Nevil Adkins

Awoke to flat calm in the bay but a wind line just half a kilometre away. Got under way just before 10am and again had to take a long tack out to sea to gain sea room. After tacking the wind veered as expected and we made better progress along the coast and just squeezed in past Rame Head without needing another pair of tacks. We were again buzzed by dolphins - every day this trip 🙂. Getting Destiny tied up in her berth was tricky with the strong easterly wind - I need to think how to get over that. James helped get Destiny's sails off her ready for new standing rigging next week - thanks for that👍. All-in-all a very enjoyable weekend trip.

We had a slow start as it was beautifully calm in the river in the morning - time for eggs & bacon for breakfast 😁. As the wind got up around 10am, it had swung around to NE so we ended up close hauled again all the way back to St Austell Bay, after close hauling down the coast yesterday! We had to start with a port tack out to sea past the Manacles to get a good angle to get up the coast. As we approached St Austell Bay I was initially going to anchor off of Charlestown but there was quite a swell built up so we tucked into the bay in front of Polkerris, which was nicely sheltered. We dinghied ashore and met up with Rachel for an evening meal. Unfortunately Sam's was full inside so we ended up on the terrace of the Rashleigh - my fish & chips was average but Rachel's burger was underwhelming.

After watching the forecast for the past week, I was expecting light winds and up to half motoring but we had a good trip from Sutton Harbour to Helford in better wind than expected. Close hauled all the way, we were buzzed by dolphins a couple of times but they didn't hang around. On arrival at Helford we had carbonara on board as the pubs were full.

On arrival at Sutton Harbour, tried using the GoPro to view the tangled rope reported on Destiny's keel but not very clear on the preview screen. Decided to exit SH and snorkel on the keel outside to avoid the ire of the harbour staff. After exiting the Lock on free-flow we used one of the pontoons near Mountbatten to do the inspection. First dive showed the rope wound round the shaft of the keel but fortunately not entangled with anything else. Second dive and three swipes of the bread knife cleared it. Set off about 1145 and put sails up in a breeze coming down the river. This light W 8-10kt breeze gave us a close-haul out to Rame Head. Getting clear of the Head, the breeze picked up to 12-15kt and backed to SW, spinning our close-haul to almost due south. We enjoyed a bit over an hour, eating lunch and visited a few times by common dolphins, but they didn't hang around long. At about 1330 we bore away to a goose-winged run towards Newton Ferrars until we were lined up to gybe and sail into the Sound. Doused the sails just inside the Breakwater then returned to Sutton Harbour, tying up around 1600. Managed to test the AIS using my laptop and demonstrated that the unit is working, indicating that it is definitely a problem with the software settings. Found a 'connections wizard' in the set-up menu and fixed the issue so we now have AIS displaying again😀. Next time try the same with the radar... Overall a lovely day sail with Gareth and new crew member Penelope.

Had a light breakfast then got going but not much wind - only about 7kt and we didn't even have steerage way. We picked up a submerged line just off of Lantic Bay, snagged on the front of the keel and stopping us going forward. Reversed out of it and scanned around - no pot markers or any other indication in sight, just a loop of white line had been visible before we backed out 🤷‍♂️. Hugged the coast for the views until Looe Island then picked up a 10kt and gradually rising breeze which pushed us along quietly at 4-5kt, so turned the engine off. HMS Severn was manoeuvring in the bay - must have had rookie crew on as they were all over the place. Took down sails at West Tinker & motored in - nice to have the free-flow in too. Trip total ~12hrs engine, 2.5 hrs generator. Great weekend cruise with Andrew & Monica 😃.

Lively conditions - sustained 24kt increasing to 28kt at times and 32kt gusts - a good F7. Settled down with two reefs in main and one reef in jib - doing 6-7kts all of the time, peaking at 8kt. Heel angle no more that 15° and everything feeling under control. Downhaul line got wrapped on spreader so couldn't get the main down properly. We came alongside at Berryl's Yard and I climbed the mast to free it. Also topped up water - using ~100ltr per day with 3 people on board and not being careful, having showers, etc. After sorting out the issues we moved to Pontoon 3 opposite and deployed the dinghy to go ashore for dinner. Met Rach & Rob at the Gallion.

Generally ~18kt from NW the whole day. Slight sea (0.5m). Light overcast. Andy & Monica took a stroll through Fowey while I topped up water, tidied up, etc. Departed Fowey and spent some time calibrating the heading sensor and log - now aligned with the GPS data. Anchored in Pridmouth Bay for lunch of smoked mackerel salad. The Bruce anchor shackle is too big and jammed in the chain lead - need to fix that. Left Pridmouth and sailed down to Helford under first reef in main and full jib - cracking sail. On arrival at Helford the moorings officer said one boat had only paid for a day and was due to leave so we moored temporarily. Phoning the pub told us that both were fully booked so we turned round and anchored near Voose. Dinner now cooking😋.

Bad traffic on the Tamar Bridge meant we arrived at Destiny only slightly ahead of our crew so we were not prepared enough for a quick departure. Ended up leaving nearly an hour later than desired which meant a late arrival at Fowey. Motored out to outside the Breakwater using pilotage plan - worked ok but can't see most of the lights during the day. Sailed with main, jib & staysail on a close haul along the coast. Wind gradually veering was helping us but we had already lost a lot of distance offshore - should have sailed further inshore towards Looe before tacking along coast. Fairly rough so we decided to moor in Fowey instead of anchor off Charlestown. Bolognese on board for dinner.

After many hours of sanding, painting, cleaning and fiddling, Destiny was finally launched into the river Fowey on Wednesday. Yesterday Rob and I took her up to Plymouth and she is now in her new berth in Sutton Harbour Marina with her sails on 😀. The wind was light (<8kt TWS) so we elected to motor up and put on the mainsail when we had more space alongside a pontoon. During the trip, the auto-pilot kept experiencing an 'unexpected hardware reset' but after a power off-on cycle seemed to settle down. The nav computer also has some gremlins - showing position but not heading, etc. so still some fine tuning to do; I am guessing some loose connection somewhere. Entering Sutton Harbour was relatively straight forward although we had to hang around whilst two outcoming vessels passed by. We chose to berth stern-to - these choices only need to be taken once but end up taking time to suss out.

Set off at 1240 for a day sail but only decided the destination to be Looe ‘on the fly’ as we motored down the river. This was my desire but it should have been discussed properly before we left. Looe was downwind, so we had a fast broad reach under main and Code 0 there – a very nice sail, sometimes hitting 8kt. We anchored outside of Looe and started to prepare the dinghy to take a trip in to get an ice cream. This took a lot longer than anticipated and the anchor was also dragging so we decided that rather than resetting it in a better position we would abandon the shore trip and head back to Fowey. Beating the 9NM back along the coast was a different matter to the broad reach there - I enjoyed the sailing but it was a slow effort and we were not finished until 20:24, by which time we were all hungry and a bit snappy with each other. In hind sight, we should have decided the plan before setting out and it would have been much more sensible to have heading to Mevagissy against the wind in the beginning and have come back with the wind. Over the next few days I started preparing Destiny to be taken out of the water and stored in Toms Boatyard, assisted by Rob at certain times. By Sunday 11Aug24 Destiny was ashore, stripped of sails and lines, stores removed, engine winterised, battened down for storage. Destiny is the right boat, but at the wrong time, as I still have to work in Nigeria for a couple more years until I retire. Apr26 note (added whilst transferring logbook notes to SailTies) – I am now retired; yippee! Currently working to get Destiny back in the water an to her permanent berth at Sutton Harbour, Plymouth.