The Scillies and on to Falmouth

Fri 29th May, 15.50 -   49° 54’ N,   5° 29’ W

We’re now below 50° North and the weather has certainly improved. A few miles off to port is the coast of Cornwall: Land’s End leads onto the sweeping expanse of Mounts Bay, passing the magnificently named Pedngwinian Point before the coastline appears to terminate at Lizard Point on the horizon ahead. Falmouth, our destination for this relatively short hop of about 60 nautical miles from the Scillies, lies around this famous landmark. Sailing in northern Scotland, names that are remote and far-flung to most such as Ardnamurcan and Cape Wrath are local, but the names that appear again and again when reading the sailing press are almost theoretical points always distant over the horizon. Now though we are about to round Lizard point and sail into Falmouth - they do actually exist!

We arrived in the Scillies on Monday evening and as I mentioned earlier, took a mooring at St Mary’s where we could take the tender in to a pontoon on the quay at Hugh Town. At the end of the quay is one of the two ways of arriving in the Scillies (other than your own boat), the passenger ferry Scillonian III which has served the islands since the 1920s and is still the mainstay of the islander’s way of life. On Tuesday we explored Hugh Town, finding the islands in the final throes of the Scilly Isles Folk Festival, arriving just in time to enjoy the last couple of tunes of the farewell session in a pub overlooking the town beach, right at the end of the quay. The tunes were familiar, but played in quite a different style to the norm in the sessions I am used to in Scotland: the pace was less rapid and the instead of playing several tunes as a “set” one tune was played but built up and developed to a greater extent. The session was of a pretty high calibre with a range of instruments including a couple of fiddles and even a clarinet, and a good spread of ages. Great to see and I was quite disappointed my guitar was still on the boat.

We headed on into town and found the perfect antidote to many miles at sea: indulgent cream teas with such shameless quantities of jam and clotted cream as to be quite decadent! We got to know the lady who served us in The Wheelhouse Cafe on the far side of the tarbert - not that it would ever be referred to as such outwith Scotland to the best of my knowledge - overlooking Porthcressa Beach. After a relaxing hour, and a doze in the sun in the case of our Skipper, we continued our leisurely circuit of the town, finding the Chandlers (a shop that sells things for boats) on the return journey and purchasing a variety of items to do a few jobs on the boat: bolts to fix the fridge lid; pipe connectors for the salt water pump, to allow us to use seawater for washing up and so on and save on precious fresh water from the tanks; retroreflective tape for the lifebuoys and sling, the list goes on! We returned to the boat to start the jobs and have dinner before returning to sample to local hospitality (and use the free wifi to recommence contact with the outside world). On returning to the tender (not having drunk a drop of alcohol) Tim determined that the gap between the steps down to the pontoon and said pontoon was indeed wide enough to fall in, if only up to your knees.

Wednesday morning, or what was left of it after we roused ourselves from our respective cabins, was spent completing the jobs which we had supplied for the previous day. In the afternoon, after a hearty lunch, we returned to the shore for more cream teas, although the lack of sun but copious bracing breeze lead to a unanimous decision to sit on the inner side of a pane or two of glass and for me to switch my order to cream tea and hot chocolate from the cooling coke of yesterday. After a comfortable hour (and a “pudding” of ice-cream for me and Martyn) we shopped at the co-op and Martyn made to take the shopping back to Dragon, whilst Tim and I waited in the pub with Michael, Martyn’s nephew who has just arrived to join us for the next part of the trip by the tiny passenger aeroplane from Land’s End - the other way of getting to the islands from mainland Britain. We spent a while getting to know Michael a bit before heading for a glorious meal in the Galley restaurant. On our return journey to the boat Michael, who had been hearing stories of Tim’s investigative endeavours of the previous evening, obviously decided that replication was required for any real conclusions to be drawn and obliged by proving Tim entirely correct. Score so far in the Scillies: three pairs of wet shoes (one on account of a leaking dinghy floor), two cream teas and one lost killcord which I didn't attach back to the dinghy after using it - I seem to be making an unfortunate habit of losing them.

On Thursday we toured a bit of the Isles of Scilly with Dragon, although we spent more time eating than sailing, by virtue of a pub lunch outside the Turk’s head on St Agnes, a lovely short walk from the anchorage variously referred to as The Cove or Wingletang Bay and a third and final cream tea from our evening mooring in Porthcressa Bay (weather: outside, cream tea and lemonade in a proper glass bottle - it all felt quite Enid Blighton). I also took the opportunity to buy a proper wide-brimmed sunhat that would make my Aussie relatives proud, maybe it will be of use keeping the rain off my face and neck on return to Scotland? The others were quite restrained in their comments really! The evening was spent relaxing on the beach before heading out to the boat for a late dinner, pleasant conversation and a few songs on the guitar. 

We left for Falmouth in a strong westerly this morning having changed the genoa for a small high cut No. 4 blade jib, accompanied by a tune (on a whistle I think) from a large motorboat anchored nearby. Once out of the shelter of the Scillies the seas were greater and we rigged a gybe preventer on the main to stop the boom banging on each wave and shook out the third reef as the wind moderated slightly. Since then we have been bowling along at between 7 and 10 knots, with the sound of a rush of water as the crest of a wave passes beneath Dragon. Lunch was pizza and pancakes in the sun, although the roll of the waves meant the mixing bowl had to be left clamped onto the other, unused, gas ring by the panholders to stop it spilling. There are a fair few ships around, although we are in the English Channel, one of the busiest shipping lanes on the planet, so I probably shouldn’t be too surprised! We passed quite close to another yacht earlier (Misty) and got some pictures of them and them us, so I will have to keep a look out for them if they come into Falmouth to exchange photos. There is a trimaran showing on the AIS as slowly catching us but Falmouth is almost in sight to maybe we will stay ahead!

Later that evening - Port Pendennis Marina, Falmouth

We didn’t stay ahead. We were only a couple of minutes later after putting our foot down somewhat as they approached and we were just about keeping up, which is not bad against such a speed machine! 

As always, comments/questions welcome.

Jamie