Weekend 17 – 19 September 2010 from Plymouth – report by Don Hirst

Skipper : Bryan Thomas. Crew: Pam Thomas, Don Hirst, Jenny Ball, Nick Kinsley, Phil Watkin, Chris Baxendale (Called away).

The crew of “Ready Ssaltd” a Sun Odyssey 40 assembled Friday and went to the Marina bar where we stayed all night and socialised with the crew of “Moonshine”, nothing new there then.

Saturday some of the crew went for emergency supplies of lemons to prevent scurvy and picked up some G&T to take the taste away. Safety brief over we motored out of QAB in light airs to join “Moonshine” at Plymouth breakwater. On passing Draystone PHM we set course for Fowey. “Moonshine” set an example by cutting their engine and sailing away, closely followed by “Ready Ssaltd” once the crew had finished morning coffee, served in style by the Skipper, and the dinghy sailors in the crew had sorted the bits of string out.

The wind filled in nicely up to SW F3 making it a beautiful sail to Fowey with smooth seas. In a reversal of fortune from previous trips, the prestige of mooring in the company of BSA crews has spread. It seemed that all the yachts within cruising distance sought to join us, Fowey was full. Fortunately “Moonshine” had secured a visitors buoy so we rafted with them. The eagle eyed harbourmaster soon spotted additional revenue, motored over and was quite happy to take our money for mooring rafted up. We settled down to pre-dinner drinks having agreed with “Moonshine” to have dinner in Fowey. We radioed the water taxi to be collected in 20 minutes, but it was a case of be ready in 5 minutes or swim. The Taxi was across in 2 minutes; the driver who collected his £50 return fee was smoking a huge cigar. There was some speculation as to whether the size of his cigar was related to the size of his bank balance or some other attribute. “Sams”, a regular BSA hostelry, was full so we back tracked to “The Galleon” and had a very good dinner and crew socialising. “The Galleon” is worthy of listing as a “Port of Refuge” if “Sams” is full, if not as primary objective in its own right.

Sunday we left Fowey at 10.30 in company with “Moonshine” and had a spirited sail back to Plymouth in a SW F4 arriving at QAB refuelling barge at 13.30 only to be told the attendant was not available until 14.15 so we moored to the pontoon for lunch so as not to lose our place in the fuel queue. We cleaned “Ready Ssaltd” which was well presented, even though the sails were not in the first flush of youth. There was a query over the state of charge of the batteries when we took the boat over. It is not possible to do an accurate check when the batteries have just been taken off shore power charging. When pressed Simon of Liberty admitted the people who had the yacht before us on Friday had left the batteries flat.

The crew thanked Pam for allowing Bryan, all be it under strict supervision, to skipper a very enjoyable trip.