The full photo album here.
09th-10th April: Guernsey
Those with a geographical mind will have noticed that Guernsey doesn’t exactly lie on a direct route between Brittany and Scotland. That is true, but the Channel Island have another appealing quality: they are free of duties and taxes! Shopping there is truly interesting, so much so that we happily beat against the wind over 200 NM to get there.
Plus Guernsey happens to be really pleasant :o)
Of course we will hand-carry everything!
More specifically we expect the delivery of a windvane. We hop on the bus to the airport with our foldable trolley, two large backpacks and a lot of rope, and we walk, thus equipped, to the cargo area. The vane is there, split between the four large crates lying on the floor. There’s just to pick them up. “But do you have a car or something?” asks the delivery man. “Nope”, we say, “just a trolley, backpacks, rope, some creativity and a lot of motivation!”. A trifle surprised, he leaves us to sort out the crates (most being over 1m long and weighing over 15 kg). Ropes and backpacks work, everything fits and we hold all the pieces in balance until the bus stop, then back to town.
Back onboard, we load up the precious crates. On Saltimbanque we used to love our windvane so much, he was a full-time part of the crew (dear Bob…). We are missing one now. We hope that we will come to love this bigger brother too. He will emerge from these four crates one day – but for now they are safely tucked away in the rear cabin.
Between two shopping missions, we take a few steps across this nice island. We haven’t been here in 12 years and we enjoy looking again at the view point across the Channel islands archipelago, the statues of Victor Hugo, the street signs with weird French expressions, and the strong tidal seas in the channel – always pleasant to watch from the shore!
The bay of… Bordeaux, North-East of the island
Blupblupblupblupblup
We want to go back to sea as soon as possible and make the most of the last hours with the high pressure bringing us all this sun and northeasterly wind. Before leaving however, there is one last mission: fill up our diesel tanks. Laure remembers how, in a distant past, she used to trade oil products. She rings a few distributors to find the best deal, and books for the next day: 7am, Gary will meet us at the industrial harbour of Saint-Sampson with his truck. On the next morning we motor the two miles from Saint-Peter, and Gary is there, with his truck and a long hose reaching all the way down the pier and up to the deck. One tank is filled, then the other, then the emergency jerrycan: 376 litres of diesel onboard, for 73ppl, this is a success!
11th-12th April : Guernsey – Falmouth (119NM)
UtPåTur, now a true little tanker ship with sails, leaves Saint-Sampson to carry her load across the Channel. There will be another 24 hours of easterly wind forecast and we are looking forward to a downwind passage!
We were even wondering if the wind would not be too much from the back – but no, surprisingly we have it from abeam and we fly over the slight to moderate sea! 6 knots in average, we still consider it fast, coming from our 28-feet standard… there’s a bright sunshine on top of it, what could possibly come to wreck the mood? The genoa furler does try and stay stuck during a manoeuvre, but this is an easy issue immediately fixed. Crossing the TSS now has become so easy with the AIS plotting all the cargoes and their possible collision routes even before we can see them with the naked eye. In the end, this is just one glorious passage, as we are sometimes lucky to enjoy!
End of a superb sailing day across the Channel
The sun is setting, the boat is flying under a bright moonshine. Flying so fast that we will land during the night instead of the next day… indeed, we can see the coastline before the second sunset. We reach the entrance of the River Fal around 3am. Wondering where to anchor, we finally decide to drop it in the harbour. Final count: it took us less time to sail the 115 NM from Guernsey than to cover the 45 NM of distance (in a straight line) between Port Blanc and Guernsey. Note to self: avoid upwind sailing…
13th-15th April : Falmouth and the River Fal
Falmouth
We like Cornwall and enjoy finding ourselves again in Falmouth, with her cute little white houses with back borders, the tidal walls with vertical slates, the tropical plants flourishing in the gardens here under the British drizzle… and more importantly, yummy local treats: “Cornish pasties” (puff pastries filled with meat and potatoes), and “cream tea” (tea with scones generously covered in clotted cream).
Our main mission during this city stop is to prepare the installation of the windvane and make sure that we have all the equipment required. As a matter of fact, we realise quickly enough that we need a bigger drill, and a couple of additional aluminium plates… the drill is easily procured from the DIY store just on the harbour, while “ABS Metals” cuts a few plates for us to pick up on a short bicycle ride.
