Day 1: Hayling Island - Portsmouth (7 miles)

Wednesday, July 18th

Once out of the Chichester harbour area Glen set a waypoint out to sea to avoid any dangerous points, we found the wind on the nose for the trip to Portsmouth. Even though there was about 18 knots of wind, the wind was on the nose, coming from the west, so we decided to engine there. This also meant we could focus on the boat traffic and look at the old forts by the harbour entrance and the rather amazing Spinnaker tower.

This could have been a nerve-wrecking part of the trip, the boat being so new to us, with such giant boats and ferries passing by. The Solent is the busiest part of British water and not the place to learn new boat handling skills - but it all went rather smoothly and we passed into Gosport with no incidents and moored up. Here we were assisted by good friends Joe and Ruth, they had already met us at Hayling and Joe had come round with us on board, providing some local knowledge. Ruth kindly took us shopping which was brilliant for stocking up with provisions.

Day 2: Portsmouth - Swanage (43 miles)

Thursday, July 19th

With day 1 having gone so well our new found confidence soon evaporated as we attempted to come alongside the fuel pontoon the following afternoon - we were being blown off and the manoeuvring went on for ages but eventually with the help of some rope tugging Genesis was in position to receive the fuel. We filled up and then set off for Swanage in 12 knots of wind which once again was on the nose.  There were lots of other boats on the water.

This was to be a long passage - approx. 50 miles. Once we cleared  the Needles we did hoist the sails, and they set well, but progress was slowed down to less than 5 knots so we reverted to motoring after a while. Still, we learnt that you have to let the main sheet out to hoist the main sail, even though we all knew that already, but the mainsheet is so high up on the traveller it didn't register until Peter pointed out what the snag was and why the winch couldn't overcome the resistance.

Arriving late on at Swanage we preferred to pick up a Mooring rather than anchor - we failed to find a visitors buoy but instead picked one up which stated "KEV - LARGE", we hoped that the large part referred to the size of the boat rather than to Kev's personal dimensions. If Kev did turn up we might have some explaining to do.

In any event we locked up the boat and set off for the shore in our dinghy, the old engine spluttered but did get us ashore. We tied the dinghy up to an old ring near some steps on the sea wall and asked the fishermen to look after it, there were large crowds of young people in town and we did have qualms. After refreshments we returned and all was well. Swanage is not oriented towards boats - more amusement arcades - but the pubs were pleasant and we enjoyed our chilli kebabs. We were tired and happy to get back on board for a pleasant night's sleep.

Day 3: Swanage to Torquay (94 miles)

Friday, July 20th

We got up at 5 am and cast off. Our original plan was to go to Salcombe - a 60 mile journey - to start making progress homeward. The Met office issued a strong wind warning, force 6-7 was mentioned. We set off in calm seas and little wind

but this was to change during the course of the day and we ended up in exactly the weather predicted, the bottom of the boat slamming down onto waves which seemed to explode around the cockpit. I went below and stayed below for several hours while nature tried to make us turn back and go the way we came - eventually we turned off our original course and headed for the safety of Torquay. Reduced to a seasick wreck, all I could do was wish for the journey to end, while Glen, Peter and Dad carried on.

On arriving in Torquay we went the wrong way initially but then found the correct side of the Marina to locate our berth.

Emerging into he town that night we found a very pleasant pair of pubs, one named the Hole in the Wall, to spend the evening.

A live act kept us entertained as we drank the Doom Bar bitter which would be our drink of choice for the next week or more.

Day 4: Torquay to Salcombe (34 miles)

Saturday, July 21st

The next morning, we took a while waking up and getting off. Out on the water, we found a wind we could sail in and so we sailed most of the route to Salcombe, eventually reverting to engine as the wind died away.  During this trip we learnt a lot a out hoisting and controlling the sails - it takes a long time to hoist to the full 60' height,

and you have to control the reefing lines to ensure they do not wrap around the other lines. The cloud patterns were simply amazing.

Salcombe was amazing  - a tidal estuary filled with dinghy sailors and all manner of small craft. We zigzagged through the boats to pick up a mooring not meant for us - only to be directed to raft alongside a another boat by he harbour master. The "French boat" we were directed to trend out to be a Dutch boat - red section on the top of the flag, named Drei Sezione, meaning 3 Seasons in Dutch. We used water taxis to get ashore but this can work out to be quite expensive at £1.50 per trip per person! Great yacht club well worth a visit with breathtaking views over the estuary and cheap food.

