Blue_Pearl
Well-Known Member
Well, we left Dartmouth at 6pm Friday evening and got into Portishead on the 12 pm lock Sunday. 42 hours non stop sailing ......... our longest passage so far and what a beauty it was !
Favorable winds all the way apart from it dropping off a little during the nights which was good for the helm watch though. Three of us did the trip using a 2hrs on helm, 2hrs sleep and 2hrs rest / standby watch rota, which worked really well.
The first night was fairly calm and star filled, so the engine was on for most of the night with the main up for stability. First light brought distant views of the Lizard and the excitement of getting nearer to Lands End.
This was my first night sail and our first time around Lands End so we decided not to take the inside passage at Longships at the last minute, due to not having done it before and not reading up on it enough (of course I should have asked for advice on here first !). Instead of taking the inside passage we went outside of Longships by about 500m just as the tide was turning and had a lively 15 minutes !
As we passed Cape Cornwall I spotted a pilot whale and had my sighting confirmed by crew member Martin (activesail of this parish), just as the whale had jumped out the water slightly then passed us to port.
Following the Cornish coast, we had all the elements with us - wind, tide and sun
and so enjoyed a lovely sail on a close reach most of the way up to Lundy.
Just off from Bude we were accompanied by a huge pod of dolphins, a wonderful experience to watch them playing in the bow wave, showing off their speed and agility to the max. I was so transfixed that I forgot to take pictures, but there were at least 50 of them for about 30 minutes.
Our AIS was not transmitting all the time for some reason, but here is an image from marinetraffic with our route around Lands End and up the Cornish coast.
http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=9&oldmmsi=235069459&olddate=5/15/2010 3:52:09 PM
Lundy was first sighted 28 hrs after we departed, signaling the final leg home. Midnight saw us passing between Lundy and Hartland point picking a passage closer to Lundy to minimise the foul tide.
Through the night the wind dropped slightly to about 10kts on the beam. First light brought sight of Steep Holm, and the thoughts that maybe we could make Portishead on the morning HW (09:30). We passed Steep Holm to the south heading out into the deep water channel at 8am, meaning we had to punch the notorious BC tide .............. see picture below - 8.2kts through water, 5.3kts sog. Not a problem with 20kts of wind up your transom !
Finally made it into Portishead for the first time and settled into our berth, and headed straight for the pub and a few well deserved pints.
Looking forward to cruising the BC and maybe taking part in a few races as well. We've already signed up for the Ilfracombe - Lundy race on the 30th May, and have also been down to the Portishead Cruising Club and applied for our membership.
Many thanks to Martin (activesail) and Alan, both made the passage enjoyable, entertaining and as always a learning experience.
Favorable winds all the way apart from it dropping off a little during the nights which was good for the helm watch though. Three of us did the trip using a 2hrs on helm, 2hrs sleep and 2hrs rest / standby watch rota, which worked really well.
The first night was fairly calm and star filled, so the engine was on for most of the night with the main up for stability. First light brought distant views of the Lizard and the excitement of getting nearer to Lands End.
This was my first night sail and our first time around Lands End so we decided not to take the inside passage at Longships at the last minute, due to not having done it before and not reading up on it enough (of course I should have asked for advice on here first !). Instead of taking the inside passage we went outside of Longships by about 500m just as the tide was turning and had a lively 15 minutes !
As we passed Cape Cornwall I spotted a pilot whale and had my sighting confirmed by crew member Martin (activesail of this parish), just as the whale had jumped out the water slightly then passed us to port.
Following the Cornish coast, we had all the elements with us - wind, tide and sun
and so enjoyed a lovely sail on a close reach most of the way up to Lundy.Just off from Bude we were accompanied by a huge pod of dolphins, a wonderful experience to watch them playing in the bow wave, showing off their speed and agility to the max. I was so transfixed that I forgot to take pictures, but there were at least 50 of them for about 30 minutes.
Our AIS was not transmitting all the time for some reason, but here is an image from marinetraffic with our route around Lands End and up the Cornish coast.
http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=9&oldmmsi=235069459&olddate=5/15/2010 3:52:09 PM
Lundy was first sighted 28 hrs after we departed, signaling the final leg home. Midnight saw us passing between Lundy and Hartland point picking a passage closer to Lundy to minimise the foul tide.
Through the night the wind dropped slightly to about 10kts on the beam. First light brought sight of Steep Holm, and the thoughts that maybe we could make Portishead on the morning HW (09:30). We passed Steep Holm to the south heading out into the deep water channel at 8am, meaning we had to punch the notorious BC tide .............. see picture below - 8.2kts through water, 5.3kts sog. Not a problem with 20kts of wind up your transom !
Finally made it into Portishead for the first time and settled into our berth, and headed straight for the pub and a few well deserved pints.
Looking forward to cruising the BC and maybe taking part in a few races as well. We've already signed up for the Ilfracombe - Lundy race on the 30th May, and have also been down to the Portishead Cruising Club and applied for our membership.
Many thanks to Martin (activesail) and Alan, both made the passage enjoyable, entertaining and as always a learning experience.
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