Cornwall for the Bank Holiday

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Richard.C

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Looking to head west at the weekend, continually checking different forecasts but looks like some westerly winds next week so looking to get to Falmouth as quickly as possible.

Considering Lymington to Brixham on Saturday, early morning to have slack tide at Portland. Then Brixham to Falmouth on Sunday or maybe Plymouth then Falmouth on Monday, will see how weather progresses.

Any comments welcome.

Also what marina do most feel to be best in Falmouth? Probably been at least 25 years and maybe 30 since I was last there.

Thanks

Richard
 
Richard

We keep our boat Port Pendennis Marina on the south side of the harbour after coming in past the docks. It's a good secure marina with excellent access into town, particularly eateries and pubs! Worth calling in advance to secure a berth in case they have an influx of visitors over the week end.

Alternatively, there is Falmouth Marina (Premier Marinas) about 1.5 miles from the Eastern Breakwater of the docks, up the River Fal on your port side. Nice marina with bar / restaurant, chandler and various other business's on site. About a 25 minute walk into town. More corporate than Pendennis which is privately owned, but really helpful bunch of guys in the yard. Again, worth calling in advance to make sure they have a berth for you. We kept our last boat here.

What boat do you have?

Andy
 
Andy Cox said:
Richard

We keep our boat Port Pendennis Marina on the south side of the harbour after coming in past the docks. It's a good secure marina with excellent access into town, particularly eateries and pubs! Worth calling in advance to secure a berth in case they have an influx of visitors over the week end.

Alternatively, there is Falmouth Marina (Premier Marinas) about 1.5 miles from the Eastern Breakwater of the docks, up the River Fal on your port side. Nice marina with bar / restaurant, chandler and various other business's on site. About a 25 minute walk into town. More corporate than Pendennis which is privately owned, but really helpful bunch of guys in the yard. Again, worth calling in advance to make sure they have a berth for you. We kept our last boat here.

What boat do you have?

Andy
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Thanks Andy.

We have a Fairline Phantom 43.

Just checked windfinder again and forecast for Tuesday through Thursday has increased a lot since this morning. Now saying 30 knots gusting 40! Will need to check again on Friday/Saturday as that wouldn't make a pleasant return trip.

Richard
 
Richard.C said:
Thanks Andy.

We have a Fairline Phantom 43.

Just checked windfinder again and forecast for Tuesday through Thursday has increased a lot since this morning. Now saying 30 knots gusting 40! Will need to check again on Friday/Saturday as that wouldn't make a pleasant return trip.

Richard
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Richard, I just checked my forecast and from Monday through to Friday I'm showing it blowing from the NW on Monday, backing to Westerly for the rest of the week and mid teens - 13-15- knts all week. Can't see anything about 30-40 blow. Is that up to eastward of Falmouth?

I'm keeping an eye on it myself, as I'm trying to convince SWMBO that a couple of nights on the boat will be warm, sunny and flat calm:encouragement:
Andy
 
Andy Cox said:
Richard, I just checked my forecast and from Monday through to Friday I'm showing it blowing from the NW on Monday, backing to Westerly for the rest of the week and mid teens - 13-15- knts all week. Can't see anything about 30-40 blow. Is that up to eastward of Falmouth?

I'm keeping an eye on it myself, as I'm trying to convince SWMBO that a couple of nights on the boat will be warm, sunny and flat calm:encouragement:
Andy
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I'd be happy with that forecast Andy.

I try to review a couple of different ones as they do sometime differ.

https://marine.meteoconsult.co.uk is reporting winds more aligned with yours above.
 
I've just looked at the Met Office UK wind map and although it's only going up to Tuesday 19.00, it is showing a westerly freshening from Monday with gusts to about 26 kts.

I tend to use the BBC weather app a lot as it is generally very accurate but doesn't show gusts, only a mean speed. It's showing a mean speed of about 15 knts late Monday afternoon, the same on Tuesday and then reducing slightly on Wed / Thurs.

Happy to be of help if you should need any if you make it down. I think we'll be going to St. Mawes on Monday to listen to the jazz on the quay and then pottering around the area for a day or two, maybe spend a night down at Helford.

Andy
 
Andy Cox said:
I've just looked at the Met Office UK wind map and although it's only going up to Tuesday 19.00, it is showing a westerly freshening from Monday with gusts to about 26 kts.

I tend to use the BBC weather app a lot as it is generally very accurate but doesn't show gusts, only a mean speed. It's showing a mean speed of about 15 knts late Monday afternoon, the same on Tuesday and then reducing slightly on Wed / Thurs.

Happy to be of help if you should need any if you make it down. I think we'll be going to St. Mawes on Monday to listen to the jazz on the quay and then pottering around the area for a day or two, maybe spend a night down at Helford.

Andy
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Thanks Andy,

I think the plan is get to Falmouth by Sunday night, spend Monday through Wednesday moored in Falmouth, maybe hire a car to explore other parts of Cornwall then start the journey back on Thursday. Apart from a trip up river we won't be moving if the wind is up above 20 knots.

