Starcross to Totnes

Starcross-Dartmouth-Totnes
14th to 16th October

The last sail of the season was gentle with a warm and light breeze, and calm sea; a mellow day with mellow end-of-season feelings. Then, a night moored in the beautiful river Dart, before motoring upriver to Totnes next morning.

Approaching Dartmouth

Upriver to Totnes

There are dreams and plans for 2015 of course. But now 'Misty' is for sale (now sold). If you want a beautiful yacht that has proved she's capable, comfortable and wonderfully reliable, here she is click for details.

Hamble to Starcross

11th to 20th September
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Click for route
With new rigging and new Furlex for genoa, plus Anna aboard, we had a leisurely few days in beautiful late summer warmth, visiting some old favourites in the Solent and Poole. Then, a quick sail to Cherbourg for plonk and smelly cheese, before returning home. I cut short plans for Channel Isles as forecast was for light winds - better I reckon to take advantage of remaining F.4/5 rather than travel 90 miles with engine. Perhaps there'll be another chance between shore-bound commitments, but as evenings draw in, it is sad to realise there are only a few weeks till the end of another wonderful sailing season.

Mast comes off for re-rig

Beached for a clean at East Head, Chichester

Tranquil anchorage at Totland Bay, IoW

Past the Needles en route to Poole....

and busy squirrels on Brownsea Island

Fine Swedish vessel in Cherbourg

Oriana (I think) came in as we left Cherbourg

Perfect sailing broad reach back to the Exe

Nearly home..

Starcross to Hamble

3rd to 8th September
Starcross-Lyme Regis-Poole-Hurst-Newport-Newtown-Hamble
Click for route (left icon to view)

A few days ashore were fun. Bryony and Alex’s wedding was wonderful and a memorably happy event.

Bryony and Alex

But, as it suggests in a local pub, land was only created so we’d have somewhere to sail to, so a week ashore was plenty and I was happy to get back aboard. I’ve enjoyed a trip of childhood nostalgia via Lyme Regis, Poole and Isle of Wight. Seaside gems are as beautiful as ever, especially in warm gentle late-summer sunshine, but the Solent seems very crowded. Now, in the river Hamble I see more boats every day than in the rest of the year together.

Passing Old Harry Rocks

Tranquility in Blood Alley, Poole

Nervous red squirrel, Brownsea Is.

One of many packed marinas on the Hamble

Misty’s mast is down and new rigging is being fitted, and new Furlex reefing too. It’s the sort of work that severely dents a sailing budget. But Misty will, I trust, be fit for many years to come. Tomorrow, Anna joins me and I hope we can sail away, as mooring charges in these places are pretty eye-watering!

Misty's mast being lifted off

Lundy to Starcross

18th to 23rd August
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Route

Getting near home I feel both excited and sad. There are friends to see (and practical niceties like mains electricity, regular shower and clean sheets!) but it’s also the end of the main cruise of the year (and I’m always happier afloat than on land).

A brisk sail from Lundy...

....with playful company...

From Lundy, leaving before dawn, it was an exhilerating sail south-west around Land’s End and in to anchor outside Mousehole Harbour after dark (not something you want to do in the dark, unless you’ve first seen it in daylight). I'd have stopped on the way but north Cornish coast is uncomfortable with strong onshore winds. A late start next day to await tide at the Lizard, then comfortable sail to Falmouth, where there were more sailing boats than I’ve seen all the rest of the summer together! No peace at all, as you forever peer under genoa, alert and watchful for approaching boats. But anchorage off Trelissick House was exquisite and peaceful, and next day it was easy to view the fine National Trust gardens there and to catch a bus to Truro.

Heading for home, around Land's End

Early morning outside Mousehole Harbour

View from anchorage off Trelissick House, Falmouth Harbour

...day trip to Truro...

From Falmouth, the coastline is pleasantly familiar, with convenient overnight stops off Cawsand and in Dartmouth. It was a treat to meet up with old friends for a night in Dartmouth and wonderful to have friends who are happy to share simple food and drink, and chilly nights aboard ‘Misty’.

Meal aboard in Dartmouth with Richard and Jill....

 As Dartmouth filled up for its annual regatta, I sailed home, spending a night at my mooring on a calm and peaceful Exe Estuary, before tidy up and row ashore - just over four months and nearly 3,000 miles after leaving Totnes. I have an interlude of a few days before later summer cruise – somewhere south - probably!
Route So Far Summer 2014 (Click the lefthand icon, if the link opens)
or click here

...Peacefully back on her mooring

...off Starcross

Isle of Man to Lundy

13th to 15th August
Peel-Skomer-Lundy
Route (click left icon if link opens)

Turning a long ship in Peel Harbour

After a week, yes a whole week, on the Isle of Man, I felt I knew it well enough. All that time the winds were too strong and the wrong way (relics of that hurricane beginning with a ‘B’-name forgotten).

Peel Harbour was full. My neighbours, on a little Beneteau which they’d just bought in Ireland, were a colourful and enterprising young German couple with their two-year old daughter. We shared meals and European opinions, and they tell me they’re going to the Mediterranean for the winter – or until their money runs out. Time passed quickly, even though it’s the longest time in four months’ sailing that I’ve been stuck in one place.

