Polperro and beyond

[Bristolfashion]

What an absolutely gorgeous spot - with just a touch of trickiness to make yer feel like a proper yachty!

We needed really long lines to fore - and - aft. The barman at the Blue Peter (where you can pay for mooring as well as get an excellent pint in a lovely old pub) said that some people don't bother & just tie to one buoy. £15 a night - excellent.

Narrow winding streets, interesting & useful shops and splendid views. What more could you want?

The fishermen, ferry men and trip boat people were all very friendly.

It was fun getting off cleanly in the morning - but again, the kind of fun that makes you feel a bit salty.

And to cap it off, a truly superb sail right into Plymouth.

Marvelous - sometimes this sailing is worth it.

Fair winds & sunshine to all.

 

[Seven Spades]

It looks like shore lines work very well, but what you can't see is that I have another line joined to that.. You will note that we were asked to pull the bow right up to the buoy and run a long line astern. I would not want to free swing because there are two rows of boats and if the boat in the next row is correctly moored i.e. fore and aft then there is a good chance you would swing into them. This is an old photo from 2016.

 

[Bristolfashion]

Yes, we did end up with a few lines joined together at one point!

 

[Boathook]

I was there about 5 years ago and the distance between the buoys meant that I picked up and then spent half hour digging out longer and longer lines to moor inbetween. It kept the holiday makers amused for a while.
Never paid for staying the night. Signs back then said see the HM. Office always shut when we looked so spent money in the pubs and shops.

 

[Seven Spades]

I have wondered about the weight limit when we were there a fishing boat came and rafted up against us using our lines as he waited for the tide so I suspect that there are quite big sinkers on those buoys. We now have a bigger boat and would like to go back.

 

[johnalison]

It always rains in Polperro. So goes our family saying anyway. My childhood holidays were based near Meva and the only reason we ever went to Polperro was because the weather was too bad for the beach. I don’t remember much of Polperro except that there were lots of pixies.

 

[Bristolfashion]

I have wondered about the weight limit when we were there a fishing boat came and rafted up against us using our lines as he waited for the tide so I suspect that there are quite big sinkers on those buoys. We now have a bigger boat and would like to go back.

It's quite a tight spot for a big boat - I'd suggest that it's only comfortable in reasonably good weather when the rating of the moorings wouldn't be much of an issue.

 

[Lucky Duck]

Any potential issues with depths on the moorings?

 

[Bristolfashion]

Any potential issues with depths on the moorings?

I'm a bit annoyed with myself - I didn't check the depth at LW. I will say that there seemed to be plenty of water below our (1.1m) keel at all states of tide.

 

[benjenbav]

I'm a bit annoyed with myself - I didn't check the depth at LW. I will say that there seemed to be plenty of water below our (1.1m) keel at all states of tide.

With such a big gap between moorings, I wonder if it would be permissible to pick up a buoy and row out a kedge astern, rather than ever longer lines to the next buoy?

 

[Bristolfashion]

With such a big gap between moorings, I wonder if it would be permissible to pick up a buoy and row out a kedge astern, rather than ever longer lines to the next buoy?

I don't know, but I wonder if there might be a ground chain rather than just individual moorings, which could foul an anchor. Otherwise, it seems a reasonable idea. Of course, if you lay the kedge seawards of the outermost buoy, presumably that would be ok.

If you were in company as 2 small boats, you could moor buoy - boat 1 - boat 2 - buoy! Not a serious suggestion!

There is quite a lot of traffic to and from the inner harbour on "touristy" days.

I just remembered that on our visit there were only 5 buoys rather than the six mentioned on the website - and the inner buoy on the set of 3 had "reserved" written on it and some kind of trip.boat hanging off it on a single centre cleat overnight - how official that is I don't know.

 

[oldmanofthehills]

The distance between trot buoys means one needs long long warps and either extremely cunning motoring too and fro or a dinghy to reach the other buoy

Mooring on a single buoy means you drift across the fairway and get told off by the fishing boats trying to get past

An odd arrangement, and unsuited in poor weather, but the 3 pilchards make it worthwhile

 

[Boathook]

The distance between trot buoys means one needs long long warps and either extremely cunning motoring too and fro or a dinghy to reach the other buoy

Mooring on a single buoy means you drift across the fairway and get told off by the fishing boats trying to get past

An odd arrangement, and unsuited in poor weather, but the 3 pilchards make it worthwhile

I would only trust it for settled weather and possibly avoid if wind is from south back round to east unless only a few knots like I had in 2019.

 

[Bristolfashion]

I would only trust it for settled weather and possibly avoid if wind is from south back round to east unless only a few knots like I had in 2019.

Indeed. It seemed to me that northerly winds also funnel down the harbour making it more "exciting" than expected - and not making dealing with those long lines any easier.

As you say, a great spot for settled weather.