Day...

... Night

Day 5: Salcombe - Plymouth (28 miles)

Sunday, July 22nd

Peter had to leave us in Swanage, so then there were three.

We left the magic of Swanage for the next leg, a sail to Looe, but later changed to Plymouth, as we had left it a little too late to gain entry to Looe given the tides.

In addition we had a problem to sort out, the gear stick section had sheared off from the binnacle, and we knew that some form of repair was needed until we could gain assistance and a replacement part from the after sales people at peters Opal.  At least the winds were favourable, providing a brilliant sail to Plymouth with South Easterly 13 knots slightly from behind, it gave us an easy 6 knots or more of speed through the water, and an additional 0.7 knot of tide.

Entering Plymouth harbour we marvelled at the warship Argyle anchored there, although the next day she would be something of a thorn in our sides. We passed the massive breakwater and, confused by the various marinas on offer in Plymouth, decided on Sutton marina, being in the heart of the town next to the Barbican.

To gain entry to Sutton we had to enter a lock, this was unfortunately the point at which we discovered that neutral was not straight up on the gear stick as we had been directed, but slightly back. In the process of discovering this the boat went forward and the anchor struck the lock side, slightly bending the pin. Once inside the marina things got worse as the various people shouting and helping us actually led us astray of our intended berth. Feeling flustered, and cutting a corner, I managed to skim a dinghy behind one of the yachts, luckily for us the people were not on board.

We passed a very pleasant evening and my father took us out for a meal in the Barbican, we sat inside rather than  outside as there was a chill in the evening breeze. It was a scenic spot, cobbled streets and ancient stores converted to restaurants and  bars, quite nautical with so many harbours and boats in close quarter. People at every table were talking about tides and winds and what equipment they had or were planning to have.

Day 6: Plymouth to Fowey (31 miles)

Monday, July 23rd

The next morning was spent puzzling over the binnacle, could we find something to insert into the sheared off part to hold it firm? We rang Peters Opal and they requested we email them a picture of the problem. This turned out to be fairly straightforward, as there was a wireless network and we logged and on sent the picture. Nothing substantial could be done at that point so we then duck taped the binnacle together and set off for Falmouth. One the way out we passed fast racing dinghies in the harbour.

We had the same sailing wind as the day before and things were going well in brilliant sunshine until we hear warship Argyle on the radio. "Warship Argyle within 15nm area live firing until 5pm",

checking our position we discovered we were well within the live firing area" We altered course and headed for the nearest bolt hole, which turned out to be Fowey. Coming into the river we spied a space just large enough for the boat on the visitors pontoons. Various problems ensued with the wind and tide driving us onto the pontoon, a situation we will try and avoid in future, she was almost impossible to control under the conditions.

Once safely moored to the pontoon we discovered Fowey to be the most delightful Cornish village, out of a picture postcard, with narrow streets filled with little shops. It was gone 5pm so we were unable to find a pasty shop open but we enjoyed the food we had purchased in Plymouth when back on board. While out n Fowey, who should we meet but Tini and John from the Drei Seizone we had been moored up to in Salcombe! We shared a few delightful early evening drinks with them before wishing them well for the remainder of their holiday.

Day 7: Fowey to Newlyn (57 miles)

Tuesday, July 24th

Leaving beautiful Fowey, we discovered the wind to be on the nose and we knew we had to make a long trip to get back on schedule, so we decided to motor to Newlyn. Despite large rolly waves and increasing winds up to force 6, we arrived in under 8 hours and met with Derek and Carol on Abraxas.  We experienced sailing speeds of 7.3 knots through the water - a bit faster than we're used to!

The pontoons there were ideal, but the combination of windage on the hull and my lack of experience meant that on the helm I had 3 tries at coming into the berth. On the third approach we came in perfectly and tied off.

Here we sat waiting for a weather window to go round Lands End, the estimated 3.5 metre waves didn't sound ideal and so we stayed in the harbour for 3 nights. Newlyn is the busiest fishing village in Britain and Carole and I shopped for a variety of shellfish and created a new dish which we called "Newlyn Bouillabaisse" - absolutely delicious!

