When I sat there in Salcombe Wednesday evening, bobbing at my mooring 79....mobile phone and radio reception was patchy and so I couldn’t get the weather forecast for Thursday! So I texted my wife with clear, simple instructions......
’please darling could you watch the local weather forecast for me – inshore waters particularly wind speeds and directions’!
‘Force 2/3 from north.......sea state slight; visibility good’ came the reply. '
Brilliant' thinks I - a lovely broad reach sail all back along that wonderful coastline – a cracking day to look forward to! And what a thoughtful clever wife I have too.
So.........imagine what dark and evil thoughts I had, when down to just jib and mizzen, with water coming over the side coaming – i.e. flooding in; standing VERTICALLY, on the side supports of the thwarts, trying to cling on in terrified fashion, to dear life; as Arwen pitched, tossed and generally threw herself over the crests and troughs of 8’ waves in Bigbury bay; where it’s clear to even the dimmest sailor that force 2/3 it is not.............and some gusts are clearly force 6+!
A text comes through which I manage to read whilst singing down from one hundred green bottles – a ploy to stop me screaming in terror out loud......
’Darling – may have confused Bristol channel and English channel forecasts...winds could be force 5 with gusts force 6/7....have fun!’.
It’s a bloody good job I’m not Darth Vader........or she’d have certainly encounter the ‘dark side of the force’ even if she was a hundred miles away at her Mother’s!
Early morning....the Sun barely rising over Salcombe's raft ups
But ...I launch into our log account part way through and should, with fairness to all, start at the beginning 0530 with the rising of the sun! I had a fantastic night’s sleep – it didn’t rain; the wind didn’t rise; Arwen didn’t drift off from her mooring because of chafing ropes; nobody came to steal my outboard in the dark of the night....wonderful! It is clearly a great feeling to wake up and discover your boat is exactly where you ‘parked’ it the night before!!!
This video will give you some idea of what \I woke up to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gndjZWYqKi4
On the little beach, 20m away, egrets plodded the shore shallows; herons stood motionless in the glassy, unrippled sea. I love early mornings......often when camping I’m up at the crack of dawn to watch the eastern sky brighten. On this day it was accompanied by the gentle chug chug of diesel engines on early departing inshore lobster and crab boats.
one of our grey herons often found along our estuaries
At a certain point in every dawn break, the dawn chorus suddenly begins and this day was no exception....it started with small birds onshore – blackbirds, robins......and by the end was a cacophony of seagulls, oystercatchers and everything else in between – a wonderful accompaniment to breakfast cereal, hot chocolate, tinned fruit and fox’s ginger cream biscuits! Arwen gently creaked as her boom rubbed against the mast. The beach had been smoothed out over night as the tide had come back in – all evidence of human activity from the day before erased....a fresh start of a new day. The herons were stalking small fry in the shallows and periodically would pounce downwards – some poor sand eel rapidly swallowed. I swear I saw once launce still wriggling as it descended inside the throat of one heron!
I check the weather around me – grey skies – some patches of blue; high cloud base; switch on mobile and an SMS message appears....a weather forecast update from my wife....force 2/3.....looks like it’s a goer then although winds still from west not north west as predicted earlier in week – so it will be an upwind beat all the way back to Plymouth.......fair enough then....a long day about to emerge but that is part of the fun!
It doesn’t take long to tidy up, pack away and ready the boat. A motor across to the rubbish bins pontoon; and then Arwen’s bowsprit points along the outer estuary. It’s only 7am and all the boats we pass rafted up are still quiet, occupants still asleep. We have the estuary to ourselves! At 0730, sails are raised and we are off.......but winds are very light and progress upwind is hard.....the tidal stream is against us and we are making only 1.7kts....process along the shore is excruciatingly slow but I remain determined...minimal use of motor is the order of the day.
However, determination is short lived and my ‘inexperience’ shows through........after one hour of tacking back and forth Arwen and I have made exactly.........wait for it..............400m progress along the shoreline. Huh!
rocky and nowhere to hide if it turns nasty...........!
In the meantime, maybe I’m imagining it....but isn’t the wind picking up and getting...well.......gusty? And it seems to be feeling awfully ‘rolly’ again! And yes.....that does appear to be breakfast going over the port side deck.......again! Double huh! and a doh! thrown in for good measure! you can see some of what \I mean - minus the breakfast bit at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD9wk4WpReo
I resort to motor....so quick to give up......I’m ashamed........but sea sickness is not good at the start of the day and there is a long way to go. I tuck close to the cliff line – 30m offshore – conscious of all those hidden ledges and reefs. We motor along cautiously at 3 kts but Arwen is beginning to ‘slam’. Waves are rolling in directly at right angles along the cliff line, their troughs deep and their crests high; huge dollops of water are coming over the foredeck and whilst everything in the front half of the boat is relatively dry, the back cockpit well is filling up and my waterproofs are soaked!
