Bank Holiday weekend August 24-27 f  rom Plymouth – report by ian Collins

Skipper: Ian Collins  . Crew: Richard Trim  , Stewart Menzies  and Dougal Matthews  .

Boat: Bavaria 34 ‘Cleo  ’

With the boat booked for the Bank Holiday we had three days ahead as Rich Trim and I set out from Bristol with mainly traffic on our minds. Sometimes fortune plays tricks and we met no hold ups, pile ups or even upsets as we made our way into Plymouth Station to collect Stewart Menzies arriving by train after disembarking a yacht in Falmouth. Dougal Mathews was to join us later at the Marina and regrettably Ian Gamble had to cancel at the last minute as family required his presence.

The promise of fair winds and weather from the south and west confirmed my decision to make for Torquay and a good meal and a few drinks in the Clovelly Bay made it even seem like a good idea as we returned to the Marina and a night tucked up on Cleo.

The word best suited to sum up our Saturday start must be little; with little sun, little waves, and very little in the way of wind. Ever optimistic we raised the main sail. It flapped, it fluffed but as we turned to the East at the Mewl Stone it filled sufficiently to offer the engine a little assistance. We headed away from shore and further out found just a little more wind so added the Genoa to the mix to add around half a knot. We tried to retire the engine on several occasions but to no avail. So with Torquay as our destination and the current against us most of the way it was 1500 revs and all we could take from whatever wind we could find. For all that it was an easy passage over an easy sea to find ourselves in Torbay bathed in late afternoon sunshine.

This summer idyll was ruined by a large French yacht that tore past us as we motored to the harbour and helped itself to the mooring we had been directed to. We stooged and assessed our position. The French had rafted in our place to a large Swedish yacht. Close behind the Swede on the wave break pontoon was a small, possibly 26/27ft yacht of doubtful provenance and seaworthiness finished in a mix of lichen and seagull poo. Finally, moored up on the end was a large steel trawler. We used the yacht as a wedge; and this allowed our stern to override the trawlers bow. We then made an inspection of the wedges mooring lines and decided for our sake and his safety we would attach directly to the pontoon and re attach him as well with our lines. We then spent a very pleasant evening with a continental feel in the air, as we ate Italian alfresco. Then we redressed the balance with British Beer in a traditional ale house. I must make a point of saying this, the trawler left around 0400 with hardly any disturbance at all. I was impressed, and thankful.

Why Torquay? On the Sunday of the August Bank Holiday the annual Cowes to Torquay power boat race is held. Before I continue let me say that if all powerboats sank tomorrow, and there are occasions when I wish they would, I would shed narry a tear. But if you like a bit of the spectacular in your life then the 1400 mass start of the return leg is really something to behold.

So Sunday dawned in true West Country fashion. It bore as much resemblance to Saturday as I do to Kim Jong-un if you discount the waistline. If it wasn’t gusting over 40knts it was either blanketing the bay in cloud so low it cut visibility to around 50mtrs and occasionally raining. The race was terminated at Weymouth and the disappointed drifted home. We mooched around town then ate a Chilli con carne aboard and turned in for an early night ready for an even earlier start.

Devon can certainly deliver diversity when it comes to weather, and our start was hopeful. The weather ignored the forecast so we motor sailed once more to Salcombe but commonsense prevailed as we turned across Bigbury Bay so we rolled away the sails and chugged steadily toward Plymouth over a lively sea, but this time with the current on our side, arriving back mid afternoon.

I would like to thank the crew for their forbearance with the weather, and their company and application both on the boat and the pub made it overall an enjoyable weekend.