We popped out for trips to Penzance - interesting harbour, if a little chaotic looking, with craft coming and going and rafts of boats having to rearrange themselves as best they could. his was the first time we realised that getting into Padstow might not be easy if it was to beT anything like this.

Day 8&9 : Newlyn (0 miles)

Wednesday, July 25th

Here we stayed for 2 pleasant days while waiting for a weather window. We went to Penzance and saw the marvellous harbour there and also went over to Mousehole while rain bucketed down on us.

The coast near Newlyn

Outside swimming pool, Penzance

Mousehole

Spot the biggest mast...?

The Mousehole Cat !

The Red Lion - our refuge in Newlyn

Newlyn Crew at Mousehole

We came across the now disused Penlee Lifeboat station which was the launch point for the lifeboat in 1981 and which led to the terrible loss of all lives on board. The Penlee lifeboat is now stationed in Newlyn.

The seaman's mission provide a computer for public use which enabled us to keep a close watch over  weather reports. We convinced Derek and Cal on Abraxas that setting off to round Lands End the next day would be a good move, despite weather warnings including up to force 7 and moderate to rough seas.

We were accosted by a mad fisherman who whiled the hours away making dog leads - we took the easy route and bought one from him.

Day 10: Newlyn to Saint Ives (35 miles)

Friday, July 27th

There were big waves as we approached Lands End but as we rounded these gradually died back and the rest of the journey was  little bouncy, but at least we were able to sail most of it. South Easterly winds at about 10knots for most of the way.

We saw the Scillian leaving for the Isles of Scilly, a trip it makes every day. 

The Scillian - Isles of Scilly supply ship

Now you see Abraxas...

...now you don't

We followed Abraxas into the little harbour at St Ives and picked up a fore and aft mooring outside Woolworths.

This was a bit weird - we had never parked a boat outside Woolworths before!  Glen and Derek went ashore quickly to pay the waiting harbourmaster.  It was a no-change situation so they were forced to buy an ice cream!  The HM was very friendly, and could see the fore and aft mooring arrangement was a bit stretched to get around Genesis; even suggesting that we cut the connecting cord.  Saint Ives was very lively with millions of tourists, and crowded, noisy pubs.  We did find somewhere that had a spare table eventually!

Day 11: Saint Ives to Padstow (43 miles)

Saturday, July 28th

We left at dawn to get to Padstow. 

A 5am start into light winds and fine weather, with Abraxas leading the way.  Eventually, and inevitably, the wind gave up and we had to sail - we had fallen behind whilst we attempted the sail but gave up and motored back to Abraxas.

We dropped anchor at 1430 at Stepper Point - our first time at anchor!  We were quite pleased that it dug in first go, and didn't hint at dragging.  A heavy looking old boat also dropped anchor near us, and immediately began to swing onto us!  The skipper seemed to have plenty of crew and re-laid elsewhere.

At about 1500, we upped anchor and began the slow crawl into Padstow, we knew we wouldn't be able to get in until at least 1530.  As we went past Doom Bar we marvelled at the views, albeit as the weather started going grey.  We practised doing some low speed manoeuvring in preparation for going into the small dock.

Abraxas put herself on the wall just outside the lock so we went onto her.  Climbing ashore, we made contact with the Harbour Master and he told us where to go.  The lock was just opening then, so we had a mad rush to get inside.  We tied up  to the same boat that had anchored near us earlier - apparently she was 18 tons, so we didn't bother with a shore line.  At least we were on the outside - so nobody had to clamber over us.  The rain really started to come down at this point - so we all huddled inside our boats out of it.

That evening we found a nice pub to go to - outstanding food, which we discovered was the norm for Padstow.  Later we found a pub with a folk singer so we had a sing song.

We stayed in Padstow the whole of the next day (apart from a short trip outside the dock to get fuel). We had brilliant sunshine and high temperatures.  All boats had put their oilies out to dry after the previous day.  We went over the hill to the north of Padstow and spent a very pleasant few hours walking along the beach - it was idyllic.  Walking around Padstow, we could see the influence of Rick Stein.  It is a lovely place.  We had dinner that evening with Derek and Carole at a restaurant with a balcony overlooking the dock - absolutely fantastic.

The fuel pontoon is outside the dock - so we had a short boat trip in the afternoon to fill the boat up.  One thing we noticed was that if you allow the fuel pump to click off (like you do with a car), the pressure builds up in the tank so you get a fountain of diesel!  Even if you quickly stick the screw cap back on; fuel then spurts out of the overflow!

