone saying bring towel, sleeping bag and pillow which he failed to do. He thought he was going to be staying in a hotel. Ha! After supper it started raining and continued to do so all night and we awoke to a very soggy dawn. We can still say that it has rained on us every day so far.
On down the canal to the sea at Ardrishaig on Lock Fyne and then the most perfect sail down to Tarbert. It was what I have been craving for a month - beam reach in 10 to 15 knots of wind, flat sea, sunshine and no shallows. Fantastic. As we arrived in the harbour mouth at Tarbert we were met by a dolphin and John Scott who had aranged a berth for us. He told us to go towards the harbour office and we'd see the reserved signs put out for our arrival. How cool. Handbrake turn into the space and we had arrived. Dave the barman is off for a few days but has left Pete with the keys so a couple of beers and lunch in the sun.
I should perhaps explain about Dave. He is the guy who runs the bar on board. It can be found on one of the lower decks next to the sauna and gym. His second wife Irene had to go into hospital the other day and unfortunately passed away after complications following an emergency hysterectomy. Dave has cashed the insurance and used it to go on holiday with Beryl the busty barmaid with whom he has been having a bit of a romp recently. You might think that all this is the result of crazed minds caused by me and Pete being away at sea for too long but I can assure you it's all true! Watch this space for the next instalment of "The Gamaldanskers" Doo Doo Doo Doo Doobidy Doo (Eastenders style drums)
So a gentle afternoon off, before tomorrows 42 mile run to Girvan. John Scott has invited us all to his place this evening for beer and food and a bit of a party. Should be fun.
Big love to Sal at home who is being a star and coping royally with all the building stuff that is going on in my absence and being pregnant as well. Well done my love. You are the best!
Rick has made an online photo album which you can see at http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/6111524?c_album=6111524&page=1
We had a lovely sail out of Dunstaffnage Marina to a small, almost land-locked loch, about 12 miles away, where we anchored for lunch and had the days token rain whilst there, returning in a bit of grey mizzle at about 7pm in time to meet Terry for a drink and food. It was great for me to let Jon skipper for the day and not have to worry about where we were going, what time was high tide, is it deep enough and the myriad other minutiae associated with sailing. I managed to relax enough to fall asleep on the foredeck on the way back, but awoke stiff and freezing cold!
Terry drove us into Oban for food and a few beers in the evening - fish and chips on the seafront with the tourists and clocked up another couple of pubs. Before we went out I had spoken to John Scott, a fellow GK29 owner, who lives in Tarbert, Loch Fyne, who reminded me that we would be coming past the notorious Gulf of Corryvreckan the next day and that I should do some homework beforehand. That was the end of my day of not skippering. Once again the almanac said that we shouldn't go there and painted a picture of death and doom if we did. We only needed to skirt past the really dangerous bit, where there is a whirlpool called "The Hag" and very strong tides, and it just required a bit of calculation and planning. I came up with the answer of 8. That's AM start to get to the relevent bit with the tide behind us and the later whirlpooly bit at slack water. Perhaps I should have said 0700 as we had the wind on the nose as we left the marina (so what's new?) and we didn't make very good speed for the first few miles, arriving at the important bit just as the tide had turned. We just about made progress through the tide. It's like going up a down escalator. We were sailing at about 5.5 knots through the water but only making just 2 over the ground. This was only for a short while and soon we were entering the Crinan Canal sea lock for the next part of the journey through the Scottish mountains.
The nice folk at Crinan gave us a 50% discount once again and we spent a couple of hours gently motoring through some beautiful countryside, swing bridges, locks and views, all in beautiful sunshine. One thing of note was the strange man standing in the canal up to his thighs in the water, holding a sponge and shouting strange slogans at the boats as they went by. His house was a brightly painted shed from which he appeared to be selling paintings. Bizzare.
We stopped for the night at the highest point of the canal just before a staircase of locks going back down to the sea. A good pub and restaurant there, where Mark B stood us a really nice meal which he did very gracefully after our constant mickey taking about him not reading the e mails I sent out to everyone saying bring towel, sleeping bag and pillow which he failed to do. He thought he was going to be staying in a hotel. Ha! After supper it started raining and continued to do so all night and we awoke to a very soggy dawn. We can still say that it has rained on us every day so far.
On down the canal to the sea at Ardrishaig on Lock Fyne and then the most perfect sail down to Tarbert. It was what I have been craving for a month - beam reach in 10 to 15 knots of wind, flat sea, sunshine and no shallows. Fantastic. As we arrived in the harbour mouth at Tarbert we were met by a dolphin and John Scott who had aranged a berth for us. He told us to go towards the harbour office and we'd see the reserved signs put out for our arrival. How cool. Handbrake turn into the space and we had arrived. Dave the barman is off for a few days but has left Pete with the keys so a couple of beers and lunch in the sun.
I should perhaps explain about Dave. He is the guy who runs the bar on board. It can be found on one of the lower decks next to the sauna and gym. His second wife Irene had to go into hospital the other day and unfortunately passed away after complications following an emergency hysterectomy. Dave has cashed the insurance and used it to go on holiday with Beryl the busty barmaid with whom he has been having a bit of a romp recently. You might think that all this is the result of crazed minds caused by me and Pete being away at sea for too long but I can assure you it's all true! Watch this space for the next instalment of "The Gamaldanskers" Doo Doo Doo Doo Doobidy Doo (Eastenders style drums)
So a gentle afternoon off, before tomorrows 42 mile run to Girvan. John Scott has invited us all to his place this evening for beer and food and a bit of a party. Should be fun.
Big love to Sal at home who is being a star and coping royally with all the building stuff that is going on in my absence and being pregnant as well. Well done my love. You are the best!
Rick has made an online photo album which you can see at http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/6111524?c_album=6111524&page=1
Monday, 30 July 2007
Wick to Helmsdale to Loch Ness to Dunstaffnage 25th to 30th July
That afternoon in Wick was spent looking at charts, tides and the weather for the next few days. I found a great help from Ian (Corrie) Cormack at the lifeboat station. He's the full time mechanic, manager, coxwain and general doer of stuff for the lifeboat. He cheered up my mood by agreeing that I'd made the correct call that morning and turning back had been my best option. This from a man who knows the Pentland Firth like his back garden, was all I needed to realise that it wasn't me being chicken. A word about the Pentland Firth - as I've said before it has a reputation as the most dangerous stretch of water around Britain and some of the things I've read about it whilst doing my homework make the toes curl. In "Tidal Streams of the Waters Surrounding the British Isles" the Admiralty warn the seafarer of the great differences in direction and rate of the tidal streams over small distances - "streams run very strongly, eddies of great extent and strength form, and there are races and overfalls of tremendous violence"! They add cautiously that no chart or description of the tidal streams can be correct under all circumstances, and that accurate measurements and observations are impossible. William Lithgow, one of the most widly travelled men of his time, said in 1628 .... Forsaking Cathnes, I embraced the trembling surges (at Dungsby) of struggling Neptune, which engorgeth Pentland or Pictland Firth, with nine contrarious tides; each tide overthwarting another with repugnant courses, have such violent streams, and combustious waves, that if these dangerous firths be not righly taken in passing over, the passengers shall quickly lose sight of life and land for ever....! ( From "A wild and open sea" by James Miller) However, the forecast for the next day was perferct for going through the Firth but the outlook for the long run across the Northern coast was not looking good. As you may appreciate, my faith in the weather forecasts we have had of late has been a little dented so I had to err on the side of safety and assume that it would be either as forecast or worse. I called a crew meeting - well, we went to the pub - and after discussion with the lads it was decided to call it quits and head back down the Moray Firth and take the shorter route through the Caledonian Canal, which links the East and West coasts of Scotland through canals, locks and Lock Ness. A difficult decision for me as I set out to circumnavigate Britain and now feel that I'll be the guy who failed to circumnavigate Britain. I don't feel that anyone can knock me for that in the light of the weather we are having and have had, and many have already said that it was a wise and sound decision based on safety rather than a gung-ho attitude (and the fact that the last thing we want to do is to have to call out a lifeboat). For those of you who have donated money to the RNLI on the strength of our attempt then Pete and I have already said that if at all possible we will return again next year or the year after and do the bit we haven't done in a chartered boat. Ok? Deal? We spent the rest of the day resting, clocking up another couple of pubs and getting a reasonably early night. Off the next morning at about midday after getting fuel in a 25 litre drum from a bloke called Willy in a shed and managing to spill plenty over the boat and Bob trying to get it into the tank. As we left we had the bizzare sight and sound of one of the four young blokes on the French boat next to us seeing us off with a fanfare played on no less than a tuba! Where do you find room for a tuba on a 30ft boat? We had also noticed that after they arrived they managed to bring out of the boat 2 tandem pushbikes and go off for a sightseeing ride round Wick. Nutters!We pushed out of the harbour under grey skies and a fairly big sea. Quel suprise! But after an initial beat out to sea we tacked and managed to hold a reasonable close reach for about ten miles SW along the coast towards our destination of Helmsdale, a small harbour on the Northern coast of the Moray Firth.The sun came out and we had a good sail that was spoiled a bit by the still big sea. God, I'm so fed up with waves. I know it's something that goes with being on the sea but just for once could we have a bit of calm water and a nice sail? Is it really asking too much? Oh and, while I'm whinging, perhaps a 24 hour period without rain would be nice. Pete and I discussed this recently and we realised that since we've been gone we haven't had one day in which we haven't been rained on. So far we've managed all the elements of nice sailing, flat sea, sun, gentle wind on the beam, good scenery, fair tide etc etc but never all at the same time.The big sea abated but so did the wind and what little was left went round onto the