Falmouth to Fowey: maiden trip tomorrow, all advice gladly received!

Looking at the forecast there is calm and light mainly offshore winds until late Wednesday then a front coming in with mainly lightish and favourable winds until Saturday. So good chance of getting at least past the Bill, and probably to Poole by then - but reliant on motor for much of the way.
 
Seajet said:
Timing it so the tide is at its weakest is a luxury most boats don't have; the tides around there are pretty fierce most of the time.
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Just follow the pilot book instructions and you will get slack water round the Bill. Appreciate not always easy to time when coming from the west given the longer passage time, so going south allows more flexibility. If there is time a good idea to break the passage in Lyme Regis which makes timing for the inshore passage easier.
 
Last time I went to Fowey (by car) the town pontoon had been removed for the winter. Anyone know if it's back yet? I imagine they'd want it there in time for Easter even though it's early this year.
 
Seajet said:
lw395,

timing it so the tide is at its weakest is a luxury most boats don't have; the tides around there are pretty fierce most of the time.
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If you are up in Lyme Bay avoiding the W tide, it's not that hard to make a decision as you're a few hours from the Bill.
If the breeze is in the West, a cruising chute is nice as you can usefully gybe out to sea and still be making good progress east.
I don't like to have too rigid a passage plan, I prefer to adapt to the conditions and use the motor as little as possible, so several times we've binned Weymouth due to looking like we'll be early at the Bill.

With a faster boat it is tempting to bash on to Yarmouth, but don't forget Needles/Hurst can be as rough as you want on the ebb.

Personally I think the lobster pot issue is often over stated, they are not that hard to avoid in daylight except when the tide is fastest.
The boats that lay them generally want to see them again!

Weymouth is a good place for a crab sandwich, you don't get something for nothing.
 
In the 331 I singlehanded Torquay to Southampton once in one leg by timing it to pick up the east going tide around Portland, it worked well as I just got into the Needles channel on the last of the tide and used the back eddies / shallow water to progress up the Solent. It was interesting cos the Fastnet fleet were zooming down the Needles Channel as I was picking my way up it ;-) However I suspect the OP's boat might not be fast enough to carry that distance in one tide.
 
lw395 said:
...but don't forget Needles/Hurst can be as rough as you want on the ebb.
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Without wishing to overdramatise what is likely to be a light wind passage -- somewhat counterintuitively the Needles can be equally as nasty on the flood. I mentioned this to Yarmouth RNLI crew who confirmed that this is indeed often the case.

As Seajet is also on here: I noticed in the winter storms that Chimet repeatedly showed the waves if anything getting worse on the flood and abating on the ebb. Seems strange and possibly one offs; I'm wondering if Chimet have sequential historical data apart from the bitty daily data which is available for only two months. A quick excel workup could throw some light in it.
 
Just back from a great day out from Mylor. Very little wind to start with, motored to Helford and back then the wind became NW F4 once back in the Carrick Roads.
Tomorrow looking pretty calm. Easy motor to Fowey, I always have the main up to make the boat more stable. Fowey is a big harbour there is no need to drop the main before you enter, plenty of room inside.
Has been mentioned that the pontoon by the harbour office may not be there. The blue visitors buoys do not have pick up buoys on them you need to be ready with a line to pass through the loop at the top of the buoy.
Beware of large ships entering and leaving Fowey.
Have a good trip.:)
 
Chimet data is from the bar beacon which sees a mixture of the ebb/flood into Chi harbour and the E/W tide going past it.
Not a simple place.

Further into Chi harbour in a Northerly on the flood, you can get some interesting wind-over-tide wave conditions, as there is quite a long fetch down the channel from Emsworth.
Wet in a dinghy anyway!
 
Robert Wilson said:
Extract from my 2015 Log. 23rd May (As a first-timer down that way):-

" I have heard many a story about the Portland Race, and how to deal with it. I knew my timing wasn't perfect, so to be on the safe side I decided to head well out from Portland Bill. I reckoned five miles would be enough and then when past the notorious Race I could turn in northwards to the Shambles cardinal mark and make for Portland or Weymouth harbours.
Just after three o'clock, with sails setting well and making good speed I was close to the Race. The tide was against me, and making. A fishing boat crossed my bow and made straight in to the western side of the Bill. I really didn't fancy another Bishop’s Rock bashing so I stayed out. But I wasn't out far enough. Although I wasn't in the race, the tide-against was fierce. With sails drawing and the engine on at full revolutions I was making just over one knot over the ground, but more than six knots through the water. For more than two hours I battled the current, seeming never to get any closer to Portland Bill.
I inched onwards trying desperately to convince myself that the marks on land were in fact closing or crossing."

It wasn't particularly rough but it was certainly a very tiring experience.