Day 13 - Padstow to Dale (84 miles)

Monday, July 30th

The next day was a business like trip across the Bristol Channel.  We knew that we had to start taking big chunks of the journey off if we were to get back to Beaumaris for the weekend, and we had taken our time the last few days.  We were also saying goodbye to Derek and Carole on Abraxas, who were taking a more leisurely trip into the Bristol Channel.  So an early start to a bright dawn.

At about 1100, we had some visitors - Dolphins!  They swam around the boat in several groups for about 20 minutes.

Predictably, the wind was on the nose, so it was a case of pointing the boat, putting the auto-helm on and taking it easy.  We started at 0500 as this was an 85 mile trip - which would take us 12 hours.  There was no need to take into account any tides as they all cancelled out - with Milford Haven magically appearing on the nose at around 1630.  Lundy was about the most exciting thing about this trip - as it slowly moved on the guard rails!  We saw very few other boats.

As we entered the area around Milford we made for Dale.  We had been told that Charles on Meganza had tied to a pontoon there, only to find it hanging from his boat as it dried!  We found a mooring and went shore to get information.  We left Carolyn's dad on the pontoon to stop other boats from taking it as we went back to bring Genesis alongside.  Our first port of call in Wales, it was also the first one where nobody wanted to charge us anything!

The weather was great - hot sunshine and blue skies, a pub right next to the pontoon selling good beer and food, with Genesis less than 30 feet away.  What could be better?

The view from the pub

Day 14 - Dale to Lower Fishguard (49 miles)

Tuesday, July 31st

A bright day greeted us as we left the pontoon at 0730. 

The day got hotter and the winds lower.  We dawdled around the bishops, eventually having to turn the motor on to get somewhere.  As we rounded St Davids Head, we suddenly started pushing a lot of tide - about 3 or 4 knots.  We hunkered down and made straight for Fishguard. 

We spotted some Puffins in the water near St David's Head.

Ignoring the main town, we anchored at low water in Lower Fishguard at about 1600. 

Genesis at Anchor in Lower Fishguard

Going ashore, we discovered there was a single pub, with the novelty of having Richard Burton filmed there for Under Milkwood in the early 1970's.

The yacht club was OK - unfortunately, it did not take advantage of it's quay side position and so we could look out over the rising tide.

Monument to fishing at Lower Fishguard

Day 15 - Fishguard to Porth Dinllean (72 miles)

Wednesday, August 1st

Another early start at 0600 to get across the whole of Cardigan Bay - about 70 miles.  Another fantastic sunrise...

 We were conscious that this delivery trip was now back in home waters, so decided that we had to make 7 knots average to take the tide the whole way.  Another whole day motoring therefore. 

A major catastrophe struck us on this journey - no gas!  So no hot drinks either and sandwiches all the way.  It seemed that the bottle we got from Portsmouth was badly fitting - we thought it would last us the rest of the season!

About 20 miles from Bardsey, Glen noticed a odd sight - a land bird circling the boat!  It was a dove, and it decided we would make a nice resting point on it's way across the bay.  We all hid below the sprayhood in order not to frighten it off.  As we approached Bardsey, it fluttered away landwards.

The Dove through the Sprayhood

We popped out of Bardsey Sound like a cork out of a bottle - flat seas fortunately, as we had timed it to reach there more or less at slack.  We arrived in PY at about 1600, and went as close to the beach as we dared, bearing in mind the early start the next day.  The holding in PY is poor - so we picked up a small mooring to act as a back anchor.  We then went ashore to have a barbeque, using our only means of heating food up!  The Ty Coch also furnished us with a jacket potato, so we did not starve!

At anchor in PY

Day 16 - PY to Beaumaris (33 miles)

Thursday, August 2nd

We had an 0830 start to catch the tide all the way back to Beaumaris.  We'd never been across the bar so quickly - about 10 knots over ground!  Near Caernarfon, we overtook a load of MS1s and Fyffes from RAYC on our break neck rush down the Straits. 

After taking the Swellies an hour or so early, we gratefully tied up to our mooring and went ashore to find out news of Beaumaris.

Carolyn's mother intercepted us at the Menai Bridge pier and took some pictures of us with all sails out.  There was no wind to sail by - but enough to fill them photogenically!