Weekend from Plymouth, Nov 21 – 23 – report by Bill Barnes

Ian Collins, Rhian Phillips, Jade Barnes and Bill Barnes

‘Cherry-B’ is a Bavaria 34, which Ian and Rhian have chartered from Plymouth Sailing School before for other trips.We checked tide and weather predictions for the charter period; with wind expected southerly veering northerly, and chose to go east to avoid battling a headwind.  That direction suggested Salcombe as the destination.  The chart and pilot book described the entrance into this unfamiliar (to me) port over a bar that would be comfortable when approached at high tide in daylight.We provisioned, then moved the boat from the school pontoon to just outside the Marina restaurant for the night. The winds on Saturday were very light, and the motor was needed to drive us eastward.  We diverted to Burgh Island, with its iconic 1930s hotel, for a lunch stop where we mooched and drifted while we heated and ate the meat pies we had bought the night before.We then continued sailing on to Salcombe, Jade at the helm "Ian are we moving? I have seen the same tree for ages", "Yes Jade we are making 2knots and not in any hurry as it is hours before high tide". Nearing high tide and still in daylight, we rounded Bolt Head, dropped the saggy sails and re-started the motor.  The approach, in daylight, was not difficult, and buoyage very clear after the first turn.  Taking advantage of the unpopularity of winter sailing, we tied up on the Whitestrand Quay pontoon, which is limited to 30-mins shopping trips in summer.  We found Salcombe welcoming, though over-gentrified and not cheap.  An evening at the Victoria inn, in the timeless words of Gerard Hoffnung, saw us "well fed up and agreeably drunk".Catching high water on Sunday saw us make an early start.  The return trip was a majestic reach, steering toward the Eddystone, and escorted for a considerable time by a pod of maybe half a dozen dolphins and treated to quite beautiful cloud formations.  We then tacked into Plymouth sound for soup, moored behind Drake island.  Unlike the Saturday, we had used only five minutes of power at each end of the day.Even with generous use of the heater and half Saturday on the engine, fuel cost was only £18 for the 60nm trip in this well maintained boat.  Combining lucky weather with warm clothes, warm food and a warm boat made for a lovely winter weekend.