nose - see what I mean? - so we ended up motoring the last 10 miles into Helmsdale, a very pretty little village with a small fishing fleet and a nice Harbour Master called Alec who interrupted his birthday supper to come and see us in. The only other thing of note in Helmsdale was the shower. We all agreed that the huge infra-red heater on the wall made it the best so far. Strange that something so small can have a huge boosting affect on morale.Away at 9 the next morning at the top of the tide after having watched a couple of fishing boats come in after a night at sea, and sort their catch. Those guys must be just about scraping a living as it seemed thay didn't have much to show for a hard nights work. A few boxes of langoustine or something similar. No wind at all today so we set out under power for Inverness, about 40 miles away. A reasonable day - some sun interspersed with heavy downpours. We saw a few dolphins as we neared Inverness who put on a brief display of jumping about 100m away. Inverness is where the Caledonian Canal starts, with a sea lock as the first thing. The canal locks only operate between 0800 and 1800 including this one so we had to put into the small yacht haven in Inverness Docks. The place was just an industrial estate with extra cranes. Great if we had wanted to do a bit of DIY from B&Q or a tile wholesaler, or even taken on board a few thousand gallons of diesel from the BP depot. All we wanted was a loo and shower but it appeared this was asking too much for our £13. A stroll into town for a ruby and a couple of pints watching an excellent jazz band. The trombonist could do really good triple-tongueing and, boy, did he like to use it.0700 revielle to get to the lock gates for 0800. Through there and stopped at the marina further up the canal to sort out paperwork and refuel. John, the British Waterways Board bloke there, allowed us a 50% discount as it was for the RNLI and a passing sailor on the towpath donated £20 for the bucket as the lifeboat in Ireland had come out to meet him when he was having trouble getting into a harbour there in a storm.Up through a series of locks and swing-bridges and we were out into Lock Ness. The mood all morning had been one of relaxed excitement as we were about to do something a bit different with the promise of an easy day through the 25 miles of canal and Loch to Fort Augustus at the Sw end of Loch Ness. However, as I write this, we are under power only. bashing into 25 to 30kn of wind, once again right on the nose, some steep little waves which stop the boat in her tracks and making a measly 2.5 to 3.5kn through the water. My poor little engine! Pete said that when we got to Loch Ness the sun would shine and he was going to put on shorts and T-shirt which, to his credit, he did, but only for a minute, long enough to have his picture taken and get hypothemia.A lovely evening at Fort Augustus. You wouldn't have thought it was the same day - the sun came out and the water was still. Some beautiful views down Loch Ness and the surrounding mountains. Off at 0730 next morning to get into the first run up the next set of 5 locks. Hey we were a tourist attraction. All the visitors gathered around the locks to watch and take pictures. We later realised that we'd missed an ideal opportunity to shake the Lifeboat buckets. They soon realised that locks are quite boring once you've seen the operation once so they drifted away. We motored on down the canal and through various small Lochs, under swing bridges and past some stunning scenery. Ben Nevis was to our left but the top was obscured all day by the clouds that regularly rained on us. A day of gentle relaxed motoring which was needed by all. We reached the end of the canal too late to go down the series of locks called Neptunes Staircase, to get to the sea, so moored up and said goodbye to Bob and Ray and welcomed Mark and Jon aboard. Ray has taken about 600 photos during his time on board and will be putting a selection up on his website in due corurse, so watch this space for the address.Once we reached the sea next morning after a fairly tedious procedure through 7 locks we ended up having the best sail we've had so far on the trip. The sun shone, the wind was on the beam, the sea was flat but of course we had a couple of really big downpours just to stop it being perfect. We were heading for Dunstaffnage Marina just outside Oban where Terry Saunders an ex-sound engineer from Autograph, and his wife Jackie have set up Alba Sailing, a very successful and busy charter company and sailing school. They arranged a berth for us which was a small miracle due to the fact that there were about 150 extra boats in the marina due to it being Scotsail week - an annual sail-fest on the west coast. Thanks to Tim and Mike at the marina for waiving the fee. A perfect evening in the pub to shake the buckets at all the visiting sailors and we must have collected at least £150!Today is a day off and I've handed over skippering duties to Jon who is going to take us for a sail later and we'll go where the wind takes us rather than where we have to go.
Tuesday, 24 July 2007
Peterhead to Whitehills to Wick and back to Wick
I've just had a look at the Just Giving site and our total to date is just short of £3,500. Many thanks to you all for your donations. It makes it all worthwhile. If you haven't made a donation yet please do. Even if it's only a fiver or tenner. It all helps. A big thanks to Tony Randle (I can never remember how to spell your surname Tony) one of my drinking mates from The Countryman in North Petherwin, for his hard work in prising money out of the residents of the village and the drunkards at the pub. I'm sorry that the guests at Nigel and Yvettes party were pressganged by Tony but it's all for a good cause. Tony's pot is standing at £250 at present - let's make it 350?I hope some of you heard the phonecall I had with David White on BBC Radio Cornwall this morning (24th). It was good to have contact with something I consider is the sound of home as I always enjoy listening to DW's show in the mornings. He's asked me to keep in touch over the next few weeks so listen out.Anyway - back to the blog.......The morning in Peterhead dawned a bit dryer and brighter than the deluge of the previous evening and spirits were lifted a bit. We managed to get some stuff dry by hanging it all over the boat (pikeys again - we could probably get a few old fridges on the foredeck) and got a few provisions from the petrol station a fair walk down the road. After filling the diesel tank we left the harbour in rain again, having remembered this time to call the port control for permission, and headed North past Fraserborough and into the Moray Firth. The swell of the day before was still there but the wind had gone Easterly so we had an easy sail under full jib only with a fairly pronounced roll from the swell. The rain stopped and the sun came out and the general mood improved. As we ran along the North facing coast of the Moray Firth we saw cliffs in the distance shrouded by mist and very damp looking clouds which didn't seem to be moving at all. As we got closer the wind died completely and within 2 minutes had turned through 180 degrees and was now right on the nose - again! So full sail up and we started tacking towards our destination at Whitehills (look it up on a map. I had to.) This tacking stuff was all a bit dull and with 20 miles to go we really just wanted to get there so I decided to get the engine on and motor-sail as this gave us the speed we needed but 10 degrees closer to the wind. David Findlay, the harbourmaster met us at the pontoon in the the lovely little marina at Whitehills. A really pleasant guy and most helpful. There was great celebration amongst the crew of Gamaldansk when he told us there was a laundry room with an industrial tumble drier and two washing machines. Oh for the feel of clean, dry pants! There was also an internet connection from which I did the last blog and caught up on some e mails whilst the guys went and inspected the local hostelry, The Seafield Inn. Pete said it was the best pub so far. By the way Mike - only 36 pubs to date, but there's time yet bonny pet.An early start at 0600 so we turned in at a reasonable hour.Another grey dawn but, hey, not raining. Pete's mood was very low and we had a bit of a head-to-head over planning and provisions and a few issues were discussed on the foredeck! I wondered when we started if this would happen as a boat is a very small place for two people to be together for a prolonged period, but we sorted stuff out and all was well later. Definitely a bit of cabin fever kicking in. Since then we have kissed and made up. (Not on the lips though!)So, a 50 mile stint across the Moray Firth to Wick. Of course the little bit of wind we had was blowing from Wick to Whitehills. Great! With the experience of the previous day I elected to motor-sail again which meant that we could just about hold a course that wasn't either straight towards Inverness or, on the other tack, somewhere in Norway. The wind eased later, backing more northwest but dying to almost nothing. So 12 hours later we motored into Wick, sails down, on a glassy sea. During this time I had spent a while doing tidal calculations and timings for getting through the Pentland Firth the following day. This has a reputation as the most dangerous water around the British coast and has to be treated with a lot of respect and a great deal of planning as the tides there run up to 12kn and cause huge confused seas that can easily overwhelm a small boat. We were met in Wick by the acting harbourmaster in the absence the the resting one. He was exactly what you'd expect a harbourmaster to be - grey beard, glasses and cap. We wondered if, when the official man isn't present, whoever is acting on his behalf has to wear the "on duty" beard, hat and twinkly eyes, which are kept on a peg in the harbour office. We met some lovely friendly folk in the rather grotty looking Mountain Dew Bar (Pete says the best looking barmaid so far. Dotty. He's in love with her I think) A reasonable Chinese sit-down and early night as we had to be up for 0400 to be at Duncansby Head, the entrance to the Pentland Firth, 14 miles north of Wick, by exactly 0700.Well, the best laid plans of mice and men etc. We were away on time at 0430, in good spirits. I had spent a fairly sleepless night worrying about what the day might have in store and I seems I was right to worry. The wind was in the NW, only about 10kn in the harbour but as we came away from the land (once again in the pissing rain - excuse the language but it's the best way I can describe it) it got up to 20kn gusting 25 and only 30 degrees off our course. As we approached Duncansby head it came even more on the nose and I called for the sails down and attempted to make way into the wind and sea under power only. The poor engine struggled to move us forwards at 2.5kn as the headland did a disappearing trick into the rain and mist in the distance. They say in sailing that if you're thinking about doing something then you should have already done it, and in this instance I was thinking about turning back and admitting defeat. I struggled with these thoughts for about 10 minutes, disappointment, failure, letting people down, being amongst them. But I had to make the call for safety reasons and, 6 miles short of the northernmost tip of mainland Britain, we turned about and headed back to Wick.The weather looks good for a second attempt tomorrow, but I'm concerned about what it will do in the following days when we have a 100 mile run from Scrabster to Stornoway along the desolate and harbour-free north coast of Scotland. I'm seriously considering back-tracking and going down the Caledonian Canal across to the west coast.Watch this space!
