Well after a busy few months we were lifted in on Tuesday morning the 18th of August, Plymouth were over the moon to hear they were nearly rid of us they put on not one but 3 awesome firework displays. Ok Ok it was the British National Firework Championships. It was a glorious sunny day, we anchored off of Mount Edgecombe in Barnpool, jumping off the side of the boat and swimming in the sea at last. Then the weather turned and there was no sunshine just rain until the Saturday, good job I went back to work!
We then set our sights on finally getting to Falmouth and what would be required for a channel crossing to France. Falmouth was slightly easier.
We invested in the Shell Channel Pilot by Tom Cunliffe, we do like his writing he is a salty old sea dog who enjoys anchoring and a free mooring so his advice is always welcome.
Looking for a lovely weather window it looked like we might be lucky over the bank holiday weekend. Research completed, stowage and clearing aplenty (ssshh don't tell the little pirates) we watched the weather intently, it was shaping up to be good, so with work finished for the week we provisioned the boat and headed for Cawsand where we anchored and had a BBQ with friends who we have made whilst in Torpoint. They had made us feel so welcome we couldn’t go without a farewell supper (hopefully not for too long goodbyes aren't getting any easier). We spent the night there and then early we rose to catch the shipping forecast to be sure we weren't missing any gale warnings and we upped anchor and went.
Jacob joined us a couple of hours later and then the girls eventually crawled out of their bunks to see the sunlight. Conditions were light and despite the tide with us we were only doing 3 knots over the ground, we decided to try our new Iron Sail out. She pushed us beautifully, we arrived in St Just and anchored for a late lunch just 8 hours later our ETA was 10 hours so all was good and over estimating certainly gave the crew a morale lift. We spent the afternoon exploring St Just's beach, eating, cleaning and checking things over. Once the children were tucked up for the night we decided to head up the river Truro to explore and tie up to a visitor pontoon for the night, beautiful. We had a few engine teething problems on the way up and with our hearts in our mouth each time she was fine. I was a little annoyed with her though as I had a perfect approach to the pontoon only for the engine to cut out 6 foot away Mike did a mahoosive jump with the stern line, a perfect dismount and held the boat whilst the tide caught the bow and turned us 180 degrees! Never a dull moment, tied up safely, engine investigated and a wire had come loose, good old pre-made stuff Mike has already been in with his soldiering Iron.
Sunday saw us travel slightly further up the river Truro past the King Harry Ferry to show the children the leviathans the store up the river they were amazed, and then a night at Mylor Yacht Harbour. Wonderful company, ice creams and water play, but a real disappointment of a marina, facilities were ok but for the price they do not compare to some we have stayed in en route, Torquay, Mayflower and Torpoint. The staff lacked a welcoming air that left us cold, their knowledge of the facilities was poor and after ringing the day before to be told there was loads of room on the inner side of the break water we were glad we went with the first one on the end as there were no more in sight! Castaways was the only establishment open in the evenings so that's where we ended up the food was nice but slightly overpriced and a bit confused on where it was trying to place itself in the market. After a good nights sleep we paid and left at midday Monday, a great days sailing was had, good stiff breeze, stories in the cockpit, happy pirates all round. We put a longline out on the stern and we have come to the conclusion that there are no fish in the sea, we trawled it all the way to our mooring (we forgot to bring it in miraculously it was still in one piece) not a single bite we starved Tuesday night!
Finally we keep a watch on channel 16 (like 999 for VHF radios) this is for the coastguard to communicate and other yachts to organise switching to other channels. A mayday was raised from a diving vessel who had missed their rendezvous with one of their divers. Falmouth coastguard were cool calm and collected (we could only hear their side of the conversation). The diver had in fact let off his own Personal Locator Beacon and once the coastguard had all the information he relayed it to all vessels. The RNLI and the rescue helicopter were already en route, and within an hour of it all beginning the diver was being airlifted to Derriford Hospital for a check over. It resolved very quickly after the dive boat had the co-ordinates of the divers personal locator beacon. This is the second mayday I have heard play out and both times a successful rescue has ensued, we really do have some wonderful emergency services. On that note it really is time for this pirate to get some sleep.
France planning tomorrow night!
Much love to you all,
The Pirates xxxxx