Nevil Adkins

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.

Plan (produced 1700 Mon): LT Dartmouth 0723 1.7m / HT 1408 3.9m Fair tide starts ~0600, ends 1200 Target departure 0700, duration ~8hrs, arrive ~1500 No change in weather forecast overnight so go with the plan. Departed Dartmouth 0645 0826 2.7NM 188° Start Point, 11.3NM run. TWS 11kt. 0927 3.6NM 200° Salcombe, 17.7NM run. TWS 7ky. SOG 6.1kt @ 1200rpm. 1023 12NM 94° Eddystone Light, 24NM run, TWS 13.3kt. SOG 5.2kt @1200rpm 1300 Passed Eddystone Light, 35.6NM run. SOG 4.8kt @1250rpm. 1504 6.3NM 123° Fowey, 45.5NM run. SOG 4.7kt @ 1250rpm. 1716 arrived Fowey, 46.1 NM run. Engine hrs 4244.5 Another mostly calm day, although there was a little breeze to start with, it was against us, so we spent the whole day motoring. It was the first time we had been close to Eddystone so was great to see the lighthouse up close. Tried trolling a fishing line but nothing biting unfortunately. Overall the leg went exactly to plan/schedule and we tied up to Grid Irons pontoon as indicated by the Harbour Commission. Took a water taxi back to Bodinnick.

Anchor aweigh at 0645 with a plan to go to Portsmouth (7hrs) or possibly direct to Dartmouth (14hr) – decision point after 5hrs. 0845 4NM east of Anvil Pt, 14.4NM run. 1200rpm. TWS 9kt. 1100 8NM 103° Portland Bill. 31.3NM run. TWS 8kt. Decision taken to head to Dartmouth. 1318 7.1NM 230° Portland Bill, 44.7NM run. TWS 7.7kt. Lunch time. 1645 21NM 78° Dartmouth, 60.95NM run. TWS 2kt. 1800 15NM 259° Dartmouth,67.3NM run. TWS 5.3kt. 1900 9.4NM 259° Dartmouth, 72.7NM run. TWS 6kt. 2116 anchored Froward Cove, just outside Dartmouth. 83.9NM run in 14hr 58min. We were visited by common dolphins at about 8pm – so wonderful to see. Apart from that, a relatively uneventful motor down the Jurassic coast.

Claire visited Destiny before we had an after-party for the Zhuhai crew in the marina in Gosport. We had plenty of time to catch up and it was also great to meet her sister and son, Georgio. As the party wound up, Destiny started the long-awaited trip back to Cornwall with a short leg to anchor in the shelter of Hurst Castle, ready for an early morning favourable tide to take us on our way. First we stopped at the fuel berth in Gosport for 100ltr of diesel (£1.45/ltr) as the wind was virtually non-existent and it was looking like being a long motor. Leaving the fuel berth wasn’t ideal – the expected stern-kick in reverse didn’t happen and I ended up putting too much pressure on one of the smaller fenders until it burst and let us scrape along the jetty to put a small mark in the paint. I should probably have used a bowspring line – oh well, plenty to learn.

My friend Claire had been most of the way round the world on the Clipper Race and today was the final homecoming. I had promised to sail out to meet her and this is what we did. There was no wind so the ‘sprint race’ had been cancelled in favour of a motor parade and the racing yachts were lined up in their finishing order. We pulled up alongside Zhuhai and waved at Claire on the foredeck. She gave a quick wave back and carried on her duties. Only on the third wave did she recognise us – and promptly burst out crying! The fleet was accompanied into Portsmouth by a swarm of spectator boats, a Britanny Ferries ferry and harbour tugs spraying arcs of water, not to mention thousands of spectators on the shore – spectacular! As we approached Portsmouth, we peeled of the parade and went to moor up in Gosport before hurrying over to join in the afternoon festivities, including a guided visit to yacht Zhuhai. What a party to celebrate the completion of an amazing journey – well done Claire!

After several days of living on her whilst packing up and cleaning Luke’s student flat and attending his graduation ceremony in Southampton, the time finally came to take our maiden voyage from Lymington to Gosport where we would stay for a couple of nights, meeting the home-coming Clipper Race fleet. The leg was a pleasant afternoon sail through the Solent – not too busy on a Friday but still several large vessels, hovercraft and new sights to see as we got to grips with Destiny.