Sunday, 22 July 2007
Arbroath to Stonehaven to Peterhead
This will have to be short as the battery on the laptop is going flat!
Out of Arbroath at a sensible time having said goodbye to Rick, with me Caskey and Rachel on board. A great sail - probably the best so far - full sails up and a bit of tacking into the NE wind 15 to 20kn, arriving in Stonehaven in time to meet Sarah and Andy, who collected Rachel, and Ray who joined, at the pub and a particularly bad doner kebeb from the local Stavros outlet. A nice fisherman moved his boat for us and suggested we have his slot as it would be out of the swell. Many thanks to him but I didn't get his name. Another cockpit party to say goodbye to Rachel and turned in at midnight. Oh how I wish it had been sooner! Read on.
(Hansome) Bob McDougall came out from Edinburgh first thing to join us, having been up all night in the pub with his mates. Something he was to regret later! We left Stonehaven into a huge swell from the NE and a reasonable breeze but dead on the nose. So with a first reef in the main and full jib we started tacking towards Peterhead, 35 miles to the NE. As we got further out from the land the swell and wind increased. So I called for 2 reefs in the jib (sorry Shawn I should have rigged the No3 jib) and a bit of engine assistance. We were by now close hauled (as near as you can sail to the direction the wind is coming from) crashing into the steepest swell I have ever known. A short steep wave would hit the bow, come crashing over the boat and almost stop us, or we would climb to the top of the wave and than fall vertically of the far side of it with a sickening plunge into the following trough where Gamaldansk would take it on the belly with a huge bang which made the whole hull shake. She would then throw herself at the next one and the endless process would start all over again. We tacked in and out for hours. Nearer the shore was slighly better so we tried to stay in its' lee, but without much effect. All of this was done in driving rain and spray, and trying to avoid all the big boys going to and from Aberdeen. Bob regretted his long night in the pub as Pete held on to him as he revisited last nights beer over the side. In all a very long and tiring day which saw us arrive in Peterhead wet, cold and bedraggled, only to be told that there were no drying facilities and the pub was two miles away. Great. The days log showed that we had done 55 miles to travel 35, but that meant that we had crossed the 900 mile mark wich is half of the planned 1800. So after some great pasta from Chez Caskey we headed off for the 10 minute walk (yeah right!) into town for a pint. Of course a few minutes after we set out the heavens opened horizontally and we arrived at the awful pub wetter than we had been all day! Taxi back to the boat as the weather looked like December. Went to bed feeling very dispirited and low and wanting to go home. Whose stupid idea was this anyway???
Out of Arbroath at a sensible time having said goodbye to Rick, with me Caskey and Rachel on board. A great sail - probably the best so far - full sails up and a bit of tacking into the NE wind 15 to 20kn, arriving in Stonehaven in time to meet Sarah and Andy, who collected Rachel, and Ray who joined, at the pub and a particularly bad doner kebeb from the local Stavros outlet. A nice fisherman moved his boat for us and suggested we have his slot as it would be out of the swell. Many thanks to him but I didn't get his name. Another cockpit party to say goodbye to Rachel and turned in at midnight. Oh how I wish it had been sooner! Read on.
(Hansome) Bob McDougall came out from Edinburgh first thing to join us, having been up all night in the pub with his mates. Something he was to regret later! We left Stonehaven into a huge swell from the NE and a reasonable breeze but dead on the nose. So with a first reef in the main and full jib we started tacking towards Peterhead, 35 miles to the NE. As we got further out from the land the swell and wind increased. So I called for 2 reefs in the jib (sorry Shawn I should have rigged the No3 jib) and a bit of engine assistance. We were by now close hauled (as near as you can sail to the direction the wind is coming from) crashing into the steepest swell I have ever known. A short steep wave would hit the bow, come crashing over the boat and almost stop us, or we would climb to the top of the wave and than fall vertically of the far side of it with a sickening plunge into the following trough where Gamaldansk would take it on the belly with a huge bang which made the whole hull shake. She would then throw herself at the next one and the endless process would start all over again. We tacked in and out for hours. Nearer the shore was slighly better so we tried to stay in its' lee, but without much effect. All of this was done in driving rain and spray, and trying to avoid all the big boys going to and from Aberdeen. Bob regretted his long night in the pub as Pete held on to him as he revisited last nights beer over the side. In all a very long and tiring day which saw us arrive in Peterhead wet, cold and bedraggled, only to be told that there were no drying facilities and the pub was two miles away. Great. The days log showed that we had done 55 miles to travel 35, but that meant that we had crossed the 900 mile mark wich is half of the planned 1800. So after some great pasta from Chez Caskey we headed off for the 10 minute walk (yeah right!) into town for a pint. Of course a few minutes after we set out the heavens opened horizontally and we arrived at the awful pub wetter than we had been all day! Taxi back to the boat as the weather looked like December. Went to bed feeling very dispirited and low and wanting to go home. Whose stupid idea was this anyway???
Eyemouth to Arbroath 19.7.07
We left Eyemouth early on Thursday to get the good tide across to Arbroath and a non-stressy depth in the harbour. I went to pay the harbour dues and to ask about re-fueling. Alec, the harbourmaster said there was a fishing boat due at the fuel pontoon in about 10 minutes but if we were quick could get in before him. So I moved the boat the 300m down the harbour imagining that Rick would notice as he came out of the showers, where he was doing his usual 45 minute morning ablutions,that we were directly opposite on the other side of the harbour. What I didn't take into account was that he didn't have his glasses with him! So,missing us completely, he wandered back to where we had been moored only to find the boat gone! Ba*****s! They've forgotten me! So as he wandered back to the harbour office to try and get us on the radio and remind us that there were in fact 4 people on the crew, he saw some blurry people on a boat waving. The moral is - take your glasses and/or your phone to the shower.Overnight a large swell had come up. I don't know why as there was no significant overnight wind. We got the full sails up in about 15 to 20 knots of wind but the rain and big swell made it a fairly uncomfortable day. Not pleasant.Rachels sister Sarah came to see us in Arbroath with her boyfriend Andy. She was supposed to be collecting Rachel who was due to leave in Arbroath but Rachel decided to stay another day and Sarah would collect her in Stonehaven the next day. So a final night of giggling with Rachel and Rick. She's getting a bit twitchy about going back to real life and kids in Cornwall. Nice to see someone come on board full of the stresses of home and motherhood and slowly relax into the rythmn of the sailing.Bought Arbroath smokies from the fishmonger which we had for lunch the next day. Fantastic. Eaten on their own just grilled with butter.
Hartlepool to North Shields to Eyemouth
Hi all. Sorry about the big hole in the blogging. have forund a wifi here in Whitehills. The following has been written on the computer as we go awaiting a connection so the cronology might be a bit wierd as is the formatting.
Thanks and huge love to Sal for putting up the insert below and for putting up with me and leaving her to the pregnancy and the builders whilst I bugger off and play intepid explorer!
Days 17/18. 17th and 18th July 2007This is being written from our alongside berth in Eyemouth harbour, our first
stop in Scotland. In two days we've gone from "Why eye bonny pet" to "See you, ya
barm pot" unless you count the Welshman we met in the pub.We had a lovely evening aboard in North Shields. A great sunset, balmy
temperatures, a few cans and a sheperds pie from Chez Caskey. I think I might
have already mentioned this but I have no reference to what I wrote as I'm not on
line now. As a result of the convivial atmosphere aboard it was a late turn in
and a late departure down the Tyne at 1220 the next morning en-route to Amble.
Another calm day, so we motored most of the way, with the odd moment when the
wind allowed us to un-furl the genoa (foresail) and gain a bit of extra speed.
Along the way I decided to have a quick nap and of course while I wasn't on deck
there was the shout of "whale" from Rick who was on the helm. By the time I got
there the sea was empty and I had been the only one not to see the whale breach
and dive again. However there was lots of wildlife to see - puffins (boring now),
many seabirds which still can't be identified, plummeting into the sea to catch
their prey, the odd seal, and best of all, about 300m away a couple of dolphins
leaping for joy out of the water. They were going straight up and clearing the
surface by their own body length before gracefully flipping over and diving back
head first. An amazing sight and such a shame it was so far away.Amble was quite pretty but otherwise un remarkable. A visit to a couple of pubs
and then some tuna and pasta moosh from the kitchen of Chez Steve back on board.
Another still evening aboard, with a couple of drinks and lots of giggling in the
cockpit as the sun went down. It's remarkable how light it remains to a very late
hour up here compared with home "darn sarf". Rachel was awake at 0300 and says it
was a bit light even then. We still have a couple of hundred miles to go
Northwards so perhaps we'll get to see 24 hour daylight.Another early start out of Amble to get the fair tide up to Eyemouth. A wise
decision as we had a fairly ripping tide going our way as we passed the Farne
Islands and Lindisfarne on the coast of Northumberland, under full sail and a
close reach in 15kn of wind. The only thing lacking from this otherwise fantastic
sail (the best so far) was the sun and about 15 degrees of temperature. It was
freezing and overcast. We were all wearing full waterproofs, gloves, hats and
scarves. July - shmuly. As a result of the good wind and tide we arrived in
Eyemouth just after lunch, shortly after low tide. So with heart in mouth I
decided to go for the harbour entrance and the shallow bar there anyway, having
calclated that there was in fact enough water. I never thought that all those
exam questions I did for my Yachtmaster would actually come in useful one day.
Thanks Shawn!Eyemouth is a real live working fishing harbour with a proper fishing fleet.
