Weekend from Plymouth, April 3  – 5, report by skipper Alan Howells 

The crew was Claire Milner  , Sharon Scurlock  , Rob Umfreville  and Mike Berry  , aboard the SO 37 “Aludra”  from QAB Marina, Plymouth.

We left QAB at 8 pm on the Friday, with the fuel gauge showing fullWith a F 4-5 wind on the nose we tacked to St Austell Bay, when it veered to the NW and we stayed on the same tack until 2½ miles off Falmourh, when we tacked in arriving at 0600. We left at 1200, being charged just the 2-hour stay rate of £6 plus a can of beer for the card to access the facilities. It was lovely weather for a sail to Fowey, very clear and sunny, reaching in a NW wind in flat water. At the entrance to Fowey the engine stopped. We picked up a mooring buoy under headsail in a fickle wind, and phoned Liberty who said to call Sea Start. We went ashore in the dinghy to Polruan, and ate in the Rusel (very good) after finding the quayside pub full. On returning to the boat the Eberspacher heater wouldn’t start, suggesting a fuel problem.

The Sea Start engineer arrived at 0800 Sunday, and announced that, despite the full reading on the fuel gauge, the tank was empty. He added a canful, then had to change the filter and use a vacuum pump to get the fuel flowing. After 4 hours, the engine started and we could leave. By now the wind had died and we motored gently on a glassy sea. Then a slight S breeze came up and we sailed in brilliant sunshine for a time, then motored from Rame Head. The engine hours meter hadn’t recorded, so we negotiated £5 payment for the fuel we had used, leaving Liberty to refill the supposedly empty tank.

Secretary’s note: The following week we heard from Liberty that the tank was actually full, and after Alan sent a full report negotiations are currently under way regarding Sea Start’s apparent misdiagnosis and the costs incurred.