Molia

Our ventilator cowls are dull, scratched and dirty. After several tries at cleaning them, with various products, I decided to replace them. It seems not that much more expensive than buying an array of cleaning products! Anyway the starboard-side ventilator drips when it rains really hard, so I think the sealant may need attention.

New covers for the ventilators on our boat are the ‘Plastimo Streamline Dorade Cover Only for P51637 P51654 51654’ supplied by Chas Newens Marine.

We drifted up to the bridge and back with Catherine, on one of the hottest days so far this year.

We had a great morning out – reaching the bridge at about 1300.

We will use the tide to make the passage from Swansea to Portishead in one go.

The wind was light and the sea smooth for our last leg this year.

With many thanks to our crew guests this year:

And to the engineers who kept us going:

Nick Smith, independent marine engineer, Falmouth

Jerry at Falmouth Yacht Brokers

Mitch at Advance Marine, Portishead

Our ‘no anchoring at Padstow’ policy meant that we had to leave Padstow harbour at 0300! We made our way down the river Camel slowly and then loitered in the bay until there was enough light to see lobster pots.

With little wind, we motored against the tide towards Hartland Point and Lundy. We picked up the tide on approach to Hartland, and then made good progress across the channel. We arrived at Swansea in good time.

There was some good dolphin entertainment in Swansea bay.

Our aim is to get to Padstow and go straight in without anchoring – the wind and waves are not right for anchoring anyway.

We started at 0600 from Newlyn to get the other side of Lands End with the tide, and pick up the tide going up the north Cornish coast. Positive tide did not run out until well past St Ives. This gave us a problem later as we approached Padstow too quickly! With high water at midnight in Padstow, our earliest approach up the Camel was 2130. In then end we hove to a couple of times around Trevose Head and delayed our entry to Padstow Bay until 2100.

This gave us the best dolphin sighting of the trip. A whole pod crossed our path

At Dodman, we put the second reef in. Later near St Anthony Head we developed an engine problem – it stopped and after we restarted it it was clear there was only a small amount of cooling water in the exhaust. Conditions were not suitable for further checks at sea, so we stopped the engine again and made our way for the relative shelter of St Mawes Bay.

As we were debating what to do, we were fortunate to encounter the harbour master in his launch. He was looking for the ‘yacht with an engine problem’. We told him it was not us, but as it happened we did have an engine problem. He arranged for another yacht to take us in tow to Pendennis.

RYA training yacht ‘Orca’ turned up (at speed) and took us in tow line astern; switching to alongside tow behind the shelter of the Queens jetty in Falmouth Dock. Finally landing us on the Port Pendennis outer pontoon – exactly where the berthing master had originally allocated us!

We are very grateful to the skipper and crew (two day skipper and two competent crew candidates) of our rescue boat.

11 July 2024

We took the ferry over to St Mawes for the day.

12 July 2024

In preparation for the trip to Newlyn tomorrow, we have moved back to the outer pontoons at Port Pendennis. The berthing master got us into a remarkably tight space! We celebrated with another pasty for lunch – this is Cornwall!

Our gigantic neighbour!

We made an early start to get around Start Point and Bolt Head with the tide, as the wind was against us.

Start Bay was calm and there was little wind, however it was ‘on the nose’ after that into Plymouth. We put in a few tacks and motor sailed mostly. We arrived in Plymouth Sound (passed the breakwater) at 1225.

We are now back in the Mayflower marina waiting for the next crew and better weather!

6 July 2024

Kate and Simon are on the boat this weekend, so we went for a blast (the wind was fresh) around the sound, and then up to the bridges and back.

We waited for the perfect tide around the Bill for our return across Lyme Bay. This was an early start, and in calm water we were able to take the inside passage and full advantage of the tide.