Fishing boats everywhere - from little single handers to big deep-sea boats and
as I started this they all left the harbour as one on the top of the tide as did
the smell. We've just returned from a look around the town where we've managed to
clock up another 3 pubs. I should explain that at the end of Mike Fellows'
account of his trip around the block last year he gave some statistics including
the number of pubs visited. Pete and I have selflessly taken it upon ourselves to
better this total. Unfortunately to date we are sadly lacking. But (I'll get my
excuses in early) Mike had 3 months of hanging around pubs to get his total
whilst some of us have some hard sailing to do and an itinerary to keep to!
However, Mike - you might be a bonny lad but you're a shandy swilling northern
****** and we reckon we can double your score!! So 756.8 miles down, 1050 odd to go but we've passed the "third of the way
round" point, which, I think, requires a trip to a pub!Hope you all heard our mention on BBC Radio Cornwall this morning. What do you
mean, it's for old gits? Never! I'm going to try to get a couple of mentions a
week. Don't touch that dial.Pete says - Duncan get in touch and leave your e-mail address.
Thanks and huge love to Sal for putting up the insert below and for putting up with me and leaving her to the pregnancy and the builders whilst I bugger off and play intepid explorer!
Days 17/18. 17th and 18th July 2007This is being written from our alongside berth in Eyemouth harbour, our first
stop in Scotland. In two days we've gone from "Why eye bonny pet" to "See you, ya
barm pot" unless you count the Welshman we met in the pub.We had a lovely evening aboard in North Shields. A great sunset, balmy
temperatures, a few cans and a sheperds pie from Chez Caskey. I think I might
have already mentioned this but I have no reference to what I wrote as I'm not on
line now. As a result of the convivial atmosphere aboard it was a late turn in
and a late departure down the Tyne at 1220 the next morning en-route to Amble.
Another calm day, so we motored most of the way, with the odd moment when the
wind allowed us to un-furl the genoa (foresail) and gain a bit of extra speed.
Along the way I decided to have a quick nap and of course while I wasn't on deck
there was the shout of "whale" from Rick who was on the helm. By the time I got
there the sea was empty and I had been the only one not to see the whale breach
and dive again. However there was lots of wildlife to see - puffins (boring now),
many seabirds which still can't be identified, plummeting into the sea to catch
their prey, the odd seal, and best of all, about 300m away a couple of dolphins
leaping for joy out of the water. They were going straight up and clearing the
surface by their own body length before gracefully flipping over and diving back
head first. An amazing sight and such a shame it was so far away.Amble was quite pretty but otherwise un remarkable. A visit to a couple of pubs
and then some tuna and pasta moosh from the kitchen of Chez Steve back on board.
Another still evening aboard, with a couple of drinks and lots of giggling in the
cockpit as the sun went down. It's remarkable how light it remains to a very late
hour up here compared with home "darn sarf". Rachel was awake at 0300 and says it
was a bit light even then. We still have a couple of hundred miles to go
Northwards so perhaps we'll get to see 24 hour daylight.Another early start out of Amble to get the fair tide up to Eyemouth. A wise
decision as we had a fairly ripping tide going our way as we passed the Farne
Islands and Lindisfarne on the coast of Northumberland, under full sail and a
close reach in 15kn of wind. The only thing lacking from this otherwise fantastic
sail (the best so far) was the sun and about 15 degrees of temperature. It was
freezing and overcast. We were all wearing full waterproofs, gloves, hats and
scarves. July - shmuly. As a result of the good wind and tide we arrived in
Eyemouth just after lunch, shortly after low tide. So with heart in mouth I
decided to go for the harbour entrance and the shallow bar there anyway, having
calclated that there was in fact enough water. I never thought that all those
exam questions I did for my Yachtmaster would actually come in useful one day.
Thanks Shawn!Eyemouth is a real live working fishing harbour with a proper fishing fleet.
Fishing boats everywhere - from little single handers to big deep-sea boats and
as I started this they all left the harbour as one on the top of the tide as did
the smell. We've just returned from a look around the town where we've managed to
clock up another 3 pubs. I should explain that at the end of Mike Fellows'
account of his trip around the block last year he gave some statistics including
the number of pubs visited. Pete and I have selflessly taken it upon ourselves to
better this total. Unfortunately to date we are sadly lacking. But (I'll get my
excuses in early) Mike had 3 months of hanging around pubs to get his total
whilst some of us have some hard sailing to do and an itinerary to keep to!
However, Mike - you might be a bonny lad but you're a shandy swilling northern
****** and we reckon we can double your score!! So 756.8 miles down, 1050 odd to go but we've passed the "third of the way
round" point, which, I think, requires a trip to a pub!Hope you all heard our mention on BBC Radio Cornwall this morning. What do you
mean, it's for old gits? Never! I'm going to try to get a couple of mentions a
week. Don't touch that dial.Pete says - Duncan get in touch and leave your e-mail address.
Saturday, 21 July 2007
Note from Mrs C
Hi there all
This is Mrs C and I have been asked by my intrepid explorer husband to apologise for no recent blogs but there has not been an opportunity either time or internet access wise.
He is now on his way to Petershead, having dropped off Rick in Arbroath and Rachel in Stonehaven (she couldn't resist the extra day!) and they have now picked up two new crew members, Handsome Bob and Ray Hatteral. They are not having much fun today - it is very cold and they are sailing right into a north easterly which is making for a fairly bumpy ride - I just cannot believe this weather, it has to get better....
Keep sending them messages - I know how much they appreciate your support, particularly after days like today!
Many thanks for reading so far and keep logging in, Sal x
This is Mrs C and I have been asked by my intrepid explorer husband to apologise for no recent blogs but there has not been an opportunity either time or internet access wise.
He is now on his way to Petershead, having dropped off Rick in Arbroath and Rachel in Stonehaven (she couldn't resist the extra day!) and they have now picked up two new crew members, Handsome Bob and Ray Hatteral. They are not having much fun today - it is very cold and they are sailing right into a north easterly which is making for a fairly bumpy ride - I just cannot believe this weather, it has to get better....
Keep sending them messages - I know how much they appreciate your support, particularly after days like today!
Many thanks for reading so far and keep logging in, Sal x
Monday, 16 July 2007
Grimsby to Scarborough to Hartlepool to North Shields
13/14/15/16th July
Our day off in Grimsby was wet, rainy and grey. A fitting day for spending time
in a grey and dilapidated town. The marina is in a corner of the old fish dock
which is now sad and unused due to the demise of the UK fishing industry as a
result of the quota system. The pubs are full of out of work fishermen talking of
the days you could walk from one side of the dock to the other over the hundreds of boats moored there. Now sadly deserted with acres of empty dockside with a
good crop of weeds and surrounded by crumbling buildings, some of which still
contain the odd fish business hanging on by it's fingernails. This business was
in evidence as we approached the previous day as we could smell it down wind.Pete and I met up with Rachel and Rick in the White Bear pub which was notable for it's Friday lunchtime karaoke - yes Friday lunchtime - being performed by a bunch of guys, none under 60, who were doing the best pub singing I have heard since Vic Reeves. Hammynoo shaugh, seroopee, hay love hyoooo. Fantastic stuff. I wanted to listen but Pete said that if I laughed I'd get my head kicked in - which was probably good advice.That evening we had a good meal in the only restaurant in town, a Chinese, a good
walk away from the boat.Another early start the next morning to get the tide through the lock and
screamed down the Humber on a broad reach and a huge fair tide, encountering some
really confused water off Spurn Point, but nothing that Gamaldansk couldn't cope with. The wind got up as we turned North and we reefed and reefed as the sea and
wind got stronger and bigger. Rick soon revisited his breakfast cup of tea and
spent the next few hours looking decidedly green and being surprisingly quiet
(for a change). But he was smiling through the carrots! It was all a bit of a
battle - again - but later settled down to a reasonable beat into Scarborough in
the sunshine. Once again we had a deadline as the entry to the harbour is shallow
and we had to be there before low tide so the engine went on for the last couple of hours. The harbour guys were great and talked us down on the radio, once more
getting in by the skin of our teeth.Scarborough is an old fashioned "Kiss me quick" type seaside town. Candy floss,
speedboats round the bay, amusements arcades etc. We ate at Chez Caskey who
whipped up grilled chicken breast with a chestnut and sausage stuffing, tomato
salad, potato salad followed by mixed berries and clotted cream all washed down
with a good Chateau Stella or Valle de Strongbow. Reasonably early night as all a
bit knackered.Sunday dawned bright and still. Again constrained by the tide until 1.30 for
leaving and a need to go up the mast again to once and for all sort out the
cables which had stubbornly refused to stay inside the mast.The plan was made to
disconnect from the top and pull them down taking a cord with them so they could
be pulled up again. Once out they were all taped together so they would be to big
as a whole to slip out again. By the time they were back in place I had been up
the mast in a harness for about an hour, my legs had gone to sleep and I was in
agony from the straps round my legs. I was glad to get back down. It's a long way
up and anybody moving about on deck, or a passing boat's wash, rocks the boat,
which is amplified to quite a swing when 14 metres up.My sister Jenny came up for a visit from Hull with the kids Alex and Kate.They
stayed for a pizza lunch and waved us off from the harbour wall as we finally
left at 1400 in the grey and overcast which had now come in. The sea was flat
calm and no wind, so with sails down we motored into the cold, damp, murk which
then turned into a steady rain. More like October or November than middle July.We didn't make very good speed against the tide, crawling past Whitby and huge
granite cliffs at 3 to 4 kn, so we were pleased when the wind got up and we could
sail and motor. Our ETA at Hartlepool was now about 2300 and Having spoken to
Mike Fellows - a fellow circumnavigator and Hartlepool local - we realised we
wouldn't be able to get into the marina until about 0230 and would have to hang
around somewhere. Both Mike and Harry, the lock keeper at the marina, advised us to tie up somewhere in the adjacent Victoria Dock, Hartlepools commercial port.What they didn't tell me was to ignore the advice given in the almanac and NOT call the Tees Port Control. Being a good sailor I called them to advise them of what I was doing and they informed me that there would be a small charge of
between 70 and 100 quid! I thought I'd ignore them and carry on but they
obviously had me on radar and basically told me to bugger off or be charged a big wad of cash. So we went back out into what was now a big swell and 20kn of wind and put the anchor down in the dark just off the marina entrance. The anchor bit and held well despite the boat being tossed about by the now huge waves and wind. Gamaldansk took it all on the nose which is more than could be said for the crew who were not enjoying the motion or driving rain at all. So I bit the bullet and
called the dock Uberloitnant jobs-worth and told him we were coming in and would pay what it cost. Getting the anchor up was somewhat traumatic in that sea, wind and rain. Lets just say that Caskey and I were lucky to come away from the operation with a full 2 sets of fingers, the only damage was to the GRP on the bow and the teak rubbing strake from the huge pressures on the anchor chain. Asit came out of the water we saw that somehow the shaft of the anchor had been bent through 90 degrees (see photo). I have no idea how, but it shows what enormous forces were at work. We sheltered in the harbour for a couple of hours and finally made it into the marina and the friendly face of Harry at 0235,
dripping wet, cold, hungry and very relieved once again to be out of the
elements.After a deserved lie in next morning, interrupted, I should add, by the people on the boat next to us broadcasting the 0600 weather report to the whole
marina,there were a few jobs to do - write this, get the anchor fixed, showers
and dry out all the stuff from our adventures the previous night. The boat looked
like the pikeys had moved in as it was covered with drying oilskins, towels and
assorted garments. I took the anchor off to the marina to try and get it bent
back into shape and Alan in the office said his mate Brian would sort it out,
which he did and charged us nothing for it. Many thanks guys. Mike Fellows came
to visit and joined us for a lunchtime beer and gave me a guided tour of his
lovely boat, a steel hulled Van de Stadt called Kes, in which he has sailed many
miles including his trip around Britain last year. It was great to meet Mike
having spoken to him on the phone and internet. A really good bloke and a great
laugh. I'd sail with you anytime Mike. Why eye bonny pet.So re-fuel and re-gas and off at about 1530 for North Shields from where I write
this. We actually had the first good sail today as we left Hartlepool. Sun, both
sails full, no engine and a broad reach. I doesn't get much better. But it only
lasted about half an hour. The wind dropped to 4 knots and we put the sails away and motored all the way to the Tyne, which wasn't foggy. I really wanted it to be so I could claim ownership. The very Geordie lock keeper at Royal Quays marina was probably the happiest man I've met on the trip so far. He positively enthused a welcome to us and I expected to see him start dancing on the lockside in his joy at seeing us. What a great welcome. A lovely sunset to accompany a fab Cottage pie from Chez Caskey. This is what I signed up for.We've seen a variety of wildlife so far - dolphins across Lyme Bay and a quick glimps of one yesterday, a couple of seals have come to say hello - we think they look like labradors so they've become "sea-labradors", and a myriad of seabirds which we can't identify so Rachel is going to buy a book tomorrow. As we come further north we are starting to see more and more puffins, something we don't often get off the coast of cornwall.Must now get this uploaded. Love to all and keep checking this site.
Our day off in Grimsby was wet, rainy and grey. A fitting day for spending time
in a grey and dilapidated town. The marina is in a corner of the old fish dock
which is now sad and unused due to the demise of the UK fishing industry as a
result of the quota system. The pubs are full of out of work fishermen talking of
the days you could walk from one side of the dock to the other over the hundreds of boats moored there. Now sadly deserted with acres of empty dockside with a
good crop of weeds and surrounded by crumbling buildings, some of which still
contain the odd fish business hanging on by it's fingernails. This business was
in evidence as we approached the previous day as we could smell it down wind.Pete and I met up with Rachel and Rick in the White Bear pub which was notable for it's Friday lunchtime karaoke - yes Friday lunchtime - being performed by a bunch of guys, none under 60, who were doing the best pub singing I have heard since Vic Reeves. Hammynoo shaugh, seroopee, hay love hyoooo. Fantastic stuff. I wanted to listen but Pete said that if I laughed I'd get my head kicked in - which was probably good advice.That evening we had a good meal in the only restaurant in town, a Chinese, a good
walk away from the boat.Another early start the next morning to get the tide through the lock and
screamed down the Humber on a broad reach and a huge fair tide, encountering some
really confused water off Spurn Point, but nothing that Gamaldansk couldn't cope with. The wind got up as we turned North and we reefed and reefed as the sea and
wind got stronger and bigger. Rick soon revisited his breakfast cup of tea and
spent the next few hours looking decidedly green and being surprisingly quiet
(for a change). But he was smiling through the carrots! It was all a bit of a
battle - again - but later settled down to a reasonable beat into Scarborough in
the sunshine. Once again we had a deadline as the entry to the harbour is shallow
and we had to be there before low tide so the engine went on for the last couple of hours. The harbour guys were great and talked us down on the radio, once more
getting in by the skin of our teeth.Scarborough is an old fashioned "Kiss me quick" type seaside town. Candy floss,
speedboats round the bay, amusements arcades etc. We ate at Chez Caskey who
whipped up grilled chicken breast with a chestnut and sausage stuffing, tomato
salad, potato salad followed by mixed berries and clotted cream all washed down
with a good Chateau Stella or Valle de Strongbow. Reasonably early night as all a
bit knackered.Sunday dawned bright and still. Again constrained by the tide until 1.30 for
leaving and a need to go up the mast again to once and for all sort out the
cables which had stubbornly refused to stay inside the mast.The plan was made to
disconnect from the top and pull them down taking a cord with them so they could
be pulled up again. Once out they were all taped together so they would be to big
as a whole to slip out again. By the time they were back in place I had been up
the mast in a harness for about an hour, my legs had gone to sleep and I was in
agony from the straps round my legs. I was glad to get back down. It's a long way
up and anybody moving about on deck, or a passing boat's wash, rocks the boat,
which is amplified to quite a swing when 14 metres up.My sister Jenny came up for a visit from Hull with the kids Alex and Kate.They
stayed for a pizza lunch and waved us off from the harbour wall as we finally
left at 1400 in the grey and overcast which had now come in. The sea was flat
calm and no wind, so with sails down we motored into the cold, damp, murk which
then turned into a steady rain. More like October or November than middle July.We didn't make very good speed against the tide, crawling past Whitby and huge
granite cliffs at 3 to 4 kn, so we were pleased when the wind got up and we could
sail and motor. Our ETA at Hartlepool was now about 2300 and Having spoken to
Mike Fellows - a fellow circumnavigator and Hartlepool local - we realised we
wouldn't be able to get into the marina until about 0230 and would have to hang
around somewhere. Both Mike and Harry, the lock keeper at the marina, advised us to tie up somewhere in the adjacent Victoria Dock, Hartlepools commercial port.What they didn't tell me was to ignore the advice given in the almanac and NOT call the Tees Port Control. Being a good sailor I called them to advise them of what I was doing and they informed me that there would be a small charge of
between 70 and 100 quid! I thought I'd ignore them and carry on but they
obviously had me on radar and basically told me to bugger off or be charged a big wad of cash. So we went back out into what was now a big swell and 20kn of wind and put the anchor down in the dark just off the marina entrance. The anchor bit and held well despite the boat being tossed about by the now huge waves and wind. Gamaldansk took it all on the nose which is more than could be said for the crew who were not enjoying the motion or driving rain at all. So I bit the bullet and
called the dock Uberloitnant jobs-worth and told him we were coming in and would pay what it cost. Getting the anchor up was somewhat traumatic in that sea, wind and rain. Lets just say that Caskey and I were lucky to come away from the operation with a full 2 sets of fingers, the only damage was to the GRP on the bow and the teak rubbing strake from the huge pressures on the anchor chain. Asit came out of the water we saw that somehow the shaft of the anchor had been bent through 90 degrees (see photo). I have no idea how, but it shows what enormous forces were at work. We sheltered in the harbour for a couple of hours and finally made it into the marina and the friendly face of Harry at 0235,
dripping wet, cold, hungry and very relieved once again to be out of the
elements.After a deserved lie in next morning, interrupted, I should add, by the people on the boat next to us broadcasting the 0600 weather report to the whole
marina,there were a few jobs to do - write this, get the anchor fixed, showers
and dry out all the stuff from our adventures the previous night. The boat looked
like the pikeys had moved in as it was covered with drying oilskins, towels and
assorted garments. I took the anchor off to the marina to try and get it bent
back into shape and Alan in the office said his mate Brian would sort it out,
which he did and charged us nothing for it. Many thanks guys. Mike Fellows came
to visit and joined us for a lunchtime beer and gave me a guided tour of his
lovely boat, a steel hulled Van de Stadt called Kes, in which he has sailed many
miles including his trip around Britain last year. It was great to meet Mike
having spoken to him on the phone and internet. A really good bloke and a great
laugh. I'd sail with you anytime Mike. Why eye bonny pet.So re-fuel and re-gas and off at about 1530 for North Shields from where I write
this. We actually had the first good sail today as we left Hartlepool. Sun, both
sails full, no engine and a broad reach. I doesn't get much better. But it only
lasted about half an hour. The wind dropped to 4 knots and we put the sails away and motored all the way to the Tyne, which wasn't foggy. I really wanted it to be so I could claim ownership. The very Geordie lock keeper at Royal Quays marina was probably the happiest man I've met on the trip so far. He positively enthused a welcome to us and I expected to see him start dancing on the lockside in his joy at seeing us. What a great welcome. A lovely sunset to accompany a fab Cottage pie from Chez Caskey. This is what I signed up for.We've seen a variety of wildlife so far - dolphins across Lyme Bay and a quick glimps of one yesterday, a couple of seals have come to say hello - we think they look like labradors so they've become "sea-labradors", and a myriad of seabirds which we can't identify so Rachel is going to buy a book tomorrow. As we come further north we are starting to see more and more puffins, something we don't often get off the coast of cornwall.Must now get this uploaded. Love to all and keep checking this site.
