Plymouth to Fowey and back 26-28 July 2019 – report by Jerzy Wieczorek

Skipper: Jerzy Wieczorek. Crew:Alan Gray, Paul Eyers, Paula Gray, Sonia Russé and Stuart Omond

Boat: Bavaria 36, ‘Deyenu’

Plymouth to Fowey and back. How often have you heard that story? Is it the club’s most common trip? Are you bored yet? I weighed-up the options for this weekend carefully, but with the winds that were forecast – NW backing W Force 3-4 both days, the attractions of a first longer day windward followed by a pleasant run back seemed indisputable. So Fowey it was!

Deyenu is a lovely boat – a deep-keel Bavaria, well equipped and in very good condition. She has a chart plotter at the helm, which we didn’t use at all, but she’s also equipped with radar, which would prove very handy in fog. The only fault was the lack of a teapot.

With handover complete and crew all present, we strolled over to the Barbican for a fish supper at Platters, then a drink or two.

The following morning, we made ready to set off. A little mystery was encountered in that the halyard which, as usual, had been led to the end of the boom, appeared to be tied to the top-lift shackle by a piece of cord – an arrangement that confused us all. A phone-call to Liberty gave the answer – it was a soft-shackle – a knot that could be used to fasten the end of the halyard to the head of the mainsail. With halyard in place, we set off and hoisted the sails as soon as we’d passed the Mountbatten Pier.

With a reasonable north-westerly wind we made best course to windward staying on a starboard tack until we were as far south as (but quite a way west of) the Eddystone light. The sea was quite lumpy that far out, and we were well heeled over, so a reef was put in. We then headed back towards Fowey in a series of tacks, eventually resorting to the engine for the last couple of miles to ensure we arrived at a reasonable time. The harbourmaster led us to a convenient berth on the lifeboat quay. We went to the Lugger, for a meal and lively conversation. All good. After all, Fowey is a lovely place to be.

On Sunday we were up at around 7am for a cooked breakfast and 0900 departure. The promised north westerly failed to materialise. Instead there was a light breeze from the south, no more than a F2, and the sea was glassy. The sails remained hoisted, and the wind filled them, but it was motoring all the way to Plymouth. When the time came to furl the Genoa, we were faced with a jammed Furlex mechanism. The skipper and Alan managed to sort that out with a bit of dismantling and reassembly, but there was no time left for our original plan to have lunch while moored to one of the buoys north of Drake Island, so it was straight back to QAB marina, lunch, clean-up and handover.

The fuel pontoon at QAB is no more. It has been condemned! Consequently, Liberty allows you to bring the boat back without refuelling and will charge you £3.50 per engine hour but doesn’t levy a refuelling charge. It seemed a reasonable deal and saved us time so that’s what we opted for.

We logged 37nm on the way out and 22 on the way back. 59 in total.