Sat 16Dec2024 We spent the day doing sea trials in Destiny with the owners, Andy & Janet FennymoreWhite, and the surveyor, Adrian Overbury, as the final part of deciding the purchase. We took her out into the Solent in a light breeze and tried various sails, anchoring and general manoeuvring. Needless to say, I was hooked and the deal was sealed. Sun 17Dec2024 The day was spent doing a full handover briefing with Andy and Janet – going through as many of the systems as we could to learn the details – so much to remember! Mon 18Dec2024 I transferred the purchase money from my Channel Islands account to my UK account ready to then make the final payment – then disaster struck. Despite telling the bank before the transaction, the money disappeared into an anti-money laundering hold and the payment was held up. Desperate called to the bank made little impact and my heart began to sink. To make matters worse, Luke was beginning to feel unwell. Tues 19Dec2024 Still no sign of the money as the delivery crew arrived to be ready to set off to take Destiny down to Cornwall. By lunchtime Luke was feeling worse and we decided that he would be more of a liability than a help so he took the train down to Cornwall as the weather forecast was deteriorating for the next couple of days until a full-on storm was predicted by Friday. Wed 20Dec2024 With still no sign of the money by lunchtime, I decided that the weather window was closing and that setting off into a poor forecast in a boat I was unfamiliar with would not pass the ‘news headline’ test, so I stood down the delivery crew and made arrangements for Destiny to be taken back out of the water once more and stored in Lymington until we found a better time to take her to Cornwall. Sue from Berthon dropped me at the station and I made my way back to Cornwall by train. As the train pulled out from Brockenhurst I received a call from the bank telling me the funds had cleared into my account – the payment was made to Berthon and Destiny was mine but would stay in Lymington until the summer. The forecast storm that arrived on Friday was quite bad - a good call had been taken.

After the morning’s dramatic events we sailed up to Pigeon Island and anchored for some lunch. Luke & I went snorkelling over a not particularly interesting rocky reef (which we were to dive a few days later) before we made the final leg back to Rodney Bay. Our passports had been sent by taxi to the Sunsail office, another US$40, but at least we got them back safely. We complained extensively abut the poor state of Lung Wei, especially the non-functioning electrical system and ultimately did not end up paying for fuel used and got a refund on three days worth of the charter. Overall, I was disappointed in the service offered by Sunsail as the state of the yacht diminished the enjoyment of the charter considerably. The incident at Marigot Bay was also a bad experience, but one that I shall learn from. The good side of the charter was however, very good. Excellent sailing in beautiful locations and memorable anchorages

We stayed the whole day in Bayahaut Bay, snorkelling both off the back of the yacht and taking the dingy round to the next bay. The boys explored the abandoned resort, reporting back that the jungle had almost totally covered the remains of the building that were once there. In the afternoon, I took the dingy round to Kingstown to check out of St Vincent immigration. I had forgotten that it was Sunday and was very lucky to catch the customs man just before he left on the ferry, and he had to call back the immigration lady to do our paperwork. I picked up more food, including some blue marlin steaks, in the supermarket. We barbequed on the back of the boat as the sun was setting then set sail for our overnight passage back to St Lucia. Luke & I took the first watch until about 0200. Finishing my watch I went below and slept but Luke stayed up a bit longer with Rob to give Rache more time sleeping. Arriving in Marigot Bay, we anchored on the north side of the bay. Rob was concerned that the anchor wasn’t holding so I took transits and kept checking that we weren’t dragging for a couple of hours as we were having breakfast. Not having budged on the transits I was happy we were holding so we all went ashore for a walk around. Although we intended to check-in at Rodney Bay later on, the harbour master told us we had to checkin immediately so I went back to the yacht for our papers. Still no movement on the transits. Back to the harbour master’s office and we were just completing the formalities when Luke spotted the yacht being towed into the harbour by fishermen, who reported that she had drifted off. Highly skeptical, we got back aboard (but left our passports behind in the shock and rush) and checked the story with a yacht moored nearby. They said the yacht had started to drift and was rescued by the fishermen. I remain convinced that the fishermen had pulled the yacht off, threatened the neighbours and staged the whole thing, but maybe we did drift… It cost us US$200 to pay off the fishermen, half what they wanted, and left us quite shaken. Reflecting on it later, I should have taken greater notice of Rob’s concern, inspected the anchor was holding properly and/or tested the holding with the engine in reverse rather than simply relying on monitoring transits.

We were up early again and went for another snorkel at Barada island before setting off back to St Vincent, this time with Rob as appointed skipper. After quite a long but uneventful sail, we anchored in the beautiful Grand Bayahaut Bay. We quickly made the best of the last hour or so of sunshine and went for a snorkel at the Bat Cave – beautiful soft and hard corals crusting the vertiginous rock walls and bats roosting in the ceiling of the appropriately named cave which forms a swim-through.