It’s not too painful to be in the city after all :o)
Great, now we can escape civilisation again and sail deeper into the River Fal, where we will be better sheltered from the strong wind to come. There we even find a floating pontoon detached from shore, particularly well suited to the job. The lines are tied, even doubled, and we hurry inside as the rain is starting to fall in earnest.
Enjoying a proper cream tea while working on the website
And it rains. Rain, rain, rain. Some strong gusts are felt, but we are truly well sheltered. It only rains… an uninterrupted downpour for 30 hours straight… we will spend a day outside of time and space, without even opening the door to the cold and damp, snuggly seated by the warm oven. Just as we are going to bed, we start worrying that the tender hanging in the davit is collecting rainwater too and might get heavy… Laure then heroically jumps out, opens the drain plug, and comes back inside quickly under the blanket!
16th – 18th April : River Fal to Newlyn (44NM)
On the next morning, the sun is shining again as if nothing happened… in these conditions we can start working on our windvane before leaving again. First step: leaning under the boat from the tender, reach out to position a 5kg cast iron piece about 30cm above the sea line against the hull – exactly straight and in the middle, then drill two holes of 10mm through the plate. Better with flat, sunny conditions there…
After a few hours of drilling, grinding and measuring, we finally leave our pontoon-shelter and sail to a more frequented anchorage at the entrance of the Helford River. The view is stunning, over rolling hills and meadows surrounding cute stone houses.
The view from the boat on the Helford River
Windvane assembly in progress…
As the weather is still calm, we keep on working on the windvane. Once the holes at the bottom are drilled, we need to position the cast iron, with its protective plastic plate, and screw it to the hull – still 30 cm above the water and without losing any screw, bolt, or anything else really… deep breath… ok, all good! Now we can start putting together the rest of the windvane… but as a trial only, with dummy bolts, because we are trying here only to figure out the exact position of the top bracket. Holes measured, drilled, and everything is taken apart again… without dropping anything in the water!
We have spent the whole day highly focused on plates and bolts. It’s only when we finally look up that we realise how beautiful the evening light is. Laure cannot say no to a quick swim – followed by a warm shower! The water is warmer now, at least 11 degrees …
Peaceful evening on the Helford River
Newlyn
On the next day, we motor-sail all the way to Newlyn. Not elegant, but efficient, running at 6.5 knots… We have never been to Newlyn, one of the largest fishing harbours in the UK, which now takes in a few visiting yachts. It is therefore the first new place for us during this trip. No sooner are we moored that we set off on an exploration!
Newlyn is a charming little village, especially when a sunbeam hits the colourful fishing boats. Narrow windy lanes, stone houses and tropical plants, fresh fish to buy on every corner, and our first icecream this season – one flavour only to be had in the shop: “Cornish cream”.
The old harbour of Newlyn
Not lying, this is ice cream weather!
The coastal path continues all the way to Lands End and through the tiny (mouse-size) harbour of Mousehole. This is a nice hike despite the unsettled weather. Yes, today it is raining and blowing, not at all conducive to more balancing acts at the stern – the windvane will have to wait.
Mousehole, mouse size indeed….
19th-20th April : the Isles of Scilly ! (36 NM)
The Isles of Scilly… this archipelago, a little piece of paradise located offshore England and only accessible by fair weather that we never, ever managed to reach from the East. In fact, years of experience have proven that it can only be reached from Ireland…
And yet, this morning the weather forecast seems truly promising. We set sails in a nice southeasterly which should push us gently the whole afternoon. Should, in theory. In practice, we are still beating against the wind with the staysail as we round Land’s End. The wind veers a little, but quickly decreases to a little breeze… slow downwind, that’s spinnaker weather! We haven’t hoisted it again since the time when we discovered that the sailmaker had switched the marking on the ends. This time it goes up well… we open the spinnaker sock, we take it a little… and here we are, for the first time in her life UtPåTur is flying a spinnaker! Even dolphins gather around and give a few joyful hoops to celebrate.
First successful spinnaker sailing!
Happy to visually confirm that the anchor is set is good flat sand!
