Cathy*
Well-Known Member
We have over 20 years experience with driving and maintaining rhibs, mainly for diving, have both done basic navigation and powerboat qualifications and in September 2012 purchased our first motorboat, a Beneteau Antares 8. Twelve months later we moved up to an Antares 980 based in Plymouth. So far we’ve been to Salcombe, Dartmouth and Brixham to the east and Fowey to the west. We regularly nip up the Tamar and practise mooring in different berths and picking up buoys. We’ve also made 4 trips up the Yealm which is the main point of the story.
We wanted to go out of Plymouth , up the Yealm to the first visitor’s pontoon and take our dinghy to have lunch in the Ship Inn. The inshore forecast was wind westerly 3 or 4, sea state slight or moderate. We also checked the BBC local weather forecast which indicated the strongest wind should be around 15 mph on our return. All seemed good. We set off towards Cawsand to leave The Sound by the western entrance then out and directly around to the Yealm. There were several other vessels out and the sea looked as predicted.
We arrived at the pontoon roughly 90 minutes before high tide and the wind had increased considerably making mooring quite a challenge. Finally with ropes on we decided not to bother with the dinghy but to have lunch and leave on slack which we did. Two gents in a shrimper tied up by us for lunch having come around from Saltash.
Leaving the Yealm was no problem but as we crossed Wembury Bay things started to get lively. Before we reached the Mewstone we were in extremely rough water with huge waves tossing us around like a ping pong ball. The waves were crashing over onto the flybridge, the windscreen was constantly flooded so visibility was nil for much of the time. Items which I had previously thought were well stowed became missiles. My husband feared that if he tried to turn back we would be swamped so he carried on while I caught and threw our possessions into the forward cabin out of the way. I also called the coastguard. We didn’t need assistance but I wanted someone to know where we were and it was comforting to speak to the young man in Falmouth. We gave the Mewstone and Shag Rock a wide berth and finally headed in to the eastern entrance. The journey from Wembury Bay to reaching the Sound took well over an hour and it’s the first time I’ve ever been worried at sea.
We’ve mulled over this incident to try to decide how we can avoid repeating it. As far as planning goes I need to find more information about sea conditions. Maybe one of the surf sites would have predicted the swell and we wouldn’t have set out. Once we started to realise that the sea was much worse then we’d expected perhaps we should have turned back. We could have remained up the river until things improved even if it took days. We have been told that we would have given up long before the boat would but it was hair raising. We’ve also agreed that while both of us are capable of bringing the boat in and out of berths, hubby is more experienced at skippering, and physically stronger to cope with the big seas, and I’m the planner so we’re going to each concentrate on developing our own particular skills rather than try to be masters of everything.
Comments or advice gratefully received.
We wanted to go out of Plymouth , up the Yealm to the first visitor’s pontoon and take our dinghy to have lunch in the Ship Inn. The inshore forecast was wind westerly 3 or 4, sea state slight or moderate. We also checked the BBC local weather forecast which indicated the strongest wind should be around 15 mph on our return. All seemed good. We set off towards Cawsand to leave The Sound by the western entrance then out and directly around to the Yealm. There were several other vessels out and the sea looked as predicted.
We arrived at the pontoon roughly 90 minutes before high tide and the wind had increased considerably making mooring quite a challenge. Finally with ropes on we decided not to bother with the dinghy but to have lunch and leave on slack which we did. Two gents in a shrimper tied up by us for lunch having come around from Saltash.
Leaving the Yealm was no problem but as we crossed Wembury Bay things started to get lively. Before we reached the Mewstone we were in extremely rough water with huge waves tossing us around like a ping pong ball. The waves were crashing over onto the flybridge, the windscreen was constantly flooded so visibility was nil for much of the time. Items which I had previously thought were well stowed became missiles. My husband feared that if he tried to turn back we would be swamped so he carried on while I caught and threw our possessions into the forward cabin out of the way. I also called the coastguard. We didn’t need assistance but I wanted someone to know where we were and it was comforting to speak to the young man in Falmouth. We gave the Mewstone and Shag Rock a wide berth and finally headed in to the eastern entrance. The journey from Wembury Bay to reaching the Sound took well over an hour and it’s the first time I’ve ever been worried at sea.
We’ve mulled over this incident to try to decide how we can avoid repeating it. As far as planning goes I need to find more information about sea conditions. Maybe one of the surf sites would have predicted the swell and we wouldn’t have set out. Once we started to realise that the sea was much worse then we’d expected perhaps we should have turned back. We could have remained up the river until things improved even if it took days. We have been told that we would have given up long before the boat would but it was hair raising. We’ve also agreed that while both of us are capable of bringing the boat in and out of berths, hubby is more experienced at skippering, and physically stronger to cope with the big seas, and I’m the planner so we’re going to each concentrate on developing our own particular skills rather than try to be masters of everything.
Comments or advice gratefully received.
