Family bareboat charter in Cornwall?

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Carcassi

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I'm sure this will have been covered elsewhere but searching hasn't turned it up for me.
It's taken me about 20 years to convince my wife that yacht sailing is a nice thing but I think I may have succeeded. It's been a gradual process starting with a mirror dinghy and featuring sunny flotillas and charters in the Med. Tonight she has proposed a summer charter out of Plymouth. I'm stunned and pleased. I just wondered if anyone has any advice about this; I'm worried that a bareboat charter out of Plymouth might be a whole lot more "interesting" than the easy trips we've had around Greece and Turkey in October. If the seas are lumpy she'll be throwing up and we could be wishing we had gone camping instead. Any thoughts? Polite ones, ideally? 16 & 18 year old daughters might be with us, both more passengers than crew but getting more useful as the years go by.
 
The Solent would be a safer choice under the circumstances. Safer regarding your family's future enthusiasm that is. So many more options.
 
What qualifications do you and your wife have? A bareboat will need day skipper or more likely coastal skipper, plus a comp crew plus a vhf Cert.

To your point about sailing conditions, yes it’s very different to the Med, but a superb area. Some challenging coastlines. Are you hoping to make a weeks passage, or day sails from the base?
 
Less of a shock in some ways than going to the Solent as the sea will be blue like the Med and there are lots of scenic anchorages like the Med. We sailed for years out of Plymouth before we moved to the Med and when the weather is good in the Summer it's just as warming and lovely. However that in our experience was a quarter of the time or less even in June and July so you'd have to enjoy all those lovely other aspects of grey, or wet, or big wave sailing or all at the same time.

I wouldn't do it myself, unless you and you wife are relishing wearing waterproofs instead of bikinis when sailing, but you might be lucky.
 
Thanks for these helpful comments. I have Coastal Skipper and VHF, wife has comp crew so paper wise we're OK and we do have some (limited) tidal experience from Scotland. I'm reasonably happy about navigation and passage planning etc., more concerned about the potential for a wet and windy week that puts the family off completely. We'd be looking to cruise out to Fowey and further if the weather is good but we're looking at end of July/ August and often the weather seems to break by then.
Cheers
Damian
 
Obviously it will be English Weather, but it's a great area for a week.
Fowey, Falmouth + Carrick, Helford are among the nicest places.
As places to visit, many in Cornwall are improved by arriving by boat, especially in Summer.
 
I first decided I'd like to sail when sitting in Fowey looking at the yachts coming in and out. It seemed to me they had a freedom that and self sufficiency that no-one else had. I can remember buying a yachting magazine, despite never having set foot on a yacht or dinghy, and then finding every second word impossible to understand. I'm thinking we should go ahead and do it, it will be memorable if nothing else. Price seems reasonable as well, about £1400 for a decent sized yacht for the week, no air fares to worry about. Leaves some money spare for some decent wet weather gear!
 
Kingfisher 5 said:
If you think Plymouth is in Cornwall you might like to give the plan some more thought …. :encouragement:
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There are those who'd tell you that 'going Cornwall is going foreign'.... and that they do things differently there e.g. 'dreckly' is sometime vaguely in the future.... vaguely....maybe. Certainly the weather can sometimes be challenging, but improved forecasting has taken some of the 'unexpectedness' out of that.

You could spend several days not straying far from Plymouth itself, for there are plenty of anchorages. Reeds' Almanac lists them, as do each of the Yachtman's Pilot Books.
Cawsand is a favourite spot, as is The Pool by Mount Edgecumbe Park - and the River Yealm is close by, too.

Fowey is a charming place, and - although quite tight - so is Mevagissey. In the former, visit the welcoming Fowey Galants SC; in the latter, the quayside museum ( beware low beams )

I'd encourage you to consider heading straight down to Falmouth, if your 'comfort zone' and the forecast coincides, for that huge sheltered area has a host of attractive places to stop whether the weather outside is benign or not. There are pontoons up the Truro River a little, and bays, coves and stately old NT buildings to visit ( with cream teas ! ) Quite a few of the finest beaches are accessible only by boat, but in settled weather! If you were to head straight out SW from Atlantic Beach, by Fowey, the next place you'd come to is Venezuela....

