Another delivery - a bit different from the last

[Hurricane]

You seemed to like my last post/report so, here’s another – with a little difference!!

Arrived back from Spain late last night but the alarm clock was set for an early start this morning.

A knock on the door at 06:00 - now that’s really rather early for me!!
It was Rodney – another job to do.

Torquay Marina just after 6 o’clock in the morning is a very quiet place – not a soul about.

This time it was the tide that had got me up – we had to get Panacea to Dartside in time for high water.

Route all “laid in” so off we went.

It was early enough to catch the sunrise after leaving the harbour.

Out we went – around Berry Head

The sea was a little bouncy but Panacea handled it well.



But there were others out there with work to do as well.

A real crisp early spring morning – quite different from my recent run up the Spanish coast – but still gorgeous in its own way.

Then slowing down to the correct speed for the river entrance



Then, suddenly, we were back into civilisation – the lower Dartmouth ferry taking people to work.

But still too early for most – Dartmouth seemed still asleep.

I bet there was some action in the college though.

The new upper ferry was busy at this time as well.

The Dart can be so tranquil when nobody else is around.

Really beautiful – brrrr.. but colder than my trip last week

MDL’s team had been up much earlier moving other boats so they were ready to take us straight away.

Then Panacea’s first lift

And off for a bit of Bottom TCL.

I hope that this post brightened your day and maybe encouraged you to visit the west country sometime.

 

[Ripster]

Done that run a few times in the past! How is the depth now as you go towards Dartside for the lift dock? My depth alarm used to get a good test on every visit.

 

[scubaman]

You truly captured the feeling of early morning magic and those videos livened up the story even more! Lovely pictures!

Thank you very much for posting, these cruising posts brighten up the day every time.

 

[STEVEDUNSTABLE]

GREAT POST !!!! ...its posts like that, that i need to keep my moral up.............(see thread, kad 32 frost damage on this forum)

 

[andy59]

Thanks Hurricane , great post , we love the Dart but we havnt been able to enjoy it on our own boat yet , cant wait to find a new one .

 

[NoviceRod]

Many thanks Mike, for your help. These are great pictures of our morning jaunt, and yes everyone, it was cold!

Ripster: we were at the top of a 4.6m tide. There was 1.7m under the keel at the lift pontoon (2.4m total), with between 3 and 2m on the way in. I was following what the Navionics chart showed as channel, but it is very small.

 

[djefabs]

Wow Mike you really have been very busy. I thought there was only one 6 o/clock in a day
I think the entrance to Dartmouth is one of the best in the West Country and thanks for sharing that with us.

 

[benjenbav]

Super report. Somehow I'd missed the Spanish prequel a few days earlier and have now caught up with that which was fascinating too.

 

[Firefly625]

great post, love Dartmouth, very lovely, especially nice before anyone else is awake...

 

[aquapower]

Have done that trip loads of times when we were berthed at Brixham, lots of early starts, I remember Dartside when there was no pontoon and you just went straight into the hoist, a lot easier for us now we berthed at Darthaven.
Some excellent pics that show what we are missing as not been there since nov. but will return to re launch and get ready in a couple of weeks.

 

[Tom Price]

[QUOTE=aquapower:
"Some excellent pics that show what we are missing"

What's missing was avoidance of the passages inside TWO Mewstones, both interesting, clearly charted and quite safe -used by local tripper boats- which might help persuade those raggies that MoBos aren't Dimbos.

 

[Kipper]

Great post thanks for taking the time, does that mean you have a boat in the uk as well you swine.

 

[NoviceRod]

Tom - would appreciate clarification. Are you suggesting we should have gone to the North of the Mew Stone between it and the shore?

 

[mjf]

Wow Mike you really have been very busy. I thought there was only one 6 o/clock in a day
I think the entrance to Dartmouth is one of the best in the West Country and thanks for sharing that with us.

Yes Great post and pix - much appreciated.

i think Dartmouth must rank as one of the best harbour entrances in the world it is just sooo pretty. Ranks uo there with Portofino IMHO

 

[jimg]

Tom - would appreciate clarification. Are you suggesting we should have gone to the North of the Mew Stone between it and the shore?

Not a good idea unless you are aware of the location of the rocks!! There is one in particular called the Bears Tail that is just submerged and has caught a Brixham - Dartmouth trip boat in the past. That is one of the reason that there are now cardinal buoys at the river entrance.

http://www.visitmyharbour.com/viewchart.asp?chart=AD093D53628322859

 

[BartW]

Nice report Mike,

is that the sound of a Nanni Diesel engine ?
sounds similar like the Beneteau 620 in Calpé

I see you write your route in the paper logbook ?
do you alway's plan your trips like that ?
they teached me to do that in the YM course recently,
never ever took care of that in the past, and I am not sure if I want to do that in future

I use a logbook only for technical issues and service, never for routes,
Am I the only one to do so ? and should I change my attitude ?

 

[NoviceRod]

BartW - Mike was helping me (as a relative newbie with a fairweather SWMBO), and he did such a good job with his Spanish run, I asked if he would like to do an alternative post, so he brought the camera.

Panacea is a Merry Fisher 705, and there don't seem to be too many of these about. Engine is a Yanmar.

I had put the route into the Raymarine, but I had listed the waypoints to the Dart entrance and drawn up on the paper chart in case the technology lets us down. I always log the tide times, forecast and running time, and note times at various waypoints for estimating future trips

 

[kcrane]

Great post you two, I also love the entrance to Dartmouth.

 

[AndieMac]

I use a logbook only for technical issues and service, never for routes,
Am I the only one to do so ? and should I change my attitude ?

I used to get enthusiastic and plot the position on the paper chart every hour, with the time alongside it, but these days only jot down the lats. and longs. and times on a note pad each hour. I think it's good to have some hard copy reference/record Bart.

 

[Hurricane]

I used to get enthusiastic and plot the position on the paper chart every hour, with the time alongside it, but these days only jot down the lats. and longs. and times on a note pad each hour. I think it's good to have some hard copy reference/record Bart.

Dont get me started on "logging events"
There are some that read these forums that been at the sharp end of my system.

We didn't need my full system for a short run like this one but we did write down the time that we reached each of Rodney's waypoints.

On long passages when I'm the skipper on our boat, we record Time, Lon, Lat, SOG, COG etc every half an hour. And we do it religiously. I consider that the paper written log would be the most important thing to take with us if we were to evacuate to the life raft.
Every 30 minutes my electronic system reminds you that its time to take the log and then "speaks" the data (Time, Lon, Lat, SOG, COG etc).
The software runs on any Windows PC so I used it last week on John's trip from Gib to Sant Carles.
The log also forms a good record to refer to later as well - when calculating fuel consumption etc...

As I say - some readers of this forum have had to use my system.
It all sounds a bit OTT but in fact, it has always helped me to run a disciplined watch system whilst keeping the passage friendly and fun - every half hour a "focus" is brought back to the passage plan with this "logging event". People on watch also get a good understanding of where they are because they are writing it down all the time so, for example, if you get a call on the radio "Vessel at position xxx,xxx" the people on watch tend to know immediatly if the call is for them or not.

I always use it for longer passages.

Here's a video clip of it working - on the trip we did down to the Med from Torquay - if you turn your speakers on you will hear the "logging event" - oh yes and djefabs muttering in the background - something like "there's that bloody voice again!!!"