Falmouth harbour

While we're in Fowey the wind switched round to SW after many days of easterlies. However we felt it was time to move on. So we left at the beginning of a favourable tide on Thursday afternoon. After many hours of rather tedious sailing into a moderate head wind we finally arrived in Falmouth harbour at about 11pm. Not wanting to try manoeuvring in the marina after dark, we picked  up a buoy at St Mawes, on the east side of the harbour. This morning at first light we moved to a marina in Falmouth as Justin needed to get a train back to Kent.

Readers of this blog concerned for our hygiene will be relieved to know that the restrictions on showers due to Coronavirus enforced in Fowey do not seem to apply in Falmouth. Here, happily, showers are readily available for all the marina's customers.  After doing some general boat cleaning we were joined by Dave and Julie on Susan J. She has had many improvements over the last few years. The picture shows Susan J rafted up next to Bonita on the marina pontoon.

Fowey

Easterly winds are too good waste, and 58 hours and 352 miles after we set out from the Swale we are now in the picturesque little Cornish port of Fowey. The picture shows Bonita on one of the visitors' moorings. 

This, like many seaside towns, is perhaps better appreciated from the  water . We went ashore and found crowds of people everywhere. Few seemed to be wearing masks. Presumably many of those who might normally have spent half term relaxing on a foreign beach (or maybe in an airport departure lounge)  are discovering the bracing delights of a holiday at home. 

Some shops sell so many things of no practical use at such high prices that you wonder how they balance the books.  The showers in the yacht club are closed due to the risk of coronavirus, but we were unsure about whether this was truly evidence based. Many of the pubs and restaurants were fully booked so it was with some relief that, notwithstanding our unwashed state, we found a very welcome meal in the Royal Fowey Yacht Club. 

Under way!

Tempted by a few days of Easterly winds forecast, Justin and I cast off from Bonita's mooring on the Swale at 4am and sunset now finds us rolling along with all sail set off Beachy Head. Passing Dover we saw hardly any of the usual ferry traffic, presumably as a result of Covid.The photo shows our fine new topsail made by Wilkinson sails of Faversham.This topsail replaces a home made one that I had altered often but was never very satisfactory. 

Out of the creek

 John helped me take Bonita out of Faversham creek and onto her mooring today. There were blue skies but a brisk easterly wind with plenty of wind chill factor made us think that perhaps we were beginning the season a little early.  However the yard have started moving various sailing barges in and out of the floating docks, and though they are always very careful, I feel it is easier all round if Bonita is not in the way when these much larger boats are on the move.  

                                                            Waiting for the tide

The picture shows a glimpse of Bonita with her dinghy astern, winter covers off, spars in place and mainsail bent on, just waiting for the rising tide to float her off the mud.  It turned out to be not quite that simple: a comforting cushion of soft mud had accumulated all around her during the winter months. Also with high pressure over the North Sea, the high tide did not seem quite as high as I was expecting. However with the engine pushing and four of us on ropes pulling we eventually managed to carve a groove in the mud and get her out into deeper water in the middle of the creek. After that we managed to motor out to her mooring on the Swale without disturbing the mud any more.

So what of the new season? After last year when with all the restrictions Bonita didnt even get out of the Swale, we are hoping for something a bit more active this summer. With all the anxieties about Brexit and Covid, foreign trips are probably not a good idea, but we do hope to get in some coastal sailing.

Lockdown projects

 Being unable to visit the boat, our garage at home is cluttered with various bits of boat gear in various stages of being dismantled and/or restored. Lets hope its not too long before they all go back on the boat where they belong.

I bought the cabin clock home as it has been behaving erratically and needs a bit of TLC. As with so many things to do with Bonita, it has a bit of history. It originally came with a boat my brother Tim bought in the early 1970s. She was the Huzure, a 31 foot Fred Shepherd designed bermudian cutter built in 1937. Tim bought her with his friend Justin to do a bit of blue water ocean sailing. Having set out from the river Swale Huzure's cruise sadly came to an unfortunate end in 1977 when she was wrecked on Lady Elliot Island at the southern end of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The cabin clock was among the items Tim salvaged from the wreck and it subsequently completed its circumnavigation in a packing case in the hold of a much larger ship.

Huzure on the Swale in 1975

Wind-up clockwork marine clocks such as this seem to be hard to get today, and most boats now seem to have the quartz battery powered type. I took the clock to our local high street jewellers and despite the fact that they had several vintage-looking clocks on display, they clearly weren't keen to take it on: I was told  that they have to be sent away, minimum charge £300 and don't expect to see it again for at least 3 months. 

This seemed a pessimistic approach to what is basically a fairly simple piece of mechanism. For a considerably smaller sum I bought a set of miniature jewellers screwdrivers and after a couple of hours work, adjustment  and general cleaning the clock now seems to be running as it should. Of course ticking away on a stationary shelf in a warm dry house is rather different from being fastened to a bulkhead on the boat, but with luck this well travelled little clock will keep going for a few more years.