Maiden Voyage, final leg: Dartmouth to Salcombe
DecaDance's Web Diary
Chris White and Jeanna Coleman
Mon 4 Oct 2010 16:53
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GPS Position: 50:15.02N 003:45.39W
- Salcombe Visitors Pontoon
Weather: Cracking the flags, 18degC, blue skies, has Mother Nature forgotten what month this is? Monday the 4th October
We anticipated that Bold Explorer would be out on a sailing
course the next morning and, sure enough, Tank banged on our hull at 8:45 when
we were still sparked out. Bleary-eyed, we moved off to allow her to leave
and then saw the sign saying you had to leave the pontoon at 8:45. We
docked briefly alongside another pontoon for a quick cuppa and spotted John in a
tender so I cadged a lift to shore. The boys were taking DecaDance to
Salcombe and I was picking the car up from home. As there was an hour to
wait for the bus (I wanted one final journey on the prettiest bus route in
England, especially on such a glorious day), I parked myself in the
sunshine outside the Station Cafe just in time to watch DecaDance
glide by. Wow, she looked magnificent and it's a good job there was no one
around at the time, as I'm not sure I could have stopped myself pointing and
shouting "that's my boat that is, that's my boat!"
The boys goose-winged the sails as they came out of Dartmouth
but then the wind was back on the nose to cross Start Bay so they switched the
engine on and 'enjoyed' a breakfast of curry pot noodles and red
grapes. Chris pointed out the Skerriest (Skerries) buoy to
Andy, renamed by me on my Day Skipper course when I was tasked to
find it in the dark (it's unlit), and it scared the life out of me as it emerged
out of the black 'cos I was expecting a buoy the size of a football and it's the
size of a garden shed!
When I joined them at Salcombe they were doing a great job of
cleaning the boat down and packing up the cases - perfect timing!
Chris let Andy move DecaDance to the visitors' pontoon and
Phil, who less than a week ago was one of Chris's colleagues (is it less
than a week since Chris retired? It feels like a lifetime
already!), ferried us ashore.
It felt like a summer's day as we ate lunch on the terrace of
the King's Arms overlooking Salcombe harbour, an amazing end to the very
beginning of our adventures. Andy was a great help and really good company
and we think he enjoyed it as he decided he wasn't in a rush to get home after
all and stayed another night. We were beginning to wonder if we'd ever get
rid of him! Only joking Andy, thanks a million and we look forward to
seeing you again very soon. |