Our crew-mate, Geoff Norwood, wrote this trip up for the Bristol Sailing Association newsletter.

Having tried to get to Scilly in ’22 with BSA, and discussed it for a while, I decided to take a 10-day window to give more chance of making it. With crew a little thin on the water I asked Steve Greenham from GSA, who was trying to make a similar passage to Channel Islands if we should merge. He was happy to head west and was able to conscript his wife Debbie and a friend Richard Hoyland from the dinghy club to make a good crew for the 2 cabin boat, and Steve took the skipper’s hat.

We were due to set out on Thursday 22^nd but a rapidly deepening storm, now named Lilian was inexorably heading for the west coast with forecast winds of over 35 kts overnight. We all decided that there was no point in being tossed around on the marina so we agreed to delay until Friday lunchtime when the forecast was more favourable.

Debbie kindly arranged the provisions, and we met at the marina ready to go. The weather was certainly more amenable, with good visibility and a SW 4 ish so we made good progress westwards with a fairly unremarkable, if a little lumpy, passage to Fowey. There was no room on the shore-based jetties, so we slotted onto the end of the visitors’ pontoon in midstream. Having provisioned for a potential long passage we decided to eat on board and get to know one another.

The next morning the wind was freshening again but this gave us an excellent close reach out to Dodman – fully rigged and making very good progress. After tacking, the SSW was favourable for an exciting ride towards Falmouth with the wind increasing steadily, the sailplan correspondingly reducing, and we approach St Anthony Head with gusts approaching 30 kts, but a nicely balanced boat and a satisfactory passage. It was fairly clear we’d be there for a day or so, so we decided to take a marina spot tucked in under the maritime museum. Let’s just say – it is VERY shallow on the approach from the North. The marina has good facilities a little inland from the pontoon and Falmouth was well known to Richard. We woke the next day to find a magnificent classic private motor yacht moored on the outside of the pontoon –

Originally built in the 1930s she has been restored “including new frames and plating” – is this ‘Trigger’s Broom’ in nautical form?

With F6-7 forecast all day, and squally rain blasting across the Carrick Roads it was not a day for heading around the Lizard. We thought we had spotted a potential watering hole for lunch upstream of the King Harry Ferry, so we motored up in ever-changing conditions, only to find that the ‘Smugglers Cottage’ was no longer a public building. It had apparently been a base for Eisenhower during preparations for D-Day. We picked up a vacant buoy for an hour in a sunny respite and enjoyed a lunch on deck. On a relatively low tide we picked our way back along the twisting channel to the same berth in Falmouth.

So it was Monday before we were able to press on westwards. A clear illustration that a week is a very tight window to attempt a (leisurely) trip to Scilly, and we were glad that we still had enough time for a good chance of making it there, with lighter winds set for later in the week. We topped up with a few gallons of fuel and set sail. It was a bright clear day and the wind was still in the SSW, so a long starboard tack took us well to seaward of Manacles and eventually The Lizard. Tacking onto port a good 2 miles off in a light F3 we were aiming to Newlyn. I’ve only once before been around the Lizard (40 years back) and I was surprised to find us, even in the slack tide and light wind, in a fairly uncomfortable, steep 2 metre+ chop. Nothing breaking, but nonetheless an eye-opener to maybe give it a bit more offing if the conditions were less benign. Once safely into Mounts Bay, and on a beam reach in a pleasant F3-4 we approached Newlyn passing St Michael’s Mount. We radioed in for a berth, as space is limited, and were lucky to be ahead of 2 other yachts for a space on the hammerhead of one of the newish pontoons. The harbour is very much fishing oriented, but the harbour master was on hand to give all the yachts a secure berth. There are new visitors’ facilities in the RYA building, and we topped up water in preparation for maybe a few days without an alongside berth.

So – a decision was made to ‘go for it’ on Tuesday with a SSW F3-5 forecast. An early start, we nosed out of Newlyn:

 We were soon off the Runnel Stone, and with Longships to starboard and Wolf Rock to port we headed into the Atlantic in great sailing conditions with about 25 miles to run to the entrance of St Mary’s Sound. The boat, although only 34’ is a comfortable sail, and handled the lengthening swells well at easily 6kts in a freshening breeze. By early afternoon the F5 had increased and we were reducing sail again. Once again the gauge indicated 30kts and we had 2 reefs in both sails as we headed into some choppy water, with a lot a ducking of the heavy spray over the bow. I was very impressed with the balance of the boat under these conditions, and we all held on, taking the helm, and eventually spotting the welcome Penninis lighthouse marking the southerly entrance to the Sound. Wind and waves dropped as we approached, and with the sun shining we carefully followed the well-charted transits into the islands, and around into St Mary’s Pool to the north of Hugh Town. The promised fine weather was beginning to set in, and we decide to enjoy the tranquil evening on board, watching a few bedraggled craft come in who looked like they may not have avoided the heavy weather that had passed over recently.

