Weekend of 20-22 August from Plymouth – report by Naomi Gillingham

Skipper: Alan Howells. Crew: Bob Hayes, Sue Fowle, Sarah Williamson, Damyon English and Naomi Gillingham. (ie for 3 of us our 1st trip with BSA.)

After an elaborate inventory, kit & safety check on the Bavaria 36 “Anodyne” we gobbled down some smoked salmon sandwiches & eagerly awaited our departure from QAB marina in Plymouth..

The forecast had been threatening all week & was by then, (7pm,) foggy, squally, wet with wind F5 Westerly & sea 'moderate'. We debated the pros & cons of setting off westwards that evening vs leaving it till the light of the next am. The visibility was shrinking fast & by 8pm we could barely see 1km. Damyon heard the 1st fog signal & we all heard the one 2mins later as a glimmer of whiteness emerged out of the grey fog & a huge wall of Brittany ferry on our port bow slid by in front of our noses! lt was fairly uncomfortable in a short lumpy sea, & with no compass light functioning we decided to anchor in the shelter of Cawsand bay for the night (with some relief!).

Sat. 21st awoke to more drizzle & some fog with winds W.4-5 gusting 6 at times. Alan cooked us all bacon sarnies for breakfast & we all got togged-up for the passage west which took about 6hrs of beating to windward in a moderately lumpy sea with squalls of heavy rain... Skip said we all made progress with our helming skills..& we took turns to practice various manoeuvres whilst out at sea. Fowey was a welcome haven, bustling with the end of regatta week & we went ashore to join the jazz scene on the old quay & do some shopping. Sadly the evening firework show was postponed due to poor visibility so we enjoyed an evening on board with delicious Moroccan tagine (cooked by Alan), drinks, games & bed.

We awoke on the Sunday to a most picturesque calm bright & sunny morning, but without a breath of wind. The 3 boys rowed to Fowey to shower, whilst the 3 girls had a lovely peaceful breakfast. On return, Alan wanted to kick off straight away (so l think we got the better of them there) & we cast off under motor, with bacon butties appearing en route. Sadly it was too windless to get sails up at all but we were glad of some sun & lovely views of the pretty Cornish coastline. We anchored again in Cawsand bay where a sea scouts triple masted galleon was gleaming in the sun. Some had a v.chilly swim & all enjoyed a tuna salad lunch before returning to berth at 4pm.

What a lovely weekend we'd had l thought. We barely knew each other on Friday, but all got along famously & there was a really nice atmosphere of co-operation, sharing, supporting & learning under the helpful & democratic leadership of our skipper…so thank you to Alan & fellow crew & to BSA for making this possible.