Trip on Cleo starting 2019-02-15
West Country winter weekend – report by Ian Collins
Skipper: Ian Collins ; Crew: Dougal Matthews , Richard Trim and Stewart Menzies .
Boat: Bavaria 34 ‘Cleo ’.
I’m not sure what drives me and others like me to have to follow the directive given by John Masefield. Those classic lines “I must go down to the sea again”.
And away we go lemming-like to board small boats in the depth of winter, and casting ourselves upon cold sea water when the majority are surfing their sofas in front of the fire. Perhaps it’s a lack of salt in either blood or air we’re missing; or a primal urge to get in touch with our inner masochist. Whatever or however on the 15th of Februar
y with Stewart at the wheel, Dougal, Richard and I were heading down the M5 to collect Cleo from Richard Brown and motor down the Cattewater to moor at the marina and sensibly spend the evening in the Clovelly Bay. The forecast was promising with winds from the South East at 4 to 5, and temperatures several degrees above a dismal average and we had driven down in sunshine. So there was talk of Salcombe as a destination.
We woke to find yesterday’s weather a glorious memory. The current situation left us looking out of the marina at a wet mist being blown along on our promised south-easterly and visibility limited to the storage silos on the opposite bank. But nothing ventured etc. we ventured out into the Sound to find the more we went out the less we could see as the mist thickened. Sailing past the east end of the breakwater commonsense and the preservation of life recommended using the wall as a transit marker so we headed west. Coming to the lighthouse we sailed to clear it and promptly lost it. We tacked about and shortly after we had our wall once more. At an estimated half way along we turned north and as we came closer to landfall so a hazy apparition of Drakes Island became apparent on the port side. Closer in and Smeatons Tower was seen and as the day moved on the weather and visibility closer inshore made it possible to spend time sailing hither and thither wearing the sheets and sails out tacking and gybing without freezing.
The evening was taken up with a test run at the Borringdon now under new management. It’s acceptable Pub Grub, decent beer and the staff were pleasant. Although the meals were smaller no one complained about the quantity, or the price which was cheaper than at the Clovelly. But there if you don’t book, you don’t get in at the Clovelly and the menu choice is a lot more interesting.
The Sabbath dawned with precious little in its favour or improvement on the day before. Close in the visibility was reasonable but beyond the breakwater it was hard to discern where sea mist and sea parted company. I have no love of the guide dog and white stick school of navigation so we opted for a gentle river cruise, some engine, some canvas and doing so we visited Izzy Brunel’s bridge, avoided the Torpoint ferries, and returned to moor on the returned but relocated large yellow buoys now further north of Drakes Island. There we had lunch aboard, tidied up and from there returned Cleo to Richard at Yacht Haven Quay.
With its usual perversity from the moment we returned the boat the weather got better and we did a fair amount of our drive home in glorious sunshine. So I thank the crew for its perseverance, fortitude and good humour which turned what could have been a miserable couple of days into a good and enjoyable weekend on the water.