3.4 Ssailing from Plymouth, 5 - 7/10/07.  Report by skipper Bob Buchanan 

Crew: Jane Bromham  , Claire Turner  , Becky Goddard  and Becca Hayward  (BSA) and Paul Ashbee  , Justine Fennel  and Marc Rigot  (Shirehampton SC)

Boat: Bavaria 44 “Bertie  ” from Liberty, QAB, Plymouth.

Friday. We left Q.a.b at 17.30, pulled the Genoa up and sailed out the western entrance towards Rame head. With the wind blowing from the east it was not a good idea to anchor in Cawsand bay, so we sailed around Rame head and into Polhawn cove. We dropped the anchor in 7.5 m of water at 19.30 and then found that the anchor light was not working. The only thing we could do was to leave the nav lights on. That night we had an excellent meal of minced pork and leek, with red wine and real ale, all of which was provided by Becky.

Saturday We upped anchor at 09.15 and headed south to the Eddystone lighthouse. The wind was still easterly F/2. At 10.00 we hove to for breakfast. At 11.30 we were going around the Eddystone and the wind had picked up to F/3. We had been sailing on a reach with s.o.g of up to 7K, and once around the Eddystone we were on a broad reach getting up to 8.5K. It was a warm and almost cloudless day, perfect sailing weather. We also spotted some dolphins in front of us. At 15.00 we were in Fowey and tied up to a visitors mooring. That evening we took the water taxi (£3.50 return) into town. The Royal Fowey yacht club made us very welcome and they served an excellent pint of Doombar. From there we strolled down to the Ship inn, a pub that does some excellent ales and very good meals. If you like scallops, the Ship is definitely worth a try.

From there it was back to the yacht on the last water taxi. Back on board we put on some cd,s, got the wine and beer out and sat out under the stars for a chilled out evening.

Sunday. Jane had taken over as skipper. We slipped our mooring at about 08.30 and moved to the Berrills Yard lifeboat pontoon. The lifeboat was just leaving as we got to the pontoon, hopefully out on a practice run as we had heard nothing on the radio. Paul and Justine had gone ashore on the mandatory pasty run. Once back on board we slipped our moorings at 10.00 and motored out of Fowey. The weather was still easterly F1/2. With the main and Genoa up the best we could sail was about 125°. Plymouth was more or less due east. At 13.30 we were told by Becky the pasties were ready; we hove to and stopped for lunch. (I have never sailed away from Cornwall without pasties and hopefully never will)

With lunch out of the way we set sail again on a course of 075°. After half an hour of sailing we had no option but to put the engine on as we were running out of time to get back. We had to furl the genoa, so a certain person grabbed hold of the winch handle and started to wind furiously. It was left to Jane to tap him on the shoulder and said “I think that you will need this” as she gave him the end of the furling line. He is a very good dinghy sailor but his yacht handling needs a bit of working on. Once past Rame Head we put the sails up and had a very good sail into Plymouth. Going into Q.A.B a fisherman cast out his line and caught our standing rigging. As I was on the wheel I was in two minds what to do, full throttle forward to pull him and his rod in, or go into reverse and stop and untangle his float and hook.

To the dismay of some of the crew I reversed to stop the yacht so that Marc could untangle the fisherman’s line. Marc hooked his finger and needed a bit of first aid in the process (Jane kissed it better for him). As for the fisherman, I stopped because a Bavaria 44 at 25 meters is obviously very hard to see in broad daylight‼

After sorting out this problem we moored up to the fuel pontoon and radioed them. We were told to wait for half an hour. Later a boat pulled up and said it could be a long time before anyone could fill us up. We had no choice but to leave and put “Bertie” back in her berth. We explained the fuel problem to Liberty yachts and Simon said it was an ongoing problem, and it was taking them all day to move the yachts just to fill them up.

An excellent weekend, Thanks to Jane for helping out skippering the yacht, Becky for preventing malnutrition, Claire for being Claire, Paul for most of the pilotage and Justine for getting the most out of the yacht, 8.5knts. And especially for Marc, a top class dinghy sailor, he has only sailed two or three times on a yacht and spent most of the weekend trying to find the trapeze so that he could hike out on it.

Also I would like to say a very big thanks to Becca Hayward, it was her first sail with us (Shirehampton SC/ BSA unofficial sailing weekend). Total nm 58.