Around Lands End

[Guest]

I intend bringing my new boat from the Dart area around to North Wales in a few weeks time. I have a good selection of charts, but no "local knowledge". I would really appreciate any useful info. Could you recomend a pilot book? I intend to make a holiday of it, with hops around the coast so details of any waters along the way will be useful.

 

[hlb]

Yep. You want. West Country Cruising. Call in at Salcolmbe, Agatha Crispies for lunch, if time. River Yelm. Plymouth if you must. But Fowey is a must, Megavesy. Charles town ( A bit tight!) Falmouth and Helston. If you then carry on to Wales I'll eat my fan belts!!

No one can force me to come here-----------
----- I'm a Volunteer!!!

Haydn

 

[halcyon]

Think that should be Helford, Helston lost it's navigation when Loe Bar was formed.

Penzance can make a nice stop, with deep water lock, before Land's End, unless you have good weather and the Scillies are a very nice stop. Do not plan on the North Cornwall ports, not good accsess, and you can get trapped, better to run up to Wales


Brian

 

[philip_stevens]

If in good weather, think of Saint Ives - but only in good weather as it can be a sod of a place in any wind with north in it. I know, I live here. If you use the harbour, you would dry out. So if a bilge keeler, no problem. If a fin, alongside the Smeatons pier. Water, but no fuel available.

Padstow could be another stopover, with a cill into the harbour.

Put them onto your list if the weather turns really 5h1tty. Both ok if you get a strong SW'ly and want some shelter.

Before rounding Lands End, you could stop at St. Michaels Mount harbour. Anchorage outside or dry-out inside.

Instead of going into Plymouth, give Newton Ferrers a looksee. It is really comfortable inside the the river Yealm. Good pubs and good food. The entrance needs a good look at the chart, but no problems.

regards,
Philip

 

[hlb]

Er well . Helstone or helsten. What ever. Penzants is a pain if in a hurry. Stop at eerr. it's only a mile away but cant think of the name. anyway fishy harbour, cheap diesel. But uyou just have to muck in with the fishermen. No lock though so it's out when you want. Must go to Padstow. I get christmass cards every year!! Brilliant place. But it is known as a glue pot!! Wot means if uv got there u cant get out!! Anyway like I said. once round Devon / Corrnwall you wont want to go to Wales. I was Once there!!

No one can force me to come here-----------
----- I'm a Volunteer!!!

Haydn

 

[Jeremy_W]

Are you sail or power? how big? how many crew? bilge or fin?

Definitely Helford. Forget North Cornwall. Unless the winds are totally unsuitable, head North from Lands End. Go into Milford Haven only if short of supplies. But if you do head for Milford at night there's a little local joke: The two flare offs from the oil terminal are at different heights so you'll see the very bright masthead lights of a vessel larger than 50m, dead ahead for hours!

Head for the bird sanctuary of Skomer. But you will need a lot of anchor chain to anchor there. From there round to Fishguard.

If you like your navigation "interesting" enter the Menai Straits from the South. If you like it dull, go via Holyhead [which is very dull indeed] and do the Menai Straits from the Puffin Island end later.

 

[summerwind]

In anything more than a F2, keep well off from the Lizard. The overfalls are BAD and the current flows quite strongly around the headland.

As you haven't been around Lands End before, don't be tempted by the inside passage. Try to get your tides with you around both the Lizard and Lands End.

Don't bother with North Cornwall. From the Brisons, head directly N to the Welsh coast. N Cornwall nice if you are land based, but a mongrel from seaward. Interesting cliffs though.

 

[Guest]

Did this a few years back and really enjoyed.
Used West Coast Cruising
To get tide right at Lands End you need to be out of deep water harbour at Penzance a tide before.I waited in Newlyn for weather window and headed for Milford Haven.
Good Luck

 

[philip_stevens]

Don't just give up and ignore the north coast of Cornwall.

There is a large group of sailors from South Wales that come to Cornwall every summer, and stop at Padstow and Saint Ives on the way to either the Scillonia or 'round the corner to Penzance, Falmouth and the north coast of Brittany.

And they call in again on the way home.

Take no notice of the fair weather sailors and have a look at the north coast of Cornwall.

I always try to have a look at somewhere when the weather is fine, as you never know when you may have to go in there when the weather is poor.

In this same vein, I always check and go to my waypoints in fine weather, so that I know they will be right if I need them in adverse conditions.



regards,
Philip

 

[halcyon]

Are you don't listen to radio Cornwall weather daily, Monday they also have Padstow harbour master on, the number of times the have the fishing fleet traped, or the harbour full of yachts waiting to get out.
Saying that it's one place I still plan to get to, then I can catch a bus home from there if the weather turns bad.
My concern with Padstow was stopping of at the back end of the trip, when a few days lost could be critical.


Brian

 

[kgi]

I havent been in St Ives for six years but when iwas there you got a surge if there was any breeze so when the tide went out, if you were on the moorings you bounced for about10 minutes the boat next to us had his rudder driven up until it jammed against the bottom of the boat, we left there and went to hayle i do not know what the conditions in there are like now, but we sat in there real snug maybe a post on the forum would help you out on that port.PS go in at the top of the tide..........keith

 

[philip_stevens]

Hayle is still a good bolthole - its just down the road from where I live in Lelant.

The only thing I would say about going in there now, is the big bank that has grown from the Hayle side of the entrance bar where it divides at the "Weir" - Hayle and Lelant estuaries. The gap that has been left is still deep, but now is quite narrow, though plenty wide enough to go into the Hayle side. Fishing boats have no problems.

