Dartmouth to Pwllheli

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Heckler

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am contemplating buying a boat in Totnes and sailing her home, thought to do dartmouth to falmouth and then pick the tide times to pass lands end. planning to skirt the headland from dartmouth, pass outside the eddystone lighthouse then straight to falmouth. then round the lizaard, how close does one go to land or is it too lumpy? then outside the runnelstones and then i can use taylors pilot to carry on. Any thoughts or wrinkles please
Stu
 
If you want to stay close to land (some of the best coastal scenery between Dartmouth and Land's End) I suggest that you get a good pilot book. I have always used The Channel Pilot (Admiralty NP 27), but there are many others. e.g. there is a nice close inshore passage between Skerries Bank and Start Point described in NP27 at Chapter 5.23. You will also find detailed description of the River Dart from Totnes to Dartmouth in NP 27.
By going south of the Eddystone you will miss much of the Devon and the first part of the South Cornwall coasts which are quite spectacular.
 
Definitely second Cornishman's advice. If you have the time and inclination there are too many places to stop between Dartmouth and the Lizard. Apart from Start Point, there is not much in the way of difficult sailing really. And just amazing nooks and crannies, vistas, anchorages etc.

If you prefer not to splash out on expensive anchorages, avoid Salcombe, but other than that it is as close as it gets to heaven on earth (literally: Heaven is 49o 56.23'N 6o19.57' - but don't tell anyone else). An obviously unbiassed view /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
Mark Fishwick's book West Country Cruising is probably worth a look, dunno if it's been updated at all, but good info and very readable.
As his Bilbo-ness says, pick your weather, but I'd really want to stop in Scilly if I could.
Obviously one past the Lizard its all a bit serious, need a decent forecast to get to Wales.
You have a difficult balance to strike between enjoying the South West and making progress, probably best to do a few short hops to check the boat out, so a good excuse for a trip to Fowey Gollants SC.
Quelle sort d'une bateau?
 
hi Stu

The others advice on the west country is good, I ahve done that trip a number of times (power and sail) and its a lovely stretch of coast, the lizard and lands end are obvious places to avoid in bad weather.
But crossing to South Wales will be your hardest bit, if you want to day sail Id make for Padstow and cross the Bristol Channel via Lundy (nice anchorage) overnight or if lots of daylight and good conditions keep going to Milford Haven its around 70 ish miles. The trouble with Lands End to Padstow is there arent many places to stop and the harbours dry out, al lthe safe parts inside the harbours have fishing boats on them and personally I hate drying out alongside a wall !!

PM me if you want any more info, but the pilot books is the way forward
 
depends if you want to get the boat home quickly or have a holiday on the way.
if the former i would cross directly to falmouth/helford. from there i would go to either newlyn or anchor off mousehole and get the tide to take to up to padstow. then cross to milford directly. from there it is just a matter of picking the weather for a run up the irish sea.
if you can handle the passage times and have good weather you could think of going directly from falmouth to milford so making the whole journey in 3 days. if you have the time however it would be nice to use fishwicks book to visit some of the harbours along the coast and then drop into the scillys.
ive done both routes singlehanded and with my 14 yr old so not too taxing. i use sea pro for nav and you can save a bit by cutting inside the runnelstone and others for instance .
 
Reeds states ther is no safe passage inside at the Lizard and gives good account of how to round Lands End for best use of tide.
 
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how close does one go to land or is it too lumpy? then outside the runnelstones

[/ QUOTE ]

Mark Fishwick's 'West Country Cruising' is, for me, *the* pilot book for these waters. He recommends, for a rounding of The Lizard, standing off between two and three miles.

[ QUOTE ]
"In rough weather, 5 miles is not unrealistic...." ( In such weather, I'd encourage you to stay east of The Lizard - and comfortable - until it settles )

"This is, in any circumstances, an area to be navigated with extreme caution..... The tides in Mount's Bay are weak, they rapidly gather in strength towards the Runnel Stone, probably attaining 5 knots at Springs, becoming increasingly unpredictable.... the Atlantic swell is rarely non-existent for the passage 'around the Land' to the North Cornish coast and this, and the coast beyond, is an area to be taken very seriously. A favourable forecast is essential......

.....Bound round Land's End from Mount's Bay, ( Penzance, Newlyn, Mousehole ) if you leave about one hour before HW Dover you will have a favourable tide for the next seven hours.....

[/ QUOTE ]

There's an old concept that has served many of us well for, oh, many lifetimes, and that is the seamanlike practice of 'Maintaining a Good Offing'.

I translate that in practice as 'far enough off a reef/headland/leeshore so that, if something unexpectedly goes wrong ( engine failure due to plastic bag in cooling inlet; forestay failure; hitting floating sleeper and knocking hole in hull; crab pot line around rudder..... had 'em all! ) I have enough time and sea-room to deal with it, and also enough time for a lifeboat to launch and get to me if my efforts are seriously unsuccessful. That usually precludes going inside the Runnel Stone reef and inside the Longships/Armed Knight/Kettle's Bottom.

[ QUOTE ]
"A mile offshore, the infamous Longships reef has claimed many ships and the tidal streams are strong and unpredictable in their vicinity.... this is a menacing stretch of water...." Mark Fishwick - West Country Cruising

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My take on this is that, west of The Lizard and as far as Skomer/Milford Haven, you are 'in the Atlantic' and need a different mental approach to Channel coastal cruising.

/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
 
thanks for all the input, it will be a delivery trip only, hols in the ionian on a bav 46 this year! just did a search for fishwicks, amazon, £176??? is that right?
Stu
 
Merci beaucoup, elle est une beneteau oceanis 400, maintenant elle reste en Totnes a Baltic Wharf. Elle est appeler Spirit of Solent
Demain un survey et peut etre apres je va achete.
Stu
 
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