Dolphins!

Chiscos - Atlantic Cruise
John Simpson
Mon 25 Jul 2011 16:08

N50'09.406 W005'03.820

 
 
Sunday dawned early with an alarm at 5:45 am and we left for Falmouth from Torquay Marina at 6:00 am.  The sea was flat calm and we had a good breeze to take us down to Start Point.  Unfortunately we then had to turn the corner and sail directly into the wind towards Falmouth, which was still 45+ miles away.  We had a go at sailing for a while but with a long way to go and a light wind right on the nose, we decided to put the engine on.  As you can see, the weather wasn't warm for July!
 
 
We passed the Eddystone lighthouse on the way - see the stump of the old lighthouse alongside the newer one.  Shortly afterwards a pod of dolphins swam by, but the boat was rocking too much for us to be able to focus on getting a picture before they had gone - it took us long enough to get one with the lighthouse in the middle of the shot!
 
 
As is so often the way, as we neared Falmouth the sun came out and a perfect sailing breeze sprang up.  We enjoyed a lovely sail past Fowey and Portloe, overtaking a couple of other sailing boats on the way - an unusual experience in Chiscos and testament to the good work of the scrubbing crew!  The breeze dropped as suddenly as it had come up as we reached Portscatho and we motored into Falmouth at 6:00 pm, exactly 12 hours after leaving Torquay!  People often ask what you do on a sailing boat for hours on end; it never feels very long.  We put a plot on the chart every hour and it seems to come round every 5 minutes.  What did we do all day?  Sleep, eat, sleep, have a cup of tea ........... and look at the sea!  We picked up a visitors' mooring buoy in Falmouth harbour and have spent today (Monday) provisioning ready for our trip to Spain.  John and I will be joined by Regis and Barrie this evening and we plan to set off across the Bay of Biscay tomorrow (Tuesday).
 
Susan