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This worked much better for pole control – so I will create a more permanent arrangement using some dynema (that won’t stretch) when we get back to base.

Fowey

It is always a great pleasure to go into Fowey; and today the weather made the harbour look as though it was in the Mediterranean! We tied up to one of the visitor’s pontoons on the Polruan side, opposite the town.

Having diverted to Torquay our day 2 was a bit longer that had we gone into Dartmouth or Salcombe. Light airs gave us the opportunity to hoist Molia’s spinnaker.

See: Plymouth to Fowey for a better pole downhaul arrangement.

We had an excellent meal at The Bridge restaurant located in the Yacht Haven.

Day 1 of our return to Portishead cruise had to start early to catch a good tide around Portland Bill. We would have headed for Dartmouth, but as it was Dart Week, we needed an alternative. We were lucky to get a berth in Torquay Marina which none of us had visited before.

There and back on the west side.

It was good to see Lou, Niv and Steve on Molia in Portland again this year.

Saturday

A trip to see Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove. Now traditional apparently!

Sunday

Jo, Caroline, Anna and James arrived Tuesday.

Wednesday, 11/08/2021

Anna enjoying helming Molia on our trip out around the cruise ships – there are only a couple left this year. Anna is vey pleased to have achieves 7 knots!

Thursday, 12/08/2021

A short walk on Portland Bill.

Another fine Molia sunset.

With a good tide in the evening and in the daylight I was keen to get round the Bill of Portland today if possible. This is a long sail (90NM) and took us 15 hours. The sea was still quite rough around the Bill – perhaps we could have stood off further, but that would have made the passage even longer.

We passed about 4.5NM from the lighthouse and then turned towards the Shambles bank. Once in the lee of the headland, the sea was much calmer.

We had lost the days for a gentle cruise to Portland because of the strong winds. So we made a long passage (71 NM) in 13 hours round the Lizard and directly to Plymouth.

The wind was moderate, but the previous days had left quite a big sea state.

We enjoyed a meal at the Jolly Jacks bistro.

We were waiting for better weather in Newlyn for 4 nights. George joined us by train, and we explored the area while the strong winds passed by. Newlyn is a great place to wait out bad weather, the harbour is very sheltered from the west and south west.

Thursday 5 August 2021

We walked to Mousehole via the old Penlee Lifeboat Station and then took the bus to Penzance and walked back. We looked in on Penzance harbour on the way.

Friday 6 August 2021

The forecast was still showing very rough sea state and occasional force 7 winds, so we stayed put. Steve and George walked to Marizion and got the bus back. I stayed onboard and did a little remote work!

Newlyn is so sheltered from the wind that you would not know what was going on out at sea! George and Steve reported much more wind over the other side of Mounts Bay.

Saturday 6 August 2021

We are still here! Our criteria for leaving to round the Lizard have not been met – and the harbourmaster said that we had made a “good decision” – as the lifeboat had just towed a yacht into Newlyn with a torn mainsail.

We walked to Lamorna Cove and back via Paul to Newlyn. Weather conditions for Sunday look acceptable.

Due to the weather forecast we decided to cut our stay in Padstow short and use the remaining good weather to round Landsend. We therefore left the harbour in Padstow at high water at 0300. We arrived at Newlyn at about 1400 having motor-sailed in light airs most of the way.

As we had good weather we took the inside track past the Longships and related hazards. So this is a view I had not seen before: