Joanna Spencer-Smith

WSW winds F3 nice flat sea, beautiful sunshine. Tide with us all the way. Goose winged from needles all the way to lymington!

Forecast was for some pretty strong winds so we left a bit later (9am) to miss them. Came out of the river Dart only to find winds were gentler (F3 initially rising to F4 as we came away from the land) than expected and definitely from W not NW which would have helped a little. To avoid sailing straight downwind with the 1-2m swell we headed into the channel and bobbed along at about 5knots (slower than our planning speed) so we started to doubt if we would make Portland in time for the tidal gate. Luckily as the day passed the winds increased to F5 and at about 3pm we put in reef 1. At some point in the day we experimented with the boom retainer. We used a rope attached to the end of the boom and the tackline. Not ideal once released as the rope on the boom is free and ready to decapitate any crew members in the cockpit should the boom go overhead. I put my knowledge of the sheepshank knot to use to shorten the rope. Needs work as a system. Managed to navigate round the bill and Shambles all with the tide - just like we planned! Arrived and now at anchor. Sustenance required before we plan for tomorrow!

Left about 11am. Started off with WSW wind of about 15kt. Overcast. Weren’t sure if we were going to stop at Plymouth (meaning we probably won’t get back to lymington in time), Salcombe (sand bar meaning we need to arrive 2h before /after low tide) or Dartmouth. At about 14:15 we were outside Plymouth. Seemed a bit early to stop. Timing was terrible for Salcombe (we would arrive at low tide). So we decided to head to Dartmouth… immediately the wind got up so we put in a reef. Immediately after that the fog rolled in and we started questioning our choices. Based on our channel experience we knew what we were doing, so on went the radar and so did we. Going past Salcombe the dolphins came out to play and they were loving the waves and 1-2m swell. Had to gybe to avoid getting in front of the slowest moving tanker (3kts) As we went round Start Point the SW wind started to increase to 20/25kt. Considered another reef but made it to Dartmouth in the daylight (and ongoing fog).

12kt from SW mostly sunny/overcast. 0.5m swell.

Sunny wth 15kt from NW. enjoyed seeing others live their best pirate life!

Overcast with ENE winds initially 16kt increasing to 20kt) which swung round throughout the day to SE. We gave Start Point a wide berth to avoid any overalls as there was already a swell of about 1.5m (I’d taken a sea sickness tablet so was ok). All was going well we made fine progress with one reef in until one gybe (about 40nm in) and the reefing line snappped! We popped in the second reef and continued on our merry way. Boat speed was reduced from 10kt to 7kt, but still acceptable progress. We had chosen to follow the coastline (around 40m contour) to avoid the higher speed winds in the middle of the bay. Turns out this was a good call as a securité message told us a war ship was shooting live rounds and to give it 6nm clearance right on our path if we had taken the shorter route. Arrived at Falmouth in the rain!

Started bright & early with NE wind with not enough puff so we motored until 8:45 and popped up the sail and spinnaker. Wind was around 10kt and finally settled on coming from the east. We could have done with a couple more knots as we had to finish off the trip under motor to get here before town quay people stopped for the night. Approach to Dartmouth was daubed in the light from the sunset and we were herded in by a mass of dolphins. Arrived in darkness.

Hot sunny windy. Perfect! Goose winged it most of the way.

12kn wind from SE. Beautiful sunny day. Overcast now but apparently water temp is 22 degrees so evening swim may be in order!