The dream islands are getting closer and we turn on the engine for the last few miles… the wind is forecast from the East then North, but the swell (from the South, don’t ask how!) is strong enough to prevent us from anchoring where we had planned. We make for our plan B, the island of Saint-Martin’s, not so sheltered from the East but more from the swell. The anchor is laid on smooth sand in 2 meters of blue water, between sunny islands and white sand beaches… it’s just perfect for the whole of 10 minutes, until the sun disappears and turns off the colours.
Anyways, there’s enough onboard to keep us busy without wasting time in idle contemplation. First, the anemometer is full of rainwater again and just stopped working. Then a new freshwater leak. Lastly, a little piece of iron fallen on the deck, which looks like a shroud and sends us up the mast quickly to check if it is not about to fall. Over all this, a nasty grey cloud is looming…
Only ten minutes in between these two pictures…
As it turned out, not too much rain or gusts, and we can get to bed enjoying a stunning anchorage, albeit rolly…
Off the main channels through the isles of Scilly
Overnight both wind and swell calm down, and we wake up on a lake. Best of conditions to venture outside of the beaten tracks in shallow places between islands, thanks to our shallow draft!
We head to the east of Tresco, close to Old Grimsby harbour. We aim for a beautiful sandy beach on the side. It is neap tides, not much tidal range to play with and fully dry up, but we do get in deep into the shallows next to the shore.
Pretty cool place…
Walking onshore is paradise… each viewpoint is more impressive than the next, with the soft white sand, the (cold) turquoise seawater, the boat, the oystercatchers piping in the sun… magical Isles of Scilly… we take out the drone from its bag where it had been sleeping for months and try to capture the moment as much as we can…
In the end, we have not beached the boat (as we first intended to), but we did achieve our dream to come to the Scilly with a shallow-draft and anchor in paradise…
20th-22nd April : Scilly – Pwllheli (203 NM)
We could stay here for weeks in these conditions, but as soon as this afternoon the westerly will pick up. It will remain good for 48 hours before increasing to force 7. This means two days to progress and find shelter…
The beach shoes are put away, replaced by woollen underwear and oilies, as we prepare for a longer passage. Before leaving we manage to fix the anemometer, it was all about one tiny waterdrop lodged in the microcotroller and causing a short-circuit…
Will the anemometer work properly at last ??
And off we go, back to the high seas…
We exit the archipelago from the north, through Old Grimsby sound. Once clear of the rocks, the instructions are simple: head to 12 degrees until Saint David Head (where the Irish Sea starts), then turn to 37 degrees!
Sailing is easy with less breeze than expected at first. The night is darker however, but we are getting used to the sheets and can find them without seeing their colours now. Better so: as the wind is picking up, we need to reef, then change for the staysail, then reef again (breaking the snatch block in the process). Damn, this is not difficult to replace, but a little pricy…
The wind of course decreases as fast as it picked up, it was only a squall, and we put out more canvas again. All this exercise left us rather tired. We are not yet confident enough to work the sails alone while the other is sleeping, and the watches this night have been rather patchy.
Luckily the sun is rising, the weather clearing up and the following day extremely pleasant. What a speed! 149 NM during the first 24 hours… we really have to reset our standards… from the watch room “upstairs”, we can keep watch sheltered from wind and rain, so comfortable…
The second night comes as we are only 30 miles away… as the wind is dying, we turn on the engine again for the last 3. Never a good time to motor close to shore during a dark night, the risk to hurt fishing pots and get the lines tangled in the propeller is not negligeable… Laure is sent to the bow with a strong torch to try and spot them. Oopsie, there’s one right here on starboard… another one just 10 meters away… well well, better to keep a sharp lookout then… as the light is searching for pots, it wakes up some fish which start stirring under the surface… to the greatest delight of our dolphins friends, who rush to the free meals and jump high right in the beam! Yoohoo!!!
Once again we enjoy the wildlife company during this leg!
Finally we will see more dolphins than pots (good that way!) and we will arrive to Abersoch anchorage around 2am. Anchor down, warm shower :o) and to bed for a few hours! Tomorrow will rise on a new country, unknown to us yet, Wales! But this is another story…
“deep into the shallows” in the beautiful Isles of Scilly: possibly my favourite phrase ever, and about one of our favourite places ever 🫶🏼 You’ve really put UtPåTur through her paces during these passages, and played with lots of new toys…sorry, equipment. You’re getting there 😉⛵️