Thursday, 12 July 2007
Days 10 and 11. Lowestoft to Wells to Grimsby
The 0400 start happened as planned - well 0415, but the intention was there - and we left Lowestoft under grey skies but surprisingly light for that time in the morning. Full sail up and a broad reach, the best angle of sailing for comfort and speed, down past the rather dull coast of Suffolk. Unfortunately we were punching into the fairly strong tide which was running the other way so slow progress was made even though the boat speed showed 6 to 7kn as we had the engine running as well, we were only making 3 to 4 over the ground but we expected this to change at 10am which it duly did and our speed picked up. The need for haste was that at Wells-next-the-sea, our destination and some 60 miles from Lowestoft,there is only a 2 hour window in which one can get a 6ft draught boat into the harbour, as it is over a huge sandbank and up a river. Unfortunately with the wind from the NW as we rounded the bulge of Norfolk the wind came more and more on the nose so we had to start tacking and tacking into the wind. This really wasn't in my passage plan and I started to worry about not hitting the tidal window at Wells. Then the wind dropped to nothing. So engine on and more motoring. My calculations said that we would be in time if we continued like that. BUT! The wind suddenly returned at 20 to 25kn from the direction we wanted to. Gamaldansk only has a little engine, not designed to punch her through the waves and wind. But what a stalwart she is! At full throttle, with steam and black smoke belching from the exhaust (don't tell Greenpeace) we made it to the Wells fairway bouy, where the harbour master was waiting to guide us in, with minutes and centimetres under the keel, to spare. Dave and Patrick were as relieved as me as they both had to be back in London for work and had no desire to continue to Grimsby!
Wells, apart from being a bugger to get in to, is a beautiful little fishing harbour in the middle of the flat North Norfolk salt-marsh. It may be called Wells-next-the-sea, but it should be called Wells-bloody-miles-from-the-sea. It took half an hour to get up the river! We were assisted in mooring next to the Albatross, a 19th century dutch sailing barge, now used as a restaurant and bar, although she sometimes is sailed still, by a mad Dutch chef who also own the boat.
I must give a mention to the harbour staff, who's names I didn't ask, who were incredibly helpful, both on the phone and in person.Thank you guys.
Having bade farewell to Dave and Patrick, Pete and I had a really chilled evening listening to music on board whilst I did nav stuff and Pete cooked up a mean chilli with garlic bread. Then a couple of pints in the nearby Golden Fleece and an early night, with the prospect of an 0500 start to get the tide out of Wells.
On the subject of Chez Caskey, I, and those who have been on board so far, are constantly amazed at the food, drink and other comforts that appear from Pete's kitchen. The only man I know who can cook up a storm, in a storm, and not be affected by sea-sickness or the fact that the boat is going up and down like a lift. Big respect!
We left Wells at 0500 as planned, to a beautiful sunrise. I managed to not run aground going down the river and over the sandbanks, which had been a big worry for me as there was no nice harbour master to show me the way out at that time in the morning. Luckily the fishing boats were leaving so I just followed them and got to sea with no incident.
The wind was set fair for our 55 mile run across to Grimsby and we had the best sail of the trip so far. A close reach with first reef in main and genoa, Wogan on the radio, a fair tide and bacon butties and tea from Chez Caskey. It was so nice to just sail, not have to run the engine for extra speed and no set arrival time to stick to. As it was we arrived early for the lock at the marina, which is open for two hour each side of high tide, so about two miles off we dropped the sails, put the engine and the kettle on, and spent an hour pottering up to the marina so we could get the lock whilst it was open and not have to pay a fee of ten quid. Tight or what?
Grimsby marina is in the middle of nowhere - well not nowhere, but in the middle of what is left of what was once the center of the British fishing industry. If you like maritime industrial it's the place for you. Good folk at the sailing club though. Good prices and friendly faces. Andy, the berthmaster, who was there to take our lines as we arrived, has already offered us a lift to the supermarket to get supplies and I'm using the clubs internet to do this. Thanks to them.
Pete and I get a day off tomorrow as I had anticipated an overnight run to Grimsby but as we left early we are now a day in hand. Looking forward to an early night and a lie in.
Thanks to Nico for his entertaining comment on the last blog. Have a read. Not quite sure what's happening with the comments - some have been e-mailed to me and some appear on the blog. I think you have to click on comment rather than the envelope.
Hi to everyone and thanks for reading. Keep in touch.
Wells, apart from being a bugger to get in to, is a beautiful little fishing harbour in the middle of the flat North Norfolk salt-marsh. It may be called Wells-next-the-sea, but it should be called Wells-bloody-miles-from-the-sea. It took half an hour to get up the river! We were assisted in mooring next to the Albatross, a 19th century dutch sailing barge, now used as a restaurant and bar, although she sometimes is sailed still, by a mad Dutch chef who also own the boat.
I must give a mention to the harbour staff, who's names I didn't ask, who were incredibly helpful, both on the phone and in person.Thank you guys.
Having bade farewell to Dave and Patrick, Pete and I had a really chilled evening listening to music on board whilst I did nav stuff and Pete cooked up a mean chilli with garlic bread. Then a couple of pints in the nearby Golden Fleece and an early night, with the prospect of an 0500 start to get the tide out of Wells.
On the subject of Chez Caskey, I, and those who have been on board so far, are constantly amazed at the food, drink and other comforts that appear from Pete's kitchen. The only man I know who can cook up a storm, in a storm, and not be affected by sea-sickness or the fact that the boat is going up and down like a lift. Big respect!
We left Wells at 0500 as planned, to a beautiful sunrise. I managed to not run aground going down the river and over the sandbanks, which had been a big worry for me as there was no nice harbour master to show me the way out at that time in the morning. Luckily the fishing boats were leaving so I just followed them and got to sea with no incident.
The wind was set fair for our 55 mile run across to Grimsby and we had the best sail of the trip so far. A close reach with first reef in main and genoa, Wogan on the radio, a fair tide and bacon butties and tea from Chez Caskey. It was so nice to just sail, not have to run the engine for extra speed and no set arrival time to stick to. As it was we arrived early for the lock at the marina, which is open for two hour each side of high tide, so about two miles off we dropped the sails, put the engine and the kettle on, and spent an hour pottering up to the marina so we could get the lock whilst it was open and not have to pay a fee of ten quid. Tight or what?
Grimsby marina is in the middle of nowhere - well not nowhere, but in the middle of what is left of what was once the center of the British fishing industry. If you like maritime industrial it's the place for you. Good folk at the sailing club though. Good prices and friendly faces. Andy, the berthmaster, who was there to take our lines as we arrived, has already offered us a lift to the supermarket to get supplies and I'm using the clubs internet to do this. Thanks to them.
Pete and I get a day off tomorrow as I had anticipated an overnight run to Grimsby but as we left early we are now a day in hand. Looking forward to an early night and a lie in.
Thanks to Nico for his entertaining comment on the last blog. Have a read. Not quite sure what's happening with the comments - some have been e-mailed to me and some appear on the blog. I think you have to click on comment rather than the envelope.
Hi to everyone and thanks for reading. Keep in touch.
Tuesday, 10 July 2007
Days 7, 8, 9. Dover to Ramsgate to Brightlingsea to Lowestoft.
Pete and I had a gentle downwind sail leaving Dover just after lunch and pootled to Ramsgate in 3 hours. We berthed in the marina where David Lawson, chairman of the local Sea Cadets who is following our trip with interest, had arranged a discounted slot for us. It was powerboat racing weekend in Ramsgate so the place was heaving - funfair, a very loud band on an outside stage and lots of powerboat types wandering around wearing T-shirts proclaiming that they were a mechanic or navigator. How does powerboat racing navigation work then? "Go around that buoy as fast as you can"....? Beats me. We welcomed Dave and Patrick on board and their first job was to get me to the top of the mast to sort out some of the new wiring that was too slack and had popped out of the mainsail track meaning that we couldn't get the sail up. Easily sorted, then off to the Royal Temple Yacht Club to meet David Lawson and a couple of G&Ts. Phwah, Phwah.
Out of Ramsgate the next morning in flat calm conditions. I got the leaving protocol wrong due to faffing about and not concentrating. I called the port control too late asking for permission to leave the inner harbour and was told quite curtly "Gamaldansk, you have already left! Please proceed straight to sea. Port control out!" Oops. But we turned left and for the first time we were heading north!
Due to lack of wind we mtored most of the way across the Thames estuary which was dull for all except for when I tried to take a short cut across the SW Sunk. The chart plotter said there was enough depth but the echo sounder and the keel said different. First a little bump on the bottom then bump, bump, bump, stop. Bugger! We had run aground out of sight of land. I'm used to seeing a hundred feet of water when out that far. I got all the crew, fat gits that they are, to hang of one side of the boat which lifted the keel off just enough to turn around and return on our incoming track. So we had a 10 mile detour around the sand bank. I was really nervous now as we had to cross some more shallows on the entry in to Brightlingsea and my faith in the charts and the plotter had now been dented. My fears were unfounded and we crossed the Spitway with 3 metres under the keel.