Sounds like Pendennis will be busy, they said they have 40 yachts visiting for the week.

It will be our 6 month old Labradors first real boating adventure so rafting is out of the question and walk ashore is preferable.

Anyway we'll see how the weather is and how far we get.

Richard
 
We made it to Falmouth this morning.

Saturday Lymington to Brixham was fairly uneventful.

Sunday we left Brixham for Falmouth but after getting beaten up around Prawle point and the swell approximately 1.5 -2m we decided to peel off and head to Plymouth. One casualty of being tossed around was the coffee machine, luckily just the plastic lid so we still have decent coffee:)

Came round to Falmouth from Plymouth this morning in much better conditions, wind still 4-5 but sea not bad apart from a short while around Rame Head

Relaxing now in Mylor.

Richard
 
Richard.C said:
We made it to Falmouth this morning.

Saturday Lymington to Brixham was fairly uneventful.

Sunday we left Brixham for Falmouth but after getting beaten up around Prawle point and the swell approximately 1.5 -2m we decided to peel off and head to Plymouth. One casualty of being tossed around was the coffee machine, luckily just the plastic lid so we still have decent coffee:)

Came round to Falmouth from Plymouth this morning in much better conditions, wind still 4-5 but sea not bad apart from a short while around Rame Head

Relaxing now in Mylor.

Richard
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Wow Richard well done , old Whisper can take it , I bet she performs really well , lean hull and serviced engines.
Happy Days .
 
volvopaul said:
Wow Richard well done , old Whisper can take it , I bet she performs really well , lean hull and serviced engines.
Happy Days .
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Hi Paul, Whisper took it in her stride, I've been washing off plenty of salt the past couple of days.

May get a few more engine hours on her this year!
 
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Hi Richard

You are just across the road from me! I liveaboard At St Just in Roseland. If you get your binos out I'll be the only one with lights on at night :)

If you make it over here there's a fantastic 1500 year old church and graveyard, it has tropical gardens and is well worth a visit. There's even free tea making facilities in the church if you like that sort of thing.

There's pontoons further up the river that are about £15 a night if you fancy some tranquilty. Turnaware is the first one you will find and smugglers is the next one up the river. Both were used in the D-Day landings.

I'd stick to the channel marker at Turnaware, it's a decent bar!

Cheers
Chris
 
Ghodula said:
Hi Richard

You are just across the road from me! I liveaboard At St Just in Roseland. If you get your binos out I'll be the only one with lights on at night :)

If you make it over here there's a fantastic 1500 year old church and graveyard, it has tropical gardens and is well worth a visit. There's even free tea making facilities in the church if you like that sort of thing.

There's pontoons further up the river that are about £15 a night if you fancy some tranquilty. Turnaware is the first one you will find and smugglers is the next one up the river. Both were used in the D-Day landings.

I'd stick to the channel marker at Turnaware, it's a decent bar!

Cheers
Chris
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I would agree that going up the river is well worth it, lovely spot and very peaceful. You will need a dinghy to get ashore, but then there are some beautiful walks for you and your hound. If you do venture up, take plenty of provisions as there are no shops, but a nice pub, the Heron up at Malpas, but they didn’t use to allow dogs inside, but plenty of seats with a view outside.
 
Thanks for the tips guy's.

Given the inclement weather, strong winds in the estuary and that our puppy has yet to experience a dinghy ride I think we'll stick to a walk ashore pontoon until we get him dinghy trained, maybe over cautious but I'd rather avoid the stress.

Anyway I gave the wife and dog a pounding getting here against the westerly's so plan to hire a car today and explore, we'll take a couple of days off from boat movements.

Richard
 
Andy Cox said:
Hi Richard

It was good to meet you yesterday and I hope you have an enjoyable visit to the area and a safe trip back.

All the best

Andy
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Thanks Andy, was great to meet you also.

We did Lizard and Keyance Cove in the nice weather yesterday afternoon and visited Porthleven, St Michaels Mount (at least the coast road), Minack Theatre and Land's End today. A bit grey and gloomy today but the rain held off the entire time so can't grumble too much.

The most important thing is the wife has enjoyed Cornwall and really likes it.

Richard
 
So the return trip starts tomorrow.

Wind still seems quite strong tomorrow although behind us so I think a short hop tomorrow back to Plymouth then a bigger hop to Portland on Friday leaving an easier run back to Lymington on Saturday.

Get the boat cleaned up and back to work on Monday.........:(

Richard
 
Arrived in Plymouth Yacht Haven around 1pm this afternoon, fuel was below half so filled up.

For anyone interested, the trip out to Falmouth and back as far as Plymouth we burned 960 litres and covered 226 Nm.

A good portion of this was at 10-12 knots with a head sea and force 4-5 on the nose.

Suffice to say todays trip back to Plymouth with wind and sea behind us was much more pleasant and was done at around 18 knots. Still quite a bit of swell in the channel though.

Wind is supposed to drop a little more tomorrow so planning another longer leg, will head for Portland and get across Lyme Bay.

Richard
 
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