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