Swansea to Southwold

[Javelin]

Just looking at a route from Swansea and there appears to be a distinct lack of places to stop between Swansea and Newlyn for a 6' fin keeler.

I guess there's Padstow but that's 80miles from Swansea.
Will be a bit of a long shake down sail if I buy a boat from there, with not too many places to hide.

Any ideas?

 

[john_morris_uk]

The easy (and cheeky) answer is 'road transporter'.

If you want to go by sea, you really need to have a long hard look at the boat and the survey report and ask whether its all up to the fairly exposed passage you are about to undertake. I would be asking questions about how much use has the boat had in recent years. There are countless tails of boats that have been sitting and not doing very much breaking down from sludge being stirred up in the tank to fittings breaking because its the first time they've been properly put to the test for years. However, given reasonably settled weather, its a very straightforward passage round Lands End. I've sailed round many times and not had the slightest problems. Perhaps its a state of mind thing. If you only ever do day sailing, making a passage that lasts a couple of days seems a big step up?

One practical bit of advice might be to sail down the coast from Swansea to Milford Haven. Although there aren't any deep water harbours, there are plenty of anchorages along the coast and you can make short hops that will get you settled into sailing the boat. You can then sail from Milford straight to Lands end and then into Penzanze of Newlyn in 24 hours or so. You can usually be fairly confident of the weather forecast for 24 hours ahead so that should be very manageable.

Hope that helps?

 

[bert49uk]

you can sit against the wall in Ilfracombe, Appeldore, Clovelly or anchor Ilfracombe, Lundy

 

[RIBW]

Just looking at a route from Swansea and there appears to be a distinct lack of places to stop between Swansea and Newlyn for a 6' fin keeler.

I guess there's Padstow but that's 80miles from Swansea.
Will be a bit of a long shake down sail if I buy a boat from there, with not too many places to hide.

Any ideas?

I was faced with a similar problem recently trying to choose between two 33footers, one from Woodbridge and the other from Wexford. Destination Falmouth. Even without the issues of North Cornwall, I decided that road delivery was my preference for the Woodbridge option. The cost, when everything was added in, came to roughly £2k. By sea, IIRC it was about 350nm and, for me, the worst bit was the long haul in a new-to-me boat across the Thames and through the Straits. In the end I bought the Wexford boat. Now faced with the North Cornwall issue I will gain basic confidence in her locally in Ireland and the the primary plan is Milford Haven (14 hours) then, when all is to my satisfaction, Lands End (20 hours) to Falmouth (+8 hours). In Milford Sound there is plenty of free sailing space with a marina and facilities on hand to correct any shake down problems.
I have been out and about on the water between Lands End and Bristol since I was 16 - nearly 50 years and you are right to thoroughly research the possibilities. IMHO, Padstow is one of those destinations that a newbie has to arrive at in benign conditions at the right state of tide. An unknown yacht in unfamiliar waters with few refuges and 500 nm to go - who needs it?
My advice would be either:-
Sail to Milford and put a few days in the plan to shake her down there then go straight for Falmouth (more space, facilities etc. than Newlyn or PZ)
or, put her on a lorry, get her home and enjoy her.
Just an opinion.

 

[alant]

Just looking at a route from Swansea and there appears to be a distinct lack of places to stop between Swansea and Newlyn for a 6' fin keeler.

I guess there's Padstow but that's 80miles from Swansea.
Will be a bit of a long shake down sail if I buy a boat from there, with not too many places to hide.

Any ideas?

Whats the boat?

 

[Javelin]

Many thanks for the advice.

Looks like the best plan is a couple of sails down the Welsh coast to learn the boat and check everything is ok and then go to Falmouth.

I guess I was a bit surprised to see so few options on the north and SW Cornish coast, not having gone West of Falmouth before.

Alant - not decided yet and it'll be a couple of weeks before I do finally decide but the boat I was looking at was the Contention 33.

 

[alant]

The easy (and cheeky) answer is 'road transporter'.

If you want to go by sea, you really need to have a long hard look at the boat and the survey report and ask whether its all up to the fairly exposed passage you are about to undertake. I would be asking questions about how much use has the boat had in recent years. There are countless tails of boats that have been sitting and not doing very much breaking down from sludge being stirred up in the tank to fittings breaking because its the first time they've been properly put to the test for years. However, given reasonably settled weather, its a very straightforward passage round Lands End. I've sailed round many times and not had the slightest problems. Perhaps its a state of mind thing. If you only ever do day sailing, making a passage that lasts a couple of days seems a big step up?

One practical bit of advice might be to sail down the coast from Swansea to Milford Haven. Although there aren't any deep water harbours, there are plenty of anchorages along the coast and you can make short hops that will get you settled into sailing the boat. You can then sail from Milford straight to Lands end and then into Penzanze of Newlyn in 24 hours or so. You can usually be fairly confident of the weather forecast for 24 hours ahead so that should be very manageable.

Hope that helps?

"One practical bit of advice might be to sail down the coast from Swansea to Milford Haven. Although there aren't any deep water harbours, there are plenty of anchorages along the coast and you can make short hops that will get you settled into sailing the boat. You can then sail from Milford straight to Lands end and then into Penzanze of Newlyn in 24 hours or so. You can usually be fairly confident of the weather forecast for 24 hours ahead so that should be very manageable."

Good advice!