South Devon and Cornwall headlands

[Robert Wilson]

To elaborate on Jimi's post, I would say ,from dire experience, that getting the Dodman wrong is a horrible experience. We were encouraged to take the inside route "You'll be fine if you can reach out and touch the point"...... This was in a Falmouth-Fowey race. And Benbecula /Myfanwy) very nearly foundered.
Twice more I've taken the inside route and it was like a mirror.
As I said, don't get it wrong.

Good luck and have a fantastic voyage.

 

[mainsail1]

Beware of lobster pot markers partly submerged by the tide and with long pick up lines extending 10 meters or more from the main buoy.

 

[oldbloke]

I strongly agree with all the posters that it is all about the conditions. Strong wind against tide , follow the recommendations or stay in the pub.
However , it is then interesting to see the different comfort zones for lighter conditions. On calm day getting round Start Point against the tide I would stay deep in Start Bay aiming for Hallsands, the close on the Start Point peninsula using the back eddy , if the tide is high enough (it always is for me) go between the rocks and head in towards Lannacombe and onwards.
Too scary?, but really just reading the charts and looking out for crab pots.
Also, I only have a small boat with a 1Gm10 so really don't want to spend hours plugging the tide.

 

[guernseyman]

Just be careful.
500 years ago my fisherman ancestor and two family members were shipwrecked off Start Point.

 

[LittleSister]

Start Point is benign in settled conditions, or when tide is slack, but will get a bit bouncy inshore when tide is strong, and very unpleasant when both tide is running and the winds are strong. It does not, however, take long to get through it, and you don't have to go far offshore (I can't remember exact distance) to avoid the roughness, and in my view at least, that is not necessary when there is little tidal flow and/or wind.

As well as sailing around it regularly, when I lived in the West Country I often used to walk round Start Point. The extent of the line of overfalls and disturbed water when the tide is running is highly visible when looking down on it from the footpath ashore. It was amusing to watch some boats hobby-horsing uncomfortably along while cutting the corner, while those a few hundred yards further out were gliding along nicely.

I've told this tale here before, but I was once rounding Start Point following a day or so's stop in Dartmouth to refuel, revive and re-stock after coming across Lyme Bay from the Solent in my Samphire 23. It was a perfect day - beautiful, warm and sunny with a very nice steady westerly breeze. All was well with the world, and we were just creaming along as we headed across the bay past Hallsands. The wind picked up as we approached Start Point, as it often does. We were now over-canvassed, but it was such fun rushing along with the lee rail under that I not only didn't reef, but deliberately went through the overfalls off the Point for the spectacle of the water sloshing along the lee decks, and the sunlight glittering through the spray being thrown up over the starboard bow (and over the head of the jokingly protesting First Mate!).

As we passed the Point I was puzzled to notice that the water on the lee deck outside the cockpit coaming was pink. Then it dawned on me: some fool had forgotten to replace the cap on the deck-filler when we refilled with diesel!

Most of the diesel was now in the sea (and over the decks), while the tank was full of sea-water. It took a couple of days in Salcombe, and a few hundred pounds or so, to get the tank emptied and cleaned (fortunately the tank was very easily removed from that boat).

The morning after that was fixed we recommenced our trip, with the next planned stop Newton Ferrers. As we motored gently past the town in the sunshine and light winds, still westerly, I mentioned to the First Mate, as innocently as I could, that it would have been a fair wind for France. (This had been our original destination for the holiday, but had been abandoned because the First Mate's work had over-run, reducing the time we had available.) We never made it to Newton Ferrers: by early the next morning we were on a mooring off the Ile de Batz!

 

[ronsurf]

Only Start Point commands any attention, and that is on Springs. All the other headlands are pretty tame.

I recommend you get hold of Fishwick's Westcountry Cruising guide - that will give you a lot more confidence and you'll get a lot more out of the area.

 

[oldmanofthehills]

I strongly agree with all the posters that it is all about the conditions. Strong wind against tide , follow the recommendations or stay in the pub.
However , it is then interesting to see the different comfort zones for lighter conditions. On calm day getting round Start Point against the tide I would stay deep in Start Bay aiming for Hallsands, the close on the Start Point peninsula using the back eddy , if the tide is high enough (it always is for me) go between the rocks and head in towards Lannacombe and onwards.
Too scary?, but really just reading the charts and looking out for crab pots.
Also, I only have a small boat with a 1Gm10 so really don't want to spend hours plugging the tide.

I certainly tuck into Start Bay but the Navigator seems to think outlying rocks might arise from shallow water like Scylla and Charybdis, never mind what the chart says. I fear if I insisted on your corner cut she would abandon both the boat and the marital bed.

She is also nervous around the Dodman though the only trouble we have ever had on the inside passage is crabpots. No doubt in F7+ it might be nasty but we would not set out in that

 

[jimi]

Very benign conditions at Start Point

 

[Povremeni pomorac]

Start Point is benign in settled conditions, or when tide is slack, but will get a bit bouncy inshore when tide is strong, and very unpleasant when both tide is running and the winds are strong. It does not, however, take long to get through it, and you don't have to go far offshore (I can't remember exact distance) to avoid the roughness, and in my view at least, that is not necessary when there is little tidal flow and/or wind.