Good luck.
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A fair tide is a pre-requisite. Even at three miles out, wind over tide would be ugly, to say the least. I think I'd go to Alderney rather than face a foul tide!
 
lw395 said:
Chimet data is from the bar beacon which sees a mixture of the ebb/flood into Chi harbour and the E/W tide going past it.
Not a simple place.

Further into Chi harbour in a Northerly on the flood, you can get some interesting wind-over-tide wave conditions, as there is quite a long fetch down the channel from Emsworth.
Wet in a dinghy anyway!
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Ahh, got it, non-synchronous change in flow between the harbour exit and the water outside. Indeed, not a simple place.

As for the dinghy observation, true, but beating a fast one into a big chop is great fun and a great excuse for a guilt free fish & chips and a few beers afterwards!
 
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lw395 said:
With a faster boat it is tempting to bash on to Yarmouth, but don't forget Needles/Hurst can be as rough as you want on the ebb.
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Been there done that... After a particularly good sail from Brixham, I worked out that I would 'just' make the tidal gate through the Needles at our SOG. Unfortunately the wind decreased resulting in us sailing stationary before I put the engine on and managing about 2 knots past Hurst...
 
dunedin said:
Good advice about choosing weather window to get round Portland Bill.

But think Jonjo is being a bit pessimistic to refer to late March / early April as "out of season"
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Sea temperature lags the climate by 2 months, so think late January.

Daylight is currently equivalent to mid September.

dunedin said:
Weather changes so just need to look at forecasts and plan, just as if doing trip in June
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Unlike you I have been keeping a very close eye on the weather and I know their weather window is drawing to a close. I customized my advice to the actual situation they face this week.

Offering generic old seadog advice in this thread is reckless. If they dillied today I suspect they will be dallying in Brixham over a damp and blustery Easter weekend and facing up to the depressing gastronomic landscape of that harbour.
 
jonjo5 said:
You need to be around Portland Bill within 4 days because after that we could be in for a few weeks of turbulent lows arriving from the Atlantic.

p.s.2. At this time of year there is no such thing as a gentle 2 week trip back to Sussex. You are doing an offseason delievery trip, if conditions are right and you feel ok just keep going. Studland Bay is only 30 hours away and forget all the precision inshore timing around the Bill, go wide go far.
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Its springs in 3 days, avoid the inner passage at Portland Bill like the plague. I went round mid springs on a very calm day after motoring across the bay from Brixham. I had one of my crew st on the bow looking for semi submerged lobster pots and if he hadn't been strapped down we'd have lost him overboard when I hit a standing wave.

Here's some sound advice: http://www.sailingalmanac.com/Almanac/Navigation/portlandbill.html

p.s. it is very very cold, put a rediculous number of layers on.
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One thing I learned in the Army, from some Royal Marines, was that the maximum you need is 5 layers, with the base layer and outer layer being the most important. Any more and it just gets bulky and uncomfortable with very little benefit. That was the 80's so with modern clothing you might get away with fewer layers of good clothing.

If you do head for Weymouth and are delayed there is normally a concert outside one of the harbour pubs on bank holiday Mondays and you can't hear yourself think. The two marinas are expensive: Portland can be very bleak although for a quick lay over would be the best one, Weymouth marina can be a bit noisy from the road but its in the middle of town and there's a good Balti just up the road.

Have a good trip.
 
SimonFa said:
Its springs in 3 days, avoid the inner passage at Portland Bill like the plague......

If you do head for Weymouth and are delayed there is normally a concert outside one of the harbour pubs on bank holiday Mondays and you can't hear yourself think. The two marinas are expensive: Portland can be very bleak although for a quick lay over would be the best one, Weymouth marina can be a bit noisy from the road but its in the middle of town and there's a good Balti just up the road.
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Oh well, that's at least something for sniffy to look forward to after his maiden passage :D:D
 
tcm said:
I expect he'll have had to delay the trip cos of all the posts and advice he's had to read...
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dom said:
Oh well, that's at least something for sniffy to look forward to after his maiden passage :D:D
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After her maiden passage. HER.

Sniffy is a girl :)

Thanks everyone for the great advice, all really helpful. Pete and I need all the experienced words we can get on our first sailing adventure.

Anyway, we're still in Falmouth! Last two days have been F2 or less on the nose and our boat is heavy and slow and really doesn't like going to windward. We're not into 8-hour motoring and are basically on holiday, so are taking things easy and not pushing on madly. We've spent 6 months driving from Brighton to Cornwall every weekend, and few more wont kill us if that's what happens. So we're back at Mylor for a few days looks like, while the bigger winds pass. I have a glass of wine, Pete has a pint of Proper Job and the dog is bored. Perfect.

Also, when going round The Bill we're planning on being closer to France than England.

I'll likely update you all on the state of the dog's mental health tomorrow. Keep 'em coming and thanks :)
 
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