Brightlingsea sounds better than it looks. We moored on a pontoon opposite a scrapyard quay where ships come in and take the scrap away. There are improvements happening tho. A marina is being built and with a bit of dredging will make a nice destination. I met up with Nico Shipman, a fellow GK29 owner who did the circumnavigation last year. He has a great website (from which I pinched some of the text for mine - thanks Nico) http://www.summersailing.co.uk/ .
We had a few pints at The Yachtsmans Arms courtesy of Ken the landlord and met a few of the locals. Pete even had a really interesting chat with a real live Essex girl!
Left early at 0720 the next morning to get the fair tide up to Southwold. Very little wind again. Got the spinnaker up for the first time but not for long as our course changed onto the wind, it was the first time we've had the full sails up since leaving Fowey. We started punching a strong tide at lunchtime and our speed dropped right down to 2.5 kn. Sizewell B power station seemed to be abeam for hours. After calling the Southwold harbour master and being told we wouldn't get in on an ebb tide due to it running at 6kn we decided to run on to Lowestoft another 13 miles north. There was a thunderstorm in the distance which we thought would clear away before we got there, but soon realised that we were running straight into it. So oilies on, sails down and engine on. None too soon, as it hit us in a matter of two minutes. From sun and calm to a raging maelstrom in the blink of an eye. The wind went up to 20kn from all directions, the sea was all over the place and someone was throwing large chunks of ice at us really hard. It absolutely threw it down and the lightning was hitting the water all round. Does any know what you should do at sea in a thunderstorm? I don't. I strikes me the last place you want to be is near a tall metal spike in the middle an open sea. Answers on a post card please. We came out the other side of it to bright sun and the most fantastic rainbow of which we could see the whole arc from sea to sea perfectly framing a large cargo ship. Unfortunately we didn't have a camera with a wide enough lens to capture it.
We arrived in Lowestoft at 2115. A couple of pints and a Chinese and early bed.
Today is a rest day as we leave for Wells-next-the-sea at 0400 tomorrow. Time to catch up with a couple of jobs aboard, laundry and a bit of R&R.
Al Boyd has published his photos of last week on a website so I haven't put up any here. It's at http://homepage.mac.com/atboyd/PhotoAlbum3.html. Some great shots. Thanks Al.
Pete says "Phew, what a scorcher this summer is".
Thanks to all who are still interested and following our adventure. It's great to read your comments so keep them coming. Don't care what you have to say, it's just nice to have the contact.
Out of Ramsgate the next morning in flat calm conditions. I got the leaving protocol wrong due to faffing about and not concentrating. I called the port control too late asking for permission to leave the inner harbour and was told quite curtly "Gamaldansk, you have already left! Please proceed straight to sea. Port control out!" Oops. But we turned left and for the first time we were heading north!
Due to lack of wind we mtored most of the way across the Thames estuary which was dull for all except for when I tried to take a short cut across the SW Sunk. The chart plotter said there was enough depth but the echo sounder and the keel said different. First a little bump on the bottom then bump, bump, bump, stop. Bugger! We had run aground out of sight of land. I'm used to seeing a hundred feet of water when out that far. I got all the crew, fat gits that they are, to hang of one side of the boat which lifted the keel off just enough to turn around and return on our incoming track. So we had a 10 mile detour around the sand bank. I was really nervous now as we had to cross some more shallows on the entry in to Brightlingsea and my faith in the charts and the plotter had now been dented. My fears were unfounded and we crossed the Spitway with 3 metres under the keel.
Brightlingsea sounds better than it looks. We moored on a pontoon opposite a scrapyard quay where ships come in and take the scrap away. There are improvements happening tho. A marina is being built and with a bit of dredging will make a nice destination. I met up with Nico Shipman, a fellow GK29 owner who did the circumnavigation last year. He has a great website (from which I pinched some of the text for mine - thanks Nico) http://www.summersailing.co.uk/ .
We had a few pints at The Yachtsmans Arms courtesy of Ken the landlord and met a few of the locals. Pete even had a really interesting chat with a real live Essex girl!
Left early at 0720 the next morning to get the fair tide up to Southwold. Very little wind again. Got the spinnaker up for the first time but not for long as our course changed onto the wind, it was the first time we've had the full sails up since leaving Fowey. We started punching a strong tide at lunchtime and our speed dropped right down to 2.5 kn. Sizewell B power station seemed to be abeam for hours. After calling the Southwold harbour master and being told we wouldn't get in on an ebb tide due to it running at 6kn we decided to run on to Lowestoft another 13 miles north. There was a thunderstorm in the distance which we thought would clear away before we got there, but soon realised that we were running straight into it. So oilies on, sails down and engine on. None too soon, as it hit us in a matter of two minutes. From sun and calm to a raging maelstrom in the blink of an eye. The wind went up to 20kn from all directions, the sea was all over the place and someone was throwing large chunks of ice at us really hard. It absolutely threw it down and the lightning was hitting the water all round. Does any know what you should do at sea in a thunderstorm? I don't. I strikes me the last place you want to be is near a tall metal spike in the middle an open sea. Answers on a post card please. We came out the other side of it to bright sun and the most fantastic rainbow of which we could see the whole arc from sea to sea perfectly framing a large cargo ship. Unfortunately we didn't have a camera with a wide enough lens to capture it.
We arrived in Lowestoft at 2115. A couple of pints and a Chinese and early bed.
Today is a rest day as we leave for Wells-next-the-sea at 0400 tomorrow. Time to catch up with a couple of jobs aboard, laundry and a bit of R&R.
Al Boyd has published his photos of last week on a website so I haven't put up any here. It's at http://homepage.mac.com/atboyd/PhotoAlbum3.html. Some great shots. Thanks Al.
Pete says "Phew, what a scorcher this summer is".
Thanks to all who are still interested and following our adventure. It's great to read your comments so keep them coming. Don't care what you have to say, it's just nice to have the contact.
Saturday, 7 July 2007
Days 5 and 6. Itchenor to Eastbourne to Dover
My apologies to those of you who have been logging on and not finding a daily
blog. We've had a couple of long days and the idea of getting the computer out
and being interesting and witty is is a long way from my mind when we arrive
somewhere wet and knackered at 9.30 in the evening.Also sorry for the lack f phots. Al Byd was ships photgrapher for the week and
when it came to downlading his camera to my lappy last night before he left the
computer didn't see the camera. So he's going to email the interesting ones to me
for later publication.We had a good wednesday evening in Itchenor. My brother Simon came and had a meal
in the pub with us at The Ship Inn. The meal was generously provided by the boss
Silas and the lovely Jenna provided copious ale. We also had a visit from the
lifeboat crews from Hayling Island who were on excercise that evening. Both the
ILB and the Atlantic class RIB crews made the effort to come up from the lifeboat
house and came alongside the boat and stayed for a chat which was really nice of
them especially as they gave us a bottle of wine to help forward our efforts. It
was good to see you guys and it made us all feel that our efforts are being
appreciated.We slipped from Itchenor at 9am with a forecast of force 5 to 6 becoming 7 later.
I thought this was alright as we would be going downwind. As we crossed
Chichester Bar there was a gale warning on the VHF with F8 expected within 6
hours. It was decided to carry on as we would be near Eastbourne when it hit. As
we rounded Beachy Head the vis dropped, it started raining, the wind got up to 25
to 30 kn and the sea started to get bigger. I had to call a merchantman on the
radio who was overtaking us on our port side just when we needed to turn to port.
The nice Russian captain duly obliged and altered course to pass us astern. We
got into the lee of Beachy Head so the sea settled down a bit and we broad
reached up to Eastbourne. We had however put up the main with 2 reefs earlier
which proved to be a mistake as it was a complete bitch to get down and pack in a
big sea with a huge gust of 40 knots as we were doing it. We arrived safely in
the marina at Eastbourne at 2130 to a well deserved burger from Chez Caskey and a
couple of pints in the local pub served by a very well endowed barmaid. I
personally didn't notice but the others did!Friday morning dawned bright but still blowing a hooly. The forecast was for the
wind to drop later so we did some jobs around the boat and left at midday. Half
an hour out I realised I'd made a bad call and should have stayed in but by this
time it was too late - going back straight into the wind was not an option. So we
hung on and had the most scary and exhilirating ride through my and the others
first full gale. We were pooped once by a wave breaking into the cock pit which
filled Petes cup of tea with sea and took away the bottle of ready mixed outboard
fuel. It was decided we would run for Folkstone as it at least has a sea wall we
could hide behind but very little else as the port is no longer used
commercially. When we got there we found it almost impossible to tie up by the
wall due to the swell coming round the end of jetty so we put the hook down, had
a cup of tea and half an hours break and decided to carry on the last 6 miles to
Dover. By this time the wind and sea had calmed a little and we had a good run
into the marina arriving at 20.00, relieved and feeling rather proud of ourselves
and even prouder of Gamaldansk who had performed flawlessly. What a great boat
she is!We are now sitting in The Flagship, a pub and cafe right by the marina, owned by
Dave, a top geezah, who entertained us to supper and beer last night and
breakfast and internet this morning. Thanks Dave. Jon Bray has come down from
Tonbridge Wells on his bike to say hello and drink tea. He'll be joining us in
Scotland.We lost Ian and Al last night - it's been a great week with them - and Pete and I
have a lazy 15 miles to do to Ramsgate this afternoon in beautiful sailing
conditions, where we will meet Dave and Patrick for the next legs up to Wells in
Norfolk
blog. We've had a couple of long days and the idea of getting the computer out
and being interesting and witty is is a long way from my mind when we arrive
somewhere wet and knackered at 9.30 in the evening.Also sorry for the lack f phots. Al Byd was ships photgrapher for the week and
when it came to downlading his camera to my lappy last night before he left the
computer didn't see the camera. So he's going to email the interesting ones to me
for later publication.We had a good wednesday evening in Itchenor. My brother Simon came and had a meal
in the pub with us at The Ship Inn. The meal was generously provided by the boss
Silas and the lovely Jenna provided copious ale. We also had a visit from the
lifeboat crews from Hayling Island who were on excercise that evening. Both the
ILB and the Atlantic class RIB crews made the effort to come up from the lifeboat
house and came alongside the boat and stayed for a chat which was really nice of
them especially as they gave us a bottle of wine to help forward our efforts. It
was good to see you guys and it made us all feel that our efforts are being
appreciated.We slipped from Itchenor at 9am with a forecast of force 5 to 6 becoming 7 later.