Manx Agricultural Show

...judging feather and fur..

...a very pretty feathered foul...

...herding ducks with dog...

Peel Harbour

There was the Manx Agricultural Show (best I’ve ever been to), some memorable long cliff-top walks, and bus trips all over the place.

As soon as wind was down to about F5, and Peel Harbour bridge swung open, I left (along with two other boats – though they went north while I turned south). Refreshed from so much time in harbour, I sailed for the next 31 hours. And felt a lot less refreshed when I reached the little island of Skomer, S. Wales, next evening. Even the Irish Sea seems to have ships and boats sailing through the night, so with them to keep an eye on, and lots of reefing and de-reefing there was little chance to rest!

Next morning, really keen to see Skomer, I rowed across to a little beach and slipway. Alas! I’d just secured the dinghy and got five yards on land, as far as a sign saying “£10 to land”, and being hailed from the cliff-top…”it’ll be £10 for any more than five minutes”. I didn’t have my wallet, and could not face the windy return row to Misty. After landing on almost every other island in Britain without a charge, I was disappointed. Is Skomer really that special?

Company in the Irish Sea

Brief landing at Skomer..

Once tide slackened in nearby swirly-whirly Jack Sound, I left Skomer and sailed quickly past Milford Haven and over to Lundy – a beautiful warm sunny run under genoa – to reach Lundy as the sun set. Now there’s more days of strong wind forecast so I’ll stay awhile, ceaselessly rolling in persistent swell

Fine sunset sailing into Lundy………

......it was windy and rolly for three days and nights (“….unseasonably cool and breezy”, as the forecaster says). Walks and talks, and beer, on Lundy are therapeutic. Chloe, a seasonal warden with the National Trust, has been an informative guide; and one day, when the Oldenburgh ferry came over from Ilfracombe, there were more than 260 visitors. Lundy can feel very busy and is a charming place!

...a guided tour..

..a pretty and rolly anchorage

...I think its name is Boris

Stornoway to Isle of Man

30th July to 6th August
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Route

Leaving Acharseid Mhor, Rona

South of Skye, approaching Loch Scavaig

Sailing in northwest Scotland is often magical and there’ll always be new and amazing places to discover. But among the stupendous mountains, glorious wildlife and clear waters, don’t forget it’s often cold and wet, and isolated; and midgies seem especially ravenous for tasty human blood. It wouldn’t suit everyone!
Heading south from Stornoway, I’ve revisited a few favourite spots and tried some new ones. I’d thought of sailing to Devon solely stopping at islands on the way, but soon found this was too restrictive, especially now I’m trying to get a move on – but perfectly feasible if you have time. Anyway, Ulva (off Mull) and Oronsay (next to Colonsay) and Isle of Muck (N. Ireland) were new to me. The tide beat me round Mull of Kintyre (so couldn’t make Sanda Is.) and I ended up at Machrihanish.

Popular anchorage under the Cuillins, Skye

....and walk in the hills...

Sailing past Iona Abbey...not stopping this time...

Empty (and windswept) anchorage off little island of Oronsay....

....which has fascinating remains of 15th century priory..

...through Sound of Islay (distinctive scent of fermenting malt in the air!)

There, I found a tiny and pretty spot among rocks out of the swell next to the disused Machrihanish lifeboat station – until a local fisherman came over and told me it wasn’t a good idea! I was only the third boat he’d seen there in 60 years, and I moved to a ‘safer’ spot, though very roly-poly one! The lifeboat was apparently removed and station closed in 1931. It had been very restricted with encroaching boulders and reefs. (And I’ve since learnt that that old lifeboat, “Henry Finlay”, now restored, lives on the River Dart in Devon, Website here – isn’t the internet amazing?)

View from anchorage off Machrihanish

Then a brisk sail round Mull of Kintyre...leaving Scottish waters

..

..and time I left too...(new flag needed next year!)

The Scottish courtesy flag was badly frayed by the time I left Scottish waters, even after Anna’s fine sewing repairs - perhaps a sign it is time to move on. Nonetheless I feel sad to be heading south. (Yes, I know it might be warmer!)

First stop after Scotland was to be Isle of Muck (N.I.) but not tenable today, so I went to Portmuck next door. (There’s another Isle of Muck in Scotland. Muck means ‘pig’ in Gaelic, so perhaps it’s where the word came from.)

Now I’ve reached Peel, I.o.M, three months to-the-day since last here. The replica Viking longship that we’d seen in Caledonian Canal is also here, just arrived from Liverpool, with a new and stouter mast. The old one, which was lost in strong winds near Orkney, has apparently just been washed up in Shetland. The mainly Scandinavian crew is delightful, fascinating and unflappable.

First landfall in N. Ireland (View from anchorage at Portmuck)

Longship in Peel Harbour, IoM, with fine new mast

Strong winds forecast, so I’ll be a tourist in Isle of Man for a few days.