We took the rather expensive water taxi ashore the next morning for a few supplies and a look around. It’s a very ‘quaint’ feel, with none of Cornwall’s bustling tourism. Even in the ‘capital’ there was little by way of infrastructure but some fine views and the famous sub-tropical palms:

The whole archipelago is only around 6 miles across, so there is no significant passage-making to be done. We planned just to drop in on the major islands as the conditions suited. The Turk’s Head, the most south-westerly pub in UK, is on the isle of St Agnes and with full summer now on us for the day the 2-mile hop was made in the afternoon, dropping anchor just off the pub. There are some moorings in the bay, but a call to the pub indicated that they weren’t really man-enough for sailing yachts. The landlord suggested if we were staying overnight that we’d be more comfortable in the southern bay, ‘The Cove’, literally a few hundred yards to the south – across a sandbar linking the isle of Gugh. We hauled anchor and motored around to the pretty and secure sandy bay, anchoring within a striking distance of the bars (both sandy and beery).

Being just a few metres outside the exclusion zone for the airport I was able to put up my drone for a few shots of us in this idyllic little anchorage:

We took the tender, with its temperamental engine onto the sandbar, and a short walk to the most excellent little pub with local beer, well presented food and also catering for vegetarians – this alone was worth the passage. The conversation of the weatherbeaten crew on the next table attracted our attention. They were from the ‘bedraggled’ craft mentioned above and had set out from Cork earlier in the week only to hit F9 in St George’s Channel. The skipper was a little shell- shocked but they were in good spirits, and in just the right place to remind themselves of the GOOD bits about sailing. This anchorage was quiet and safe, and I trust they rested well after their challenge.

We walked to meet Richard, but due to my confusion of Hell Bay Hotel in the south with Hell Bay in the north we missed each other. I was foolishly tempted to a dip in the blue waters of Hell Bay – but the Atlantic doesn’t really warm up despite what they say about the Gulf Stream. A walk up onto the higher points gave us a view out towards the Bishop Rock, and a clear view of the many rocky dangers that it guards us from:

After a demanding half-mile walk back towards the boat we approached the Fraggle Rock Bar where we met up with Richard and toasted the beautiful day and Steve’s celebration. We had given up on the outboard so had to run a shuttle by rowing back to the anchorage.

The settled weather had been great for our time amongst the islands, but the forecast was for absolute calm for the next few days. We had 3 days to get back to the Plymouth base and little chance of sailing, so we decided on an early start on Friday with a plan to get to Fowey in one leg, around 80 miles. A clear calm day duly broke and we set off at 0600 with the moon, stars and planets still visible, the sun rising just an hour later:

Nothing much to say about a day under motor: we ate, chatted, we read, we had a nice cup of tea… Eventually we pass Wolf Rock and approached the Lizard. This time it was truly calm, not even much swell to talk of, and we made our way around the Cornish headlands. We intermittently saw clusters of seabirds amongst disturbances to the water. To our surprise – we expected dolphins – we found small groups of tuna feeding at the surface, their long slender dorsals unmistakeable. I have subsequently read of some Cornish boats being refitted for tuna fishing, so it seems they may become a more established sight on our trips.

As we turned towards the NE, still some 25 miles from Fowey, Debbie called from below that the fuel was looking a bit low. The gauge was around 1/3 but the calculations showed we should easily be able to do the 80 miles, having refilled at Falmouth before leaving. With absolute calm wind there was no room for cutting back on the engine so Steve decided to head for Falmouth instead, only 10 or 12 miles distance. Perhaps a little welcome to be honest after 10hrs chugging, but rather perplexing. Back in Falmouth we refilled and found almost exactly 2 litres per hour run since the last refill – clearly enough to have made the trip back to Fowey had we had confidence/data. (Also a very economical engine). The gauge had indicated some other anomalies as well and this was noted for attention in the log.

So we still had the best part of 2 days to make our way home, and the wind conspicuously absent. Even under motor there are definitely worse places to be than pottering along the coast in fine weather and good visibility.  A rather uneventful run back, with an overnight in Fowey, this time on a mooring. We took the water taxi ashore for a change of scene. The highlight however was a clear sight of a whale surfacing several times just 100m off the beam. None of us were able to identify the species – I’d guess it was around 8-10m in length.  Eventually back in Plymouth on Sunday our last task was an engine oil change. I’m pretty competent with engines, having tended a classic motorcycle for years and grown up with cars that had carburettors and distributors. The task is relatively trivial, but the physical access is difficult. Read the manual – and realise the door to the berth can be easily lifted off its hinges.

The 10 days was perfect for making it to, and exploring, the Scillies. They truly are a beautiful destination and, certainly under the conditions we were there, safe and approachable. Whilst wild, rugged and strikingly stark we found that the pilotage worked perfectly, and the facilities were as we needed.

Thanks to Steve for skippering, Debbie for the victualling and Richard for the company.