Cruising for Enterprising types

Digital image

Eager to try these out I made a recce of Bucklers Hard with a view to launching there after visiting the 2013 Beaulieu boat jumble. On the Monday I tacked up the river to Beaulieu on the flood which was quite gusty on some of the bends. I entered the pool at the village suddenly without any idea of where to moor. Luckily I was soon in the wind shadow of the old mill buildings so had plenty of time to select wooden pilings near a slip.
I bought food for the evening and following day and then set off for Bucklers Hard with only the jib as I was wary of having to gybe if it was still gusty on the river. It wasn’t and the wind died so up went the main. Eventually I ghosted onto the pontoon, put the tent up, cooked and spent a rather cold night in a three-season sleeping bag. On Tuesday it was bright with a moderate breeze. I sailed with a friend down the river, we stopped for lunch on Needs Ore Sailing Club pontoon then out to the Dolphin and back to Bucklers Hard. A really good sail – why were all the other boats motoring?
In July I spent a couple of weeks with the NW branch of the Dinghy Cruising Association in the Falmouth area based on Trethem Mill camp site and St Just Creek. They took one look at my Enterprise and said we’re not going in that, they capsize. Not with 90kg of sand in the bottom, I said.
My goal was to sail up to Truro. The forecast was southerly and not too strong on the chosen day. The boat flew up the Fal gybing easily when required, passed King Harry’s Ferry, Smugglers, various large ships, pontoons, moorings, Malpas, then I was in unknown territory. The plan was to arrive at approx HW but I was running early; not much water and too much mud.

Cooking on a solid fuel stove clamped to the aft thwart

It looked as if the river stopped at each bend until you could see around it, then a huge industrial quay came into view with a cathedral further on. I reached the ferry quay but had to wait over an hour for the mud to disappear and let me tie up.
Returning from Charlotte’s Tea Rooms I had to vacate my quayside steps to allow three ferries to turn round. When the last had left I followed. Not easy due to buildings, width of navigable water and the wind in the wrong direction. Sometimes sailing, sometimes rowing, often aground. Sigh of relief, Malpas in sight and a nice starboard reach. It should be easy now.
Then my Bermuda Triangle moment! The river Fal had disappeared behind my back and I was on a mission up the Tresillian River expecting it to get wider and deeper at the next bend… and the next. When I couldn’t sail any further, or row any further I got out and started to pull the boat. I could see large low buildings ahead – must be a yacht club! My phone rang. “Where are you?” “I’ll tell you exactly in a moment.” As I opened my GPS I could see the water flowing over my feet – but it was flowing in the wrong direction! This explained all the other strange phenomena I has noticed and wondered at.

Bottom boards raised to make a platform for an air bed

On a happier note I spent another night (planned this time) in the boat tent at anchor. After exploring Restronguet Creek, the wind had dropped to nothing so there was no chance of reaching my planned overnight stop. I rowed along the 1m LAT contour of Carrick Roads until I found a large enough space, prepared anchor and warps, rowed into position again, dropped anchor and waited. Was I settling 100m from each of the three large yachts surrounding me? Think so. Tent up, meal cooked, slept like a log. Up at 0600, still hardly any wind, yachts still 100m away.Then back to St Just Creek to join others for a trip to the Helford River.
And lastly in August I joined the DCA summer week at Cobnor in Chichester Harbour. In previous years many members had overnighted on the beach at East Head, arriving on the evening flood and sailing away in the morning. Now it was my turn to try this. Unfortunately this year it was springs instead of neaps and things were somewhat reversed which I hadn’t fully appreciated, but I was planning to be at anchor so not really a problem.
The spring ebb, however, turned out to be a major problem. The plan was to drop anchor under sail so I wrapped the jib up to free the foredeck and made a dummy run amongst already anchored boats which was OK. On the next run the ebb took me way off course so I had to tack far up stream to stand a chance of crossing the main channel and still be upstream of the anchorage. Three attempts at this failed as the current increased.

Moored at the ferry steps at Truro

The ebb tide won and I settled for the wrong side of East Head as the light was fading. I anchored in 1ft of water, put the tent up and took some pictures, Hayling Island Yacht Club in the background, ate and got ready for bed.
Soon after it dried but not for long. Then the waves came, and kept coming. I already had a fix on my position and could see most of the lit buoyage at the harbour entrance which fortunately was not moving, even though it felt like I was moving through the water at some speed on a bouncy castle. The tent ties are sewn on to allow for flaps which can be lifted to look out of, even when inside a sleeping bag. I wouldn’t have felt safe without this feature.
Just after dawn the boat was on the sand again and I had a good hour’s sleep. Then I dressed for rain and started thinking about how to weigh anchor under sail on a lee shore. The weather improved so I sailed all the way up to Dell Quay for a drink before returning to Cobnor slip.