The reason for this bank is that many years ago, sluicing was abandoned in preference to dredging. The sluicing used to push all the sand back out into the bay, whereas the dredged sand was sold off!! and no cycle of sand into and out of the bar continued. This dredging of the sand was not at the bottom of the channel but at the sides - so the banks started to come into the channel. Dredging has now been halted due to local pressure of the loss of the sand dunes.

regards,
Philip

 

[cleo]

There's some good suggestions, Philip, in t'other replies. Here's a couple of mine, as I've been around there on passage many times, weather good and bad.

Mullion Cove's a good passage anchorage in Easterlies; otherwise use Helford River. The wee fishing villages down the east side of The Lizard peninsula are none of them sheltered enough for a night stop, unless in motoring conditions. St Michaels Mount is well worth a visit, if the weather permits. You'll be made most welcome. Even I was, in a large catamaran..... Newlyn is problematic, but welcoming if bad weather forces retreat. Penzanz is attractive.

You need Mark Fishwick's 'West Country Cruising'. I prefer the last edition.The last few pages relate specifically to passage around Lanzen and the adjacent North Cornish coast. Pay particular attention to his comments about timing and tide - get it right and you can expect to carry your tide a long way up the Cornish coast. Get it wrong and you'll be watching the same place for a long time.

The weather - actual and forecast - is VIP. So also is the state of Atlantic swell running in. One look at those charts on pub walls which show scores of wrecks on this coast, and you'll need little persuading that, in anything other than fine viz. and quite settled seas, you need to keep well clear of the vicinity of the Runnel Stone and the Brisons, the Armed Knight and the reefs off Cape Cornwall. A good offing!!

I always have the Scillies in mind as a weather bolt-hole. They're beautiful, too. You can get into shelter there from any direction, N, S, E, W, with careful handling and navigation. Once in, the Visitors' Moorings are plenty tough enough.

Newquay is dodgy to enter if any sizeable sea is running. Padstow is the next weather bolt-hole, but also needs a fair rise of tide to defeat the breaking seas over the interestingly-named Doom Bar. It is also quite a hard entrance to approach at night and in poor visibility, with large unlit rocks both sides of the approach.

In event of the approach of bad weather, get in somewhere early or stand well off. Don't forget that you may hook up behind Lundy Island for a break and some respite. There's really no-where else.

Inside Milford Haven, there is a sound anchorage at Dale, on the left. These days, everyone sailing by gets stopped by the local water constabulary and required to fill in a card, whcih goes straight onto a police computer. They're quite insistent!

The various little anchorages around the rocks and islets to the west are really for settled weather only. Beautiful, but traps if the wx. deteriorates.

Fishguard is difficult to hide in if a blow comes on. You'll need big warps, lots of anti-chafe, and eternal vigilance. Otherwise, you'll get a big bill for damaged topsides.

The other Cardigan Bay ports are all problematic in lumpy weather, although some are seriously attractive once inside.

I'd prefer to make passage from Milford, via Jack Sound, direct to Arklow. Thence inside the Arklow Bank, until I could get a free slant to clear Holyhead towards my destination.

Must confess, I've never even tried Caernarfon and The Swellies. Must be something of an aversion to pot-holing in boats!

Have a good trip!

Cleo

bilbo

 

[philip_stevens]

Cleo,
That's the sort of advice anyone who has never "bin 'roun'" Lanzen needs. I've fished commerciolly out of "Sn Ivz" in my younger days, and know just what it is like around this coast.

One thing an old timer did tell me at the time, was how to find your way into land if the weather closes in - fog or heavy mist. This was at the time of pay-to-view Decca only - that not many boats could afford. Ours being one.

I said look at the compass.
His answer, "the compass is broke".

I said look for the sun and look at the clock.
Him, "can't see the sun for cloud and fog".

"Well, how do you find your way to land?"
"Put the swell up your ass!"

Anyone who knows the north coast of Cornwall, will be aware of the constant North-Westerly swell that is ever present - even on the calmest of summer (wots that) days.

So next time anyone is cruising the north coast of Cornwall, take a note of the swell.

Also be aware (as Cleo said) of the ebb and flood tides. If you leave Falmouth for the north coast of Cornwall trip, you can get a good "slingshot" of tides by leaving Falmouth just before high tide, so as to catch the flood up from "Lanzen".

regards,
Philip

 

[halcyon]

Check serf web sites, bbc radio Cornwall as one, they give north coast swell and forcast hights as well. useful for North coast ports.


Brian

 

[charles_reed]

Conditions off Longships can be quite exciting in much of a blow - I'd use Newlyn as a jumping off place and take advisement from the RNLI station there about when to go. Otherwise the trip is fairly snag free in the SW prevailing winds.
In all the trips I've made up and down there I haven't found a decent harbour on the N Cornish coast, so used to do the trip non-stop from the Raz to St Davids or stop off, if it was tediously windless, at Coveen between St Agnes and Gugh.

However I'd recommend Milford and Fishguard as two overnighters and, depending on the wind direction there are two reasonable anchorages at each end of Lundy.
The only two tidal gates to look out for are Longships and Smalls - the latter is seriously underestimated in the Pilots.
Have a good trip - infinitely more fun than the soddin' Med.

 

[JOHNBOY]

I can see there's plenty of advise for you tew over. But if safe is the criteria, Falmouth to Newlyn is a must. Padstow is tidel but it is a posible day sail from Newlyn . Take the Longships inside passidge one hour before HW Dover keep 5kts and u can just make next HW into Padstow. But if in any doubt go over night to Milford H.
Good Luck JB