A family gathering in the Isles of Scilly
We had a week to head off with our daughter, Iona aboard William Tell, and we had cousins who were chartering a yacht in Falmouth. Could we all meet in the Isles of Scilly (IoS) and all get there and back with fair winds? The unlikely now looked possible.
As we left Baltimore, we sailed past Lady Belle at anchor off Sherkin Island. They had just sailed up from the IoS the day before. The wind was now forecast to be on our tails, NW f4-6. Once we were out passed the Beacon, up went the cruising chute and let the fun begin! True wind speed was 16 kn when it went up and we enjoyed some fast sailing over the next few hours. By midday it was occasionally gusting 28 knots and the waves began to build and there were plenty of white horses to windward. Claire and I could only really manage one hour on the helm at a time, it was physical stuff and all your senses needed to be alert. The wheel needed constant attention, as the wave trains and the surges of power knocked us off course. We had wonderful clear sunny weather, but nothing to aim for on the horizon, so we kept an eye on the compass. By 3 pm the wind was now steady at over 25 kn and gusting to 33 to 34 kn! At this point a decision had to be made! Discretion was a better part of valour! We bore away even further down wind and fortunately the chute collapsed perfectly, and we were able to drop it without incident. We had averaged over 8.5 kn in the first 5 hours and hit over 10 knots on the back of a few waves. A good adrenaline fix!!
We now continued with a full main and the yankee and we were still at sailing at speeds of 6 to 8 kn, a little slower but a lot more under control. As the evening turned into the night, the wind eased further and we had a fairly uneventful crossing except at two in the morning when we were converging with another yacht who was on starboard, and we were on port. We had to take evasive action as the giveaway vessel. Easy in day light, but not so simple in the dark. Luckily there was a small bit of a moon, so there was a light. As we approached New Grimsby, we crossed tacks with the ketch, Tally ho, originally built in 1910. She had won the Fastnet Race this week, 99 years ago and had recently crossed the Atlantic to Baltimore! She had left to go to Falmouth just before us the day before.
The headsail roller furling jammed as we entered the harbour, and we just had to drop the yankee on the deck. We picked up one of the visitors moorings under Cromwell’s Castle 25 hours after leaving Baltimore. A fast, memorable and exciting passage! That afternoon we enjoyed a wonderful walk around a very hot and sunny Bryher and enjoyed a wonderful al fresco lunch in the shade at Olivia‘s Kitchen.
We awoke the next day to yet more glorious sunshine and warm conditions and swam in crystal clear water on the small sandy beach under Cromwell‘s Castle. The rest of the day was spent revisiting the gardens on Tresco, which are a site to behold. Wonderfully laid out over 150 years ago, with magnificent succulent plants, although with a very prolonged dry spell, the longest in living memory, the colours were not as green as when we have visited two years ago in June.
No trip is complete to Tresco without a visit to The Valhalla Museum, where figure heads from many wrecked ships are on display, with some hair raising stories of their demise!
The following day we headed West around Bryher into the North West passage. Iona on the helm for all of this as we beat up the sound avoiding the numerous small rocks, ledges etc, which are well marked by cardinal buoys. Even though the wind was now in the SE, we decided to go around to Port Cressa, which is such an attractive anchorage. There was enough shelter from the wind , but with a little swell and only half a dozen boats, which is quite empty for these parts! A good afternoon was spent with the crew ashore in Hugh Town, St Mary’s getting provisions etc and the skipper catching up on maintenance. Our Cousins then arrived on Orca Challenge and a lively evening was spent catching up. The next morning after we had all had a swim, both boats headed over to The Cove between St Agnes and Gugh. It seemed that the world and his wife had the same idea and we counted over 28 boats at anchor at one point! But once ashore, we all enjoyed a stunning walk around the island, particularly the granite rock formations on the west coast, looking out to the rocky channel and the west most island, Annet.
A lively evening aboard WT, with eight of us around the saloon table enjoying a delicious Boeuf Bourguignon and mash spuds. In the morning more swimming, a walk ashore around Gugh, while we waited for the tide to start to fill. Then some tricky pilotage to find a shallow anchorage beside Samson, Puffin Island and Yellow Rock, only possible for a fin keeper during neap tides. When you drop anchor in these anchorages, the water is so clear that you can see the anchor hit the sand below, the chain run out and you can see the small patches of seaweed, rocks and shells. Stunning! It’s a pleasure to snorkel and check the anchor. Another beautiful walk in the hot sunshine looking at the various lichen covered walls and ruins on Samson and views of many of the surrounding white sandy beaches with Caribbean blue seas all around.
On Tuesday morning we said farewell to the crew of Orca Challenge, and headed north west passed Bryher Castle and pointed WT back towards Baltimore. The forecast was force 2 to 3 south easterlies. Fortunately, the sea was flat, up went cruising chute again but we weren’t expecting too much. There was only 6 to 10 kn of true wind speed but we managed to eke out 5 kn of boat speed for a while. The sunshine was almost oppressively hot, but we were making progress under sail which is more than we had anticipated.
After eating at 8 pm, the wind had died to almost nothing. We had to keep going. The engine went on and we started motoring through the night. It was a dark night with no moon, but we were accompanied by not only plenty of stars but large groups of dolphins. The dolphin activity was most notable on this passage and we seem to have dolphins with us from about 5 pm in the evening right through until the following morning around 6 am. It was wonderful to see them in the dark and the phosphorescence. Fortunately, we only had one fishing boat to avoid, and we seemed to be sailing in company with a couple of Canadian yachts and a couple of boats from the UK all heading towards Ireland.
Two hours before reaching Baltimore the clouds started to appear, the first clouds we had seen in over a week! As we came into the harbour the fog descended! The eclipse was a little bit of a non-event in Baltimore! Yes, it did get particularly dark and then light again at 191, as predicted. This was nothing compared to what the cousins on Orca Challenge experienced in the Eastern Isles of the IoS, where they were able to experience the bright sun darken as the shadow of the moon crossed it.
We were very lucky to have had such great weather and winds to make the passage possible to the Isles of Scilly and for our return all in such a short period of time. Another great week’s cruising on board William Tell!