I thought this was alright as we would be going downwind. As we crossed
Chichester Bar there was a gale warning on the VHF with F8 expected within 6
hours. It was decided to carry on as we would be near Eastbourne when it hit. As
we rounded Beachy Head the vis dropped, it started raining, the wind got up to 25
to 30 kn and the sea started to get bigger. I had to call a merchantman on the
radio who was overtaking us on our port side just when we needed to turn to port.
The nice Russian captain duly obliged and altered course to pass us astern. We
got into the lee of Beachy Head so the sea settled down a bit and we broad
reached up to Eastbourne. We had however put up the main with 2 reefs earlier
which proved to be a mistake as it was a complete bitch to get down and pack in a
big sea with a huge gust of 40 knots as we were doing it. We arrived safely in
the marina at Eastbourne at 2130 to a well deserved burger from Chez Caskey and a
couple of pints in the local pub served by a very well endowed barmaid. I
personally didn't notice but the others did!Friday morning dawned bright but still blowing a hooly. The forecast was for the
wind to drop later so we did some jobs around the boat and left at midday. Half
an hour out I realised I'd made a bad call and should have stayed in but by this
time it was too late - going back straight into the wind was not an option. So we
hung on and had the most scary and exhilirating ride through my and the others
first full gale. We were pooped once by a wave breaking into the cock pit which
filled Petes cup of tea with sea and took away the bottle of ready mixed outboard
fuel. It was decided we would run for Folkstone as it at least has a sea wall we
could hide behind but very little else as the port is no longer used
commercially. When we got there we found it almost impossible to tie up by the
wall due to the swell coming round the end of jetty so we put the hook down, had
a cup of tea and half an hours break and decided to carry on the last 6 miles to
Dover. By this time the wind and sea had calmed a little and we had a good run
into the marina arriving at 20.00, relieved and feeling rather proud of ourselves
and even prouder of Gamaldansk who had performed flawlessly. What a great boat
she is!We are now sitting in The Flagship, a pub and cafe right by the marina, owned by
Dave, a top geezah, who entertained us to supper and beer last night and
breakfast and internet this morning. Thanks Dave. Jon Bray has come down from
Tonbridge Wells on his bike to say hello and drink tea. He'll be joining us in
Scotland.We lost Ian and Al last night - it's been a great week with them - and Pete and I
have a lazy 15 miles to do to Ramsgate this afternoon in beautiful sailing
conditions, where we will meet Dave and Patrick for the next legs up to Wells in
Norfolk
Wednesday, 4 July 2007
Salcombe to Swanage to Poole to Itchenor
Days 2,3 and 4.
First a couple of apologies. A) To those of you who have not been able to view the comments on the blog. I'm not sure why this is but when I get a wifi connection (this is coming via Ians phone, so is text only - photos later) I'll try to sort it out. B) People have be asking why days 2 and 3 are missing....well read on.
Having lost a day in Salcombe for repairs we went back into the water at 7am on Monday. I was awake but the crew slept on and they all had the same "flying" dream as the boat was picked up by the crane and plonked back in. Hurrah - no leaks. She is dry for the first time I know of. So we left Salcombe at 9am with a view to seeing how far we could get to catch up on time. After a long day of directly down wind, which need a lot of concentration, and not a small amount of rain we arrived in Swanage, Dorset at 11pm. We tried to tie up by the pier as suggested by the almanac but it was not a good mooring for various reasons. So we looked by the other boats moored nearby for something suitable. We ended up tying onto a spare bouy but on inspection we saw it was attached by nothing more than a small piece of blue rope to the seabed. Not good enough for a yacht in a force 7!
So I had to make the decision to go on another ten miles to Poole harbour and put into a marina, where we finally arrived at 0215.
In the morning at 8am they tried to charge me £42.50 for our 6 hour stay. I made a bit of a fuss and this was reduced to £14. You can get cheaper parking in central London!
Off from Poole at 0900 to get a fair tide and there followed a cracking sail past the Needles (over the Christchurch Shelf which was a complete maelstrom - photos to follow) and down the Solent to Itchenor which is where we now lie as I write this. In the Solent we had a strong following wind but a fairly flat sea so we managed the highest speed I have ever had from Gamaldansk - 10.2 knots through the water. This was achieved using only the jib!
So we are back on track timewise despite the early hiccups and it's off to Eastbourne tomorrow.
First a couple of apologies. A) To those of you who have not been able to view the comments on the blog. I'm not sure why this is but when I get a wifi connection (this is coming via Ians phone, so is text only - photos later) I'll try to sort it out. B) People have be asking why days 2 and 3 are missing....well read on.
Having lost a day in Salcombe for repairs we went back into the water at 7am on Monday. I was awake but the crew slept on and they all had the same "flying" dream as the boat was picked up by the crane and plonked back in. Hurrah - no leaks. She is dry for the first time I know of. So we left Salcombe at 9am with a view to seeing how far we could get to catch up on time. After a long day of directly down wind, which need a lot of concentration, and not a small amount of rain we arrived in Swanage, Dorset at 11pm. We tried to tie up by the pier as suggested by the almanac but it was not a good mooring for various reasons. So we looked by the other boats moored nearby for something suitable. We ended up tying onto a spare bouy but on inspection we saw it was attached by nothing more than a small piece of blue rope to the seabed. Not good enough for a yacht in a force 7!
So I had to make the decision to go on another ten miles to Poole harbour and put into a marina, where we finally arrived at 0215.
In the morning at 8am they tried to charge me £42.50 for our 6 hour stay. I made a bit of a fuss and this was reduced to £14. You can get cheaper parking in central London!
Off from Poole at 0900 to get a fair tide and there followed a cracking sail past the Needles (over the Christchurch Shelf which was a complete maelstrom - photos to follow) and down the Solent to Itchenor which is where we now lie as I write this. In the Solent we had a strong following wind but a fairly flat sea so we managed the highest speed I have ever had from Gamaldansk - 10.2 knots through the water. This was achieved using only the jib!
So we are back on track timewise despite the early hiccups and it's off to Eastbourne tomorrow.
Monday, 2 July 2007
Day one. Fowey to Salcombe
Day one. Well nobody said it was going to be boring! The weather for our start was inclement to say the least. Our leaving of Fowey coincided with the J24 class race weekend in the harbour and we were a bit concerned that they considered the conditions to rough to race. I joined Shawn on his RIB to look at conditions at the harbour entrance and further out and we decided that once we got across the bar at the entrance we would have a reasonably easy if rough sail to Salcombe. So leaving only half an hour after we had intended, we set sail in 15 to 25 knots of wind and a huge quartering sea making between 6 and 9 knots. However it soon became apparent that there was a lot of water inside the boat. She's never been completely dry but this was exeptional. Pete and Al Boyd ended up bailing most of the way to Salcombe as the water was on the wrong side of the boat for the bilge pump to work. When we had moored up we found that there was a leak from the bolts that hold the rudder on. This was duly repaired and re-sealed which took a couple of hours with help from a couple of great lads from Island Cruising Club sailing school, Craig and Lee the Launch, who we press-ganged into standing on our bow for an hour in the rain to raise the stern out of the water (these guys later took us to their sailing school bar) - so, four people standing on the bow, a bit of a Heath Robinson rig attached to the mooring bouy to pull the bow down and me working from the dinghy to avoid my weight on the stern, just managed to get the rudder bolts out of the water! Unfortunately it turned out that it wasn't the bolt holes leaking but a split in the GRP (fiberglass) next to the mounting. So this morning (day two) we had to be craned out of the water to investigate. What we found made me think that the whole trip was in jeopardy as there was a huge mess of de-laminated GRP around the rudder mounting. I had to go off into the adjacent car park and have a moment on my own and a call to Sal who said lots of encouraging things. But after inspection by Paul from the boatyard we now have a GRP expert, Lindsey, who is fixing it as I write and says we'll be back in the water at high tide tomorrow. We've now got some catching up to do so it might entail a 24 hour dash to Itchenor. Decisions will be made tomorrow once we're back in and know what the weather is doing. So for now it's down to Lindsy and we're off to the pub.
Afew hours later .......... it's now fixed and I fear we might have a dry bilge for the rest of the trip. Quite a blow expected tomorrow but from the West so we're good for aiming for somewhere near the Isle of Wight. Watch this space for the next exciting instalment of Around Salcombe with a Sound Crew.
Afew hours later .......... it's now fixed and I fear we might have a dry bilge for the rest of the trip. Quite a blow expected tomorrow but from the West so we're good for aiming for somewhere near the Isle of Wight. Watch this space for the next exciting instalment of Around Salcombe with a Sound Crew.
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