‘I’ll duck into Soar Mill cove’ think I...............or maybe I won’t given the rollers going into it are grim; it has only a 10m wide entrance and long outcrops of rock either side.
Learning point 1 for the day - think about escape routes and hiding places; they look great on charts and maps but what will they be like under different wind and wave conditions..........what an idiot! I near Bolt tail and the wind seems to drop.....I’ll try sailing again with one reef in the sail for prudence!
Learning point 2 - don’t do that just before you enter a huge bay expanse of water - it’s asking for trouble on a day like this......I am such a stupid numpty!
Doh!!!!! I shoot into Bigbury bay and all hell breaks loose; I turn head to wind and drop the main – it’s that or go over. I’m on jib and mizzen - much better and we are tacking 2kts out to sea. It feels safer, we are less heeled over. It’s the first time I’ve sailed under just jib and mizzen – I like it! I go to tack.......she turns head to wind and stalls – um! I resume my starboard tack, build up speed and try again.......she stalls........again!
Learning point 3 – surely someone sensible would have taken the opportunity to learn how the boat handled under jib and mizzen BEFORE doing an extended coastal passage. I’m a highly qualified mountain leader - I wouldn’t dream of going on expedition having not tried all of my kit before hand – so why didn’t I apply this rule to this trip? I’m feeling rather rueful!
I’m also heading further out than I might wish and then........savage gust one..........I’m hit broadside.....Arwen is up....she’s almost over....water is rushing along the side deck and over the coaming. I try to turn the tiller and head her into the wind.....little response....she goes slowly.......time stands still – there is green furious water everywhere! She inches around and stalls head to wind; I fall un-ceremoniously back into the starboard thwart......I’m shaken.......no terrified..........I can see another squall approaching.........but it suddenly shifts around – another broadside...........I let the jib loose......we are up and up and sideways and broached to the rollers – they are coming beam on......and up over the crest we roll.......another bout of sea sickness........I swear blind gust 3 actually spun the boat full 360 degrees! The general wind may be force 4/5 but those gusts have to be force 6+.
The jib gets furled; the motor starts first time – thank God – I hang over the back of the transom – steering the outboard and we head for the nearest beach. It’s Thurlstone. I can just make out a sheltered curved tiny bay of sand with no breaking waves....a promontory headland jutting out 50m – just enough to shelter behind............3 kts and huge sideways drift – it’s a struggle to keep the outboard tracking the right direction.....and all the time that beam sea – and rolling.......and corkscrewing and ......rolling and yep sea sick again.
Doesn't it look so serene - Thurlstone; outside in the bay.......it's raging!
I cannot begin to describe the feeling of relief as I drop anchor in the shelter of that tiny, tiny bay. Families are playing on the sand; small waves break. Arwen bobs safely and obediently at her anchor. I bail out the boat; I hang off the transom and refuel the outboard....tohatsu 3.5hp.......I LOVE my outboard! Drink, some biscuits....a little brick or two of chocolate.....I’m feeling more cheerful. Out at sea – the whitecaps are fading; the sea seems to be subsiding; sunshine is breaking through. I decide to lock the motor down tight – I rope her so she cannot twist – a precaution. I can use the tiller/rudder to steer and not sat twisted around with one hand on the outboard tiller to steer will surely help with the sea sickness. And then I decide to carry on!
Just don’t say anything – I know!
I edge past the little promontory out into the bay. Its calm, there is a gentle breeze.......I could sail in this........up goes the main and jib....we are off tacking – starboard tack – 2.8kts.........Burgh island looms into view. I can do this......the bad times are over!
You can spot the squalls can’t you! They come at you at terrifying speed – the darkening of the water; the sudden micro rippling of the surface; the sudden build up of white crested waves...........but this time I was ready...........I had a reef in the main and I went to let it out........only it didn’t..........it filled and remained firmly where it was.......I let go of the mainsheet.....nothing........Arwen started to heel.......over and over ....here came that green water over the side deck........I turned her head to wind, she responded and the heeling subsided........that damn mainsheet what was snagging it? The jam cleat at the base of the block which attaches the mainsheet to the transom rear...............
learning point 4...........why didn’t you remove that jam cleat before...when you knew it had a tendency to jam the mainsheet.........how stupid can you get? Oh and
learning point 5 - just because a sudden improvement in weather occurs, doesn’t necessarily mean the worst is over! If you have a healthy respect for changeable mountain weather – apply the same thinking to the sea.......moron!
It’s back.....the rolling, the slamming up and down into the troughs.......and what do I do? I carry on into the full teeth of it making for Mothercombe - my next escape point shelter. No – I don’t turn around and head straight back for nearer Thurlstone................hindsight is a wonderful thing....but what possessed me at that point in time to make such a stupid error of judgement – I just cannot account for it!
