To Torquay

 We had a pretty dull day today, with no wind, and grey, drizzly skies. This meant we had to motor a lot, which is frustrating, and incredibly boring. 


Luckily we had a lot of company, as everyone seemed to be heading for either Salcome or Torbay, at the same time as us. I left Queen Anne's Battery this morning at the same time as 2 other yachts, one a fast 30' raceboat, which we stayed with all the way to Torquay. Soon 5 other boats were within a mile of us, and we has a great little flotilla to keep me and Falanda company. It only got bussier as we aproached Salcome, where ferrys, trip boat, yachts and big powerboats were suddenly everywhere! 


Rounding Berry Head, we saw the famous Berry Head midgets, waving down to us, along with some pods of dolphins, and lots of underwater crabpots.


45 miles after leaving, me and the fast boat dropped our mains at the same time and headed into the harbour. After a brief shout over the water, I was invited to go racing with them! A harbour guy at Torquay Marina came and got my lines (first time a marina person has helped me!), and not long after, Amaryllis was heading up the channel towards us.


We had a busy, but nice evening, and now I'm faced with 6 weeks worth of tidying!


https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/falanda-roundbritain


Berry Head midgets, view from the boat


Cruise ships in Torbay



Falanda all moored up at Torquay marina, Amaryllis behind.

.
Torquay lights






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Aborted Azores trip in Karuna

Image
On the 20th June me and dad left the Exe heading southwest aboard Karuna, his Rival 34, with a vague plan to sail to the Azores.  By sunset the tide was turning against us as we approached Start point, and after beating into the southwesterlies all day we pulled in and anchored off Salcombe until 3am when the tide turned. We then continued on to St Maws, where we dropped the anchor and caught up on sleep.  The next morning we set off, tacking out into the Channel. By midnight, we had reached the French shipping lanes so changed tack and headed more west. At this point me and dad had been cooped up on his boat together for 3 days and the novelty was begging to fade.  On the fourth morning the wind began to pick up and the boat set into a horrible slamming motion, making living much more difficult. Anything from cooking to going for a pee was horrible and we avoided going below unless to sleep.  By the next morning the wind had picked up and was accompanied by a relatively short, choppy
Read more

Across the Channel for Paimpol festival

Image
 In the last week of July, Falanda and I set off across the channel accompanied by my parents on Karuna.  The morning started out windless so we motored until torbay when the wind picked up and we started sailing, close hauled at about 4.5 kts. The wind increased and a few waves skirted over the stern, splashing the tillerpilot which in turn got wet and packed up.  We then had a few hours of perfect sailing, the helm so light that falanda was steering herself, under full main and slightly reefed jib. At sunset we hove to so that I could reef the main and get changed into some dry, warm clothes before it got cold.  Then it got dark, and we started approaching the shipping lanes, still sailing well at about 6 - 6.5kts.  At this point my batteries were getting low, and I needed the AIS on as we crossed the lanes so I tried starting the engine. I then discovered that the batteries were almost dead rather than low, so faffed around turning everything off, whilst also trying to steer the boa
Read more

Friday - Weymouth to Yarmouth, Isle of White

Image
  Not much wind this morning so had to motor sail untill it picked up in the afternoon. It was a bit of a grey, foggy day, and we passed the Militery Firing Range without being shot at or bombed! We had the tide with us at St Albans head, wizzing us staight round, and the tide stayed with us untill we arrived at Yarnmouth. No problems passing the Needles, although poor visibility untill the Lighthouse.  I slowed down before we got to the Needles, so Dad on Amaryllis could catch up and we could take some photos of the boats sailing. Hence why he was so close. The bad weather looks like its coming in on Monday night, so as long as it does't change, we're hoping to get to Eastbourne to shelter for a day or so. Its quite stressful trying to predict the weather when each forecast is completely different, and I need to let each Marina know exactly what time we will be arriving, a couple of days in advance. Sailing past the Needles Approaching lighthouse at the Needles Leaving Weymout
Read more