Also most useful is the range of National Coastwatch Institution watch stations along that coast. Take a list of their locations and phone numbers - you should be able to get from them an idea of 'present conditions' which is helpful in making the decision of 'where to head for today'....

Edit: You might also consider chartering out of Falmouth.

There are plenty of members on here who know the area and its 'quirks' very well. Should you have questions/queries, I'm certain most of us would be pleased to give chapter and verse. Enjoy!
 
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Hope you have a great time and if we see you out on the water we will wave.

I know there are several posters that struggle to get out of the Solent Sea due to the infestation of dragons and other sea monsters we have in the south west, but it is a fantastic place to sail, almost as good as the west of Scotland :o.

As zoidberg said above Falmouth is fantastic.

I'll PM you a website later (when I have the address) of a boat you can charter in Plymouth.
 
zoidberg is right … I spent 25 years cruising and racing from Falmouth. It's a better place to start from than Plymouth, closer to all the great Cornish places to visit and only a short hop to the Scillies. That's where I'd be looking to charter from … :encouragement:
 
Kingfisher 5 said:
zoidberg is right … I spent 25 years cruising and racing from Falmouth. It's a better place to start from than Plymouth, closer to all the great Cornish places to visit and only a short hop to the Scillies. That's where I'd be looking to charter from … :encouragement:
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+1
 
Kingfisher 5 said:
zoidberg is right … I spent 25 years cruising and racing from Falmouth. It's a better place to start from than Plymouth, closer to all the great Cornish places to visit and only a short hop to the Scillies. That's where I'd be looking to charter from … :encouragement:
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Scillies isquite ambitious for a week's charter.
From Plymouth, apart from the Yealm, there is not much temptaion to go East, in a week's charter, going West from there is the obvious thing to do.
I don't think it makes any difference whether you charter from Plymouth, Fowey or Falmouth, I'd expect to visit the same places in a slightly different order.
Chartering from Salcombe or Dartmouth however might mean you didn't get to Falmouth if the weather chose to be awkward.
 
If I ever charter in Cornwall I'm tempted by a few nights in a Cornish crabber 24 from Cornish Blue sailing. Just the thing for sedately pottering up and down the rivers stopping in at the pubs and restaurants along the way.

Might be a bit small for a first trip with your wife though!
 
Yes, nice thought. I'd love to do that. We might have the kids though, and I think we'd be at each other's throats after a week of drizzle in such a confined area. Perfect if it were the two of us.
 
We chartered out of Falmouth this summer and had a fantastic trip - the kids loved the dolphins swimming with the boat. It's true that the sailing is more challenging than the solent but IMO the places to stay are more interesting. We made it to Fowey, Plymouth, Yealm and Salcombe and Fowey in particular was a favourite. Some of the hops were a bit lumpy and a couple of the crew took the option of taking the train for the last leg from Plymouth back to Falmouth.
 
Having now based our newer boat down there, I can thoroughly recommend a S Cornish charter. The distances between ports are so small compared with some areas that a long slog can take you clean across half of it so placement is not critical. Our boat is based in Plymouth sound with its plentiful marinas and shore facilities and semi enclosed water for day sailing if its rough outside the breakwater, but we have previously sailed from Falmouth which is boaters heaven in many ways. If you stray up the Devon Coast, then Salcombe is also worth a visit.

Fowey is nice to visit but a dead and alive dump at night and half deserted in day time and with few facilities; a shadow of its historic self.

Many of the best spots however will require a dinghy to get ashore: Helford River, Fowey for longer stay, Cawsands, The Yealm , quieter moorings at Falmouth to avoid the Marina, Edgecombe (Barn Pool) opposite Plymouth, so you may have to chose between towing it or inflating and deflating.

The tides are moderate, the only catch is that the ebb or flood along the coast only start about 2 hours after high water or low water so if catching the tide you start later than expected from tide table.

The Scilly Isles is a bit far, about 10 hours from Falmouth, and navigationally critical until you understand the route in past Spanish Ledge etc, with a risk of big seas on the return if the weather blows up. Glorious when you are there but perhaps lacking entertainment for younger folk.

Enjoy it !
 
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