We winched in the anchor at 9:30AM Friday the 1st of August and headed up the Tamar River, Plymouth 50:26.50N 4:12.21W

Fi and I were up early, both of us had a pretty bad night sleep at anchor, firstly a Frenchman decided he would anchor on top of us and as the tide changed we could nearly touch his boat from our’s as we swung through, not to worry and I asked him to let out a little more chain. Off to bed we went for a good night sleep until…  about 3AM the wind picked up, 30 Knot’s a near gale it howled through the spars. I made it to the bow of the boat to check the anchor chain that was making some horrendous noises in sink to find the thing almost parallel to the water. It must have had half the weight of the boat hanging on it. With all of our free board (the amount of boat that sticks up from the water) and a laden well stocked home pulling on it I was a little concerned. Anyway being determined to get over our anchoring issues I went back to bed only to wake to Fiona having a nightmare about the boat floating off in the night. I did the usual everything is fine dear and she carried on with her dream’s. We woke to another stupid wet morning.

We pulled anchor and motored up to a fantastic pontoon at the mouth of the Tamar river where we were able to stop for the day, while we provisioned the boat and did the washing. To top it off we walked down to the local sailing club signed in and had a lovely hot shower. You will probably notice that I no longer have my facial hair, much to my disgust I was instructed to shave it off because it smelt like food. Oh well, I am growing another. Hope it smells better.

Once showered we were asked to make a small donation to the club, so I thought how about to your beer fund and ordered 2 pint’s. They were only a couple of quid, this sailing club thing and the genuine 1970 bar prices has gone on unnoticed for too long. Free mooring, showers and cheap beer, the benefits are great.

Once back on the boat and settled in we waited for Craig North to arrive, our friend who flew in from Amsterdam in the morning and got the train into Plymouth, amazingly enough he found his way to Silk Sheets after spotting the Aussie flag flying from the rigging. All aboard, a quick intro and a tour of the boat, a glass of scotch (Just one out of the 2 Ltrs of Jonny Walker he kindly gave as a welcome present and very welcome it was) then we were off up the river to the Croockard Spaniards  inn about 2 Kt Miles up the river. We could not resist the free mooring that came with eating at the pub.

Day 013

Destination – Tamar River, Plymouth

Traveling Direction – North East

Wind Direction – South West (Strong breeze F6)

Average Speed 5.0 Knots

Top Speed 6.1 Knots Over Ground 

Total distance 4.0 Nautical Miles

Travel Time 1.11 Hours

Crew - Fiona (Loving it apart from the rain)

Missing Work - I do not think So

Expenses - £85 Provisioning and £33 Dinner for 3 

Next Destination – Fowey