We spent five days storm-bound in Salcombe, which gave us time to get to know this delightful sailing mecca and we made various trips ashore. On Friday we took the ferry to South Sands, where you land via a sea tractor that comes out across the sands and into the sea to meet the ferry. We then walked up the hill to spend an interesting afternoon at Overbeck’s – an Edwardian House and its sub-tropical garden that is now in the care of the National Trust.We spent a very pleasant evening having dinner at the Salcombe Yacht Club with friends Kit and Pippa. When we were having Antipole built we were considering having her cutter rigged, and Kit and Pippa kindly took us out from Salcombe in their Ovni 395 Kippi, which is cutter rigged. In the end we chose bermudan rig. Each time the wind gets up uncomfortably I wish we had gone for cutter rig – but each time we need to tack up a channel I am glad we did not.
On Saturday we visited the Egremont, which is moored near by. The Egremont was once a Mersey ferry (think Gerry & the Pacemakers) but is now HQ of the Island Sailing Club. As well as serving club members, it is a base for their sail training activities. They have groups of children, often from disadvantaged backgrounds, living aboard for a week, learning to sail on their fleet of dinghies, etc. It seems a very worthwhile enterprise, although the amount of maintenance to keep the old ship functioning is daunting.
On Sunday the wind had finally eased and we set out westwards to Fowey. We had a stiff sail into a south westerly force 5 with occasional rain and which rose to force 6+ as we neared the end. We grabbed a mooring buoy in Fowey harbour and have just enjoyed an excellent supper of stuffed peppers – thank you Ynskje!
We have started posting our track log for this cruise.
that’s the news for now – with love
Tony & Ynskje