Crossing back Fog!

A 06:30 start to catch the ebb out of the River Trieur and the west going tide.  The promised force 3-4 south-westerly never materialised but warm sunshine eventually did!

Bretagne and French courtesy flags shipped, as we enter international waters!

The little wind there was was from behind and negated by the engine.  We sailed for just two hours of the twenty four. Although "Otto", seen here on the right, steered tirelessly, while the crew read!

At one point, a four foot long, writhing, very black snake was seen slithering along the surface of the sea after being disturbed.

I see no ships!

"Otto" still going strong and basking in the sunset!

By dusk, the Start Point light was made out and, after a short, peaceful night, with a very bright Jupiter behind us and some phosphorescence as we disturbed the oily swells, the lights of Plymouth were bracketed by recognisable cliffs at dawn about 10 miles away with the Eddystone to port.

As the dawn coloured, and we could see well into the Sound, it became apparent that the horizon had got much nearer, the land and lights dissolved and we were in dense fog!  With the engine idling quietly, we just about heard three vessels pass within 0. 2 M, according to the radar which was used for the first time in anger. Fitted by previous owners, we had regarded the radar as a rather "over the top" accessory, only useable on shore power. We were grateful that David had spent some time playing with it while motoring the previous day.  AIS is also useful but would not have helped in two out of these three "close quarters" situations, wherewe had to turn to starboard. The aerosol foghorn, already aboard, was useless, subsequent analysis revealed it should be pumped to 100 psi at a garage, if you wished to indicate you are under sail rather than power. Our humble £5.00 affair, once we realised that it was not a flute, was more effective!

After half an hour in the fog, the radar and plotter also confirmed that the tide was setting us only a mile off the Mew Stone. Entering Plymouth Sound was out of the question but the sun was shining with blue sky above.  The safest thing to do seemed to be to sail in the slight breeze to the southeast towards Falmouth, across the entrance and hopefully avoid fewer boats and away from the land.  In the event and much to the relief of all, the fog cleared revealing several nearby targets including the breakwater, which had eluded the radar, being near high tide.

 A relieved Julie!  As we, belatedly, headed through the western channel and the Bridge to the Mayflower Marina, where David docked sprit first, as advised  after trying to back in to the allocated pontoon, against the tide.

Our intention had been to restock with provisions at Treguier.  However, apart from two dubious bagguettes from the bar, nothing was available, it being Ascension Day !  Despite this, a one pot meal from tins and leftovers, supplemented the marmalade baguettes and sustained the whole crew.  Who, after the wonderful "ensuite showers" (bath in Julie's case) found the mandatory breakfast at "Jolly Jack" 's all the more welcome.

We said goodbye to Matt and Rosie, who faced a nine hour journey back to Poole by train.  They had been excellent crew and experienced a wide range of cruising under sail, including a Channel crossing, in a very few days and, hopefully, are not put off!  Credit to Rosie for many of today's photographs culled (at last!) from "WhatsApp".

This was taken by a friendly neighbour at the Mayflower Marina.