As well as sailing around it regularly, when I lived in the West Country I often used to walk round Start Point. The extent of the line of overfalls and disturbed water when the tide is running is highly visible when looking down on it from the footpath ashore. It was amusing to watch some boats hobby-horsing uncomfortably along while cutting the corner, while those a few hundred yards further out were gliding along nicely.

I've told this tale here before, but I was once rounding Start Point following a day or so's stop in Dartmouth to refuel, revive and re-stock after coming across Lyme Bay from the Solent in my Samphire 23. It was a perfect day - beautiful, warm and sunny with a very nice steady westerly breeze. All was well with the world, and we were just creaming along as we headed across the bay past Hallsands. The wind picked up as we approached Start Point, as it often does. We were now over-canvassed, but it was such fun rushing along with the lee rail under that I not only didn't reef, but deliberately went through the overfalls off the Point for the spectacle of the water sloshing along the lee decks, and the sunlight glittering through the spray being thrown up over the starboard bow (and over the head of the jokingly protesting First Mate!).

As we passed the Point I was puzzled to notice that the water on the lee deck outside the cockpit coaming was pink. Then it dawned on me: some fool had forgotten to replace the cap on the deck-filler when we refilled with diesel!

Most of the diesel was now in the sea (and over the decks), while the tank was full of sea-water. It took a couple of days in Salcombe, and a few hundred pounds or so, to get the tank emptied and cleaned (fortunately the tank was very easily removed from that boat).

The morning after that was fixed we recommenced our trip, with the next planned stop Newton Ferrers. As we motored gently past the town in the sunshine and light winds, still westerly, I mentioned to the First Mate, as innocently as I could, that it would have been a fair wind for France. (This had been our original destination for the holiday, but had been abandoned because the First Mate's work had over-run, reducing the time we had available.) We never made it to Newton Ferrers: by early the next morning we were on a mooring off the Ile de Batz!

"Putain! Si j'aurais su."

 

[Sandy]

Very benign conditions at Start Point

A cracking shot.

I last passed that way on September the fifth. The fog was thick, a race was being run between several fishing boats. It was chaos!

 

[Moodysailor]

My approach with most headlands is similar - check the charts, almanac and tidal streams. If in doubt head further offshore. I prefer to be sailing anyway and I'd always rather have sea room. Inshore passages are for locals and/or those desperate to make last orders ?

We keep our boat on the Dart so have sailed pretty close to Start Point, but she weighs 19T so tends to lollop through most stuff.

 

[rotrax]

In my experience sailing between the Lizard and the Bill of Portland is a matter of keeping the land on the left by about half a mile.

Going the other way you keep the land on the right by a similar distance. Except across Lyme Bay where a little further offshore cuts down the distance to be sailed.

As others have said, in normal weather pot markers are the biggest hazard.

I often stop the boat and drop a line down off headlands - get some good catches that way.

 

[Sandy]

In my experience sailing between the Lizard and the Bill of Portland is a matter of keeping the land on the left by about half a mile.

Sounds an awfully long way round

 

[[2574]]

In my experience sailing between the Lizard and the Bill of Portland is a matter of keeping the land on the left by about half a mile.

Hmmm......not sure about that advice as it puts the boat in the lumpy bits at Lizard, Dodman, Start and Portland. Okay strategy if smoke ascends vertically but certainly not if horizontal......

 

[rotrax]

Hmmm......not sure about that advice as it puts the boat in the lumpy bits at Lizard, Dodman, Start and Portland. Okay strategy if smoke ascends vertically but certainly not if horizontal......

How so?

The E side of the Lizard is the starting point, the W side of Portland the finish.

That is what between means. By comparison to the Lizard and Portland the others you mention are far less severe.

Just returned from that exact area, passing those other headlands several times in our summer meanderings.

None were as lively as the E side of the Looe Channel off Selsey on Friday.

The Bill of Portland was in prime form when we were transiting two weeks ago. We were a good six miles off and caught the edge of the race.

I am always surprised at the number of local boats transiting the headlands by 'handrailing' very close in. Even 5-7 metre outboard day angling boats.

The value of local knowlege perhaps.

 

[johnalison]

I still maintain that headlands are to be relished, not feared. Such experiences are why we go sailing.

 

[[2574]]

How so?

The E side of the Lizard is the starting point, the W side of Portland the finish.

That is what between means.

Rarely am I drawn to respond to this type of retort but I would say here that your proposition above is quite ridiculous.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

Nothing to add as I only spent a winter in Falmouth and didn't sail much. But congratulations on the user name! ?

 

[Sandy]

I always though Portland was in Dorset.

 

[SaltyC]

Having sailed that area many years (Decades) ago, in 20 to 22 foot 'yachts' with what was then called an auxiliary engine i.e May start! I have nothing but generally happy memories and no frightening headlands due to tidal streams or BIG waves, check the tidal atlas, weather forecast and enjoy!
However Saint Antony's Head in a Westerly 22 that went as fast sideways as forwards to windward in a gale ( F 4 to5?) to an 11 year olds eyes was terrifying, each port tack and the lighthouse was in the same place - the 5hp outboard eventually assisted us around.