Our daily pictures of cream teas; blue skies; castles, and dolphins were seen on the SESC Facebook page as we progressed west on the club Late Summer Cruise. But for those who missed them; would like to know the full story; or what is happening on next year’s cruises then please keep reading…
We found a lucky weather window, leaving on the tail of one storm and re-entering our home berth 11 days later just as Storm Amy made her way to our shores. Our straight run to Dartmouth through the night and following day (Monday), was planned with precision to accompany the best tides, and with 20+ knots of wind allowing a beam reach all the way, we made fast progress arriving nearly three hours ahead of schedule.
Where the spectacular cliffs meet the sea at Dartmouth’s entrance, a large pod of mother dolphins with their young came to greet us, with the mothers showing their calfs how to play on the bow wave for fun. We were too early to go straight onto the Town Quay to we mooched our way up the river to Premier Marina ‘Noss on Dart’ for reduced price fuel and use their very good facilities. We secured a berth at the marina however a pub drink was in order so we motored back down to the town for a glass or two before heading back to Noss for a well earned meal and sleep.
Tuesday morning, we woke to sun and favourable winds again and Skip had planned our passage past Slapton Sands so while we enjoyed the coastline, Richard read us historic stories including the tragedy that was Exercise Tiger, the rehearsals for the D-Day landing on Utah Beach, Normandy 1944. The tide spat us out at Start Point and we had a fabulous sail past Salcombe, around the headland, and on towards the River Yealm. We all enjoyed navigating to Newton Ferrers and picked up a river pontoon for a two night stay. The boys onboard didn’t waste a second before the new toy came out – the electric outboard for the tender. Within minutes it was out on a successful test drive against a strong rising tide and then the first wave of passengers were ferried to the pub in the afternoon sunshine. A splendid meal onboard lead smoothly into a quiz evening with a quickly consumed first prize of a ‘golden chocolate ship’ being awarded to Chrissi and Richard.
Wednesday morning sunshine woke us after the most peaceful of nights with only the sound of owls from the surrounding woods reminding us where we were. It was a crew day off and we had a headland walk and pub lunch planned. The tender took us to steps in the woods where we followed the coastal path through the trees and up onto the cliffs, tracing the river back out to sea it was great to see the transits that we had followed in the previous day to avoid sandbanks and rocks. The views of Plymouth Sound were spectacular as was the meal at The Swan pub. We ate and drank more than we needed and the return tender trip was notably slower with the extra weight onboard!
We were trying not to talk too much about the weather as we felt the bubble may burst… However, once again, Thursdays perfect sunshine and sailing conditions took us out of the Yealm and towards Falmouth Harbour with Chrissi navigating us for the day, and Peter feeding us with freshly caught mackerel on his line. Skipper Jane had booked us into Mylor Yacht Harbour which was an interesting navigation and a lovely marina. Jane dashed off the minute we came alongside – she was on a secret mission which turned into a fabulous surprise for the crew – she had booked a RIB for us the following day to explore all the creeks and villages on the river! We were super excited, and after a quick test drive with the hire company we spent the evening planning our route the following day.
Friday dawned hot and calm and we picked up our super speedy vessel with big grins all-round! Richard at the helm we went down river to St Mawes for a breakfast bakery raid followed by a leisurely munch sat on the harbour wall admiring the classic boat; scenery; village and our transport. We then decided culture was required so we zoomed across to the Helford River where we discussed Daphne du Maurier and Frenchman’s Creek, exploring the books namesake that inspired the author and wondering at how many herons were lining the secluded shores. A fun ride over the waves back into the river Fal, and a beautiful ride, past oyster beds, and ship wrecks, all the way to Malpas where we lunched in sunshine at The Heron Inn whilst waiting for the low tide to turn. A helm change from Richard to Jane and we explored the shore line, occasionally at top speed, down into Falmouth where we mooched amongst the boats before returning back to Mylor to enjoy another amazing sunset whist recounting the days adventures.
Skipper had us up early on Saturday as she had passage planned a high water lunch stop at Mevagissey. A lovely little fishing port where we felt we should honour the locals by having fish and chips before climbing back onboard for the short 7nm to Fowey where we moored alongside a river pontoon and called the water taxi to visit one or two of the local yacht clubs and raise a glass to another amazing day before heading back for dinner and what was fast becoming a competitive evening ritual of Mexican Trains, where David was confidently getting all his trains into the station each evening.
A Fowey exploring day on Sunday allowed us to discover castles, ice creams, sandy coves, shops, wooded headland paths, secluded National Trust cottages and the obligatory cream tea of course, ending the day back at the yacht club to watch the very successful England women’s rugby team win their game.
Luck with the weather continued on Monday and the winds were once again behind us as we made our way back across the Plymouth Sound to Salcombe with dolphins once again riding our bow wave. Salcombe was quiet and we moored onto an almost empty town quay for an afternoon walk around the houses and shops, a few more ice creams and a glass of wine. We entered the evening a little sad that we would be heading homeward the following day, however as the sun rose and burned through the morning fog to leave us with clear skies, flat water and warm sunshine, we had an amazing journey back across Lyme bay with dolphins keeping us company for many hours. We saw hundreds of them all around us wherever we looked, and we sat on the bow watching them riding the wave below our feet until our legs went numb. We also saw tuna jumping and gannets diving, and we thrilled at the wildlife as we ate freshly made, and baked, scones with jam and cream. A beautiful sunset saw us into Portland for the night where a local dolphin guided us into the marina.
Wednesday was a short hop around the headland into Studland Bay where we picked up a buoy for the night so we took our time and sailed slowly close to shore educating ourselves on the geology of the Dorset Coast; Winspit Quarry; Seacombe cliff and Dancing Ledge. Very light winds enabled a perfect sunset / night / sunrise, at Studland and we celebrated once again our wonderful cruise before heading back to Universal with sun and 15knots of wind behind us on Thursday.
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