"Champagne" sailing Gull Rock - return - 5 hours!

A perfect day sail!
WNW 15 to 20 knots. Close reach across Falmouth Bay, Gerrans Bay and Veryan Bay under blue skies and a flat sea. 26M.

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Isles of Scilly

With visitors gone, a busier bank holiday weekend approaching and easterlies for 36 hours forecasted with neap tides, David and Julie planned a passage to St Agnes in Scilly.  A waning moon meant a 0400 departure in the dark was feasible.  We motor sailed to the Lizard and shot around on the tide as the forecast south easterly filled in, carrying us well beyond Wolf Rock before dying.  

Several pods of dolphins were seen en route.

A further 7 miles motor sailing found us off The Cove, between St Agnes and Ghue, waiting for two faster boats to anchor.  "Susan J" nosed closer in to find sand in 4 metres.  This was a rolling anchorage but safe.  

After a 13 hour, 60 M passage, we still had time and daylight to walk around Ghue, only possible since the previous week, as it is a nesting site for a large number of black backed gulls and other seabirds.  The adolescent chicks, were constantly squealing and fighting resulting in lots of corpses under foot but excellent blackberries!

From St Agnes, which we walked around and across the following day, could be seen the Western Isles and Bishop Rock lighthouse.  Here seen between the many pink granite tors found throughout.  On returning to our dinghy on the spit between the two Islands, following a pint at the The Turks Head, we, almost literally, bumped into Trevor and Marion, not seen since our Plymouth days. They had just arrived, by ferry from Penzance, to stay on the St Agnes for a few days.  We enjoyed catching up with them at their borrowed holiday home in the "town". Both now retired but sadly no longer sailing. We were delighted to hear, upon our return, that the "Scillonian III" had been repaired, so hopefully they got back to Ivybridge in the end!

 After two nights of rolling in the westerly atlantic swell, refracting around the plateau, which forms Scilly and into The Cove, we weighed anchor for St Helens Sound.  A short but fraught passage around St Marys, passing a large cruise ship anchored in Broad Sound, before careful pilotage at the right state of tide and in good visibility along several bearings to transits.  Once there, one is rewarded with a large area of smooth deep water over a sandy bottom, with a wide choice of rocks to shelter behind. The outer reefs to the NW of Tresco and St Helens, awash with breaking seas and spray, afford almost complete relief from the ubiquitous swell and relative seclusion.  From this delightful and peaceful open anchorage, we were able to use our dinghy and outboard to walk around St Helens, from the summit of which, a good view of the other Islands was afforded.  We went on to walk around Tean and the following day, St Martins.

 Julie, with Round Island and it's lighthouse in the background.  The picture does not do justice to the overwhelming smell of heather honey, found on these outlying Islands.  

Now uninhabited, St Helens was the quarantine station for Scilly, with the remains of a substantial dwelling, water well and other appurtenances, to afford only basic comfort to those surviving for six months before being allowed on to the other Islands.

St Martins seen from Tean.  The Lichens, throughout Scilly are very prolific being subject to virtualy no airborne pollution.   

 On St Martins, the bays to the northeast were deep in fine sand and at there western end, sheltered by White Island from the swell.  Despite the light rain, Julie and David enjoyed a swim, before continuing to walk around the whole Island, visiting the daymark, replenishing ourselves with tea, buying stores at the post office and bakery, before a pint at the Seven Stones Inn.  Once again, as at St Agnes, we bumped into the crew of "Tern", a blue water cutter seen laid up at Penryn. She was sailing in company with another sloop, skippered by Graham, our yard manager! They were both anchored, snuggly off Tean Island but would have to move as the spring tides meant insufficient water. 

 
"Susan J" with Old Grimsby, on Tresco, in the background

 Sunset at St Martins Sound

 With potentially strong westerlies forecasted for as early as the next day, we decided to move, as our present anchorage could only be left at high tide and would prevent us leaving with favourable tides at the Lizard.  As we left the two other Falmouth yachts moved to the deeper water of St Helens Sound. 

Here we are alone on the second day at Watermill Cove.

The forecast improved so we were able to take two long walks around the northern half of St Marys

and have a swim.  By this stage we had managed to rig the new, replacement Zodiac dinghy, with lines to enable the two of us to lift her.  Certainly this replacement was not nearly as good quality, or as handy, as the original 20 year old, leaky, "deflatable", Zodiac, of the same model it replaced.

By Thursday, it was clear that we would need to be back in Falmouth Bay by Friday evening, with strong winds forecast.  An early start on Friday morning would entail leaving the Islands in complete darkness, as the moon was new.  On the other hand a departure at dusk the night before would mean an overnight crossing with more flexibility in catching the substantial spring tide around the Lizard, if necessary before dawn but still entering harbour in daylight.  Julie had undertaken an almost identical passage from St Agnes several years ago as part of her RYA training.  With one reef in the mainsail and the working jib we were running east at around five knots and, with in an hour, could identify Wolf Rock and soon after the Longships, Tater Du then the loom of the Lizard light. At daybreak we reached through the overfalls and could see the nine anchored cargo ships off Coverack, "waiting for orders" and providing a "highway" to Manacle buoy and Falmouth. Another 13 hour passage, without major incident.

We had had six nights of "free parking" anchored around Scilly.  The downside is no water and no showers.  Several sea swims made up for the latter but we realised that, with only one of her two tanks full at the start of this cruise and despite introducing Julie to washing up in seawater, we would need to replenish the water soon.  So we arrived off Falmouth Haven's fuel barge, rather sleepily, at 0930 and filled both water tanks and topped off the diesel.  A brisk beat against 25 knots of wind across to the Helford and we were safely moored once more.