Mothercombe beach - sheltered in westerlies but watch those reefs at the entrance!
Mothercombe is nasty and again an example of how not just to rely on charts and maps. Low water showed a huge reef of rocks stretching unbroken 30m across the beach/bay. Mid tide upwards – you’d never see them until you hit them. A small dinghy like Arwen can slip over them just and through the gaps......wow!
I refuel, eat, drink, pause for breath and bail out. It’s sheltered but now a sort of suicidal desire to get home invades me. I’ve had it – I’m not staying out another night in this lot - I’m motoring all the way home! I’ll hug the cliff line – the next stretch will give me shelter from the westerly’s! And of course – it does.........using rudder and tiller with motor tied off – there is no sea sickness – we make 3.5kts and life is pleasant all the way to Stoke point. Edging around Stoke point, it’s back to slamming and rolling and pitching....but we are inching along.....the motor chugging away......and then a realisation.....
learning point 6......like a bolt out of the blue.............if the engine fails now what happens next? I can’t sail in this; the tidal stream is strong and parallel to the coastline; the waves are almost at right angles to me and the shore; we’d drift backwards and onto rocks within seconds – it’s a leeshore...........and there is nowhere and I mean nowhere to beach safely on this stretch.......Dear Lord....have I learned nothing over the last year about leeshores?
That stretch of 2 miles to the Yealm seemed like an eternity of prayer and mutterings and just sheer desperate will power to hang on......never have I been so relieved to actually enter a harbour before. I motor past the exposed bar where kids are playing in short canoes – surfing the waves that break over it. A small 20’ yacht is coming up behind me in the narrow channel – he’s overtaking and edging me closer to the rocks on the starboard side and I’m forced into the eelgrass beds. The engine begins to splutter as grass wraps around the prop – what is this guy doing – he’s 4m’s away and I not too politely ask him to move over – he has plenty of clearance on his port side....he laughs.......what arrogance? And then, he cuts the corner.......I’m stupid...but this is extraordinary.......and inevitable......a crunch, a grind and yep – he’s grounded.........and forgive me everyone but I laugh out loud. I cannot believe after all I have been through – I was that uncharitable to someone else coming in from the squalls........but secretly? Serves him right!
I would like to tell you I had learned my lessons but no – I left the Yealm rested....and wait for it...sailed under jib and mizzen into the Wembury bay........only to be faced with more squalls; more stalling in tacks....and so I motored around to Plymouth Sound. My objective was to get inside the safe calm waters of the breakwater area.
Learning point 7 – the wind had backed to the north; it was an incoming tide against an offshore wind through a narrow entrance between a breakwater and a headland...........I was sea sick 3 more times before reaching Sutton harbour; Arwen slammed herself silly and at one point I was making only 1.4kts with the throttle fully open.......why didn’t I just stay in the yealm overnight?
So there we are...........I survived but there but by the grace of God I suspect. I made so many stupid, stupid errors of judgement which I’d never have made in a mountaineering setting. I covered a total of 25nm – most of it on motor. I learned a lot about weather and sea states!
Things I’ve learned after reflection
1. Turn back don’t go on – discretion is the better part of valour
2. Think about what happens if the engine were to fail along a leeshore with no escape points
3. Loosen the mizzen to tack when under jib and mizzen (I think!)
4. It may be force ¾ general wind but it’s the squalls that count – and yes the sun can still shine when the sea is furious!
5. How decision making is impaired when really sea sick
6. When planning a route dead reckoning is all well and good but it doesn’t take into account wind directions, need to track according to wind shifts etc; navigating in an open boat and doing chart work is a recipe for sea sickness in moderate sea states and upwards.
7. Arwen will float when capsized but how likely am I to be able to right her – what’s my plan then?
8. How to do a mooring – consideration of tidal currents when under motor
9. Get some rubber tubing for mooring to buoy warp
10. Practice Radio protocols for calling up harbour masters
11. Improve my reading of lat and long and programming it to gps; and triple check it is right!
12. Carrying an OS map at all times
13. Using my fish finder depth gauge as an another data source for being able to contour and navigate using depth soundings off chart
14. Under cliffs and just a mile out at sea – mobile networks disappear
15. My bolt holes at low tide and northerly winds – easy to access – clear views with off shore winds – but mid tide when rocks not seen and cross winds – then what? Useless! Choose escape points more carefully!
16. No bolt holes between stoke and yealm – then what?
17. Remove the jamming cleat at end of main sheet; think through what alternative might be!
I know I made some really silly mistakes on this trip which could have resulted in having to call out volunteer rescue services – I know what the implications of that are. At the moment, I feel rueful, chastened and stupid......but I guess I have been lucky and have learned loads as well!
Steve
PS – my biggest bit of learning......next time get the right forecast and DON’T leave Salcombe!
