The big passage: Around Lands End

After we arrived at Dale on Friday 16th October we thought we would be there for a while. Instead we spent Saturday with our friend Shaun and resting - except that we looked at the forecast and realised that Sunday through to Tuesday was fantastic weather for making the big jump to the south coast of Cornwall.

The big jump from South Wales had 4 main challenges:

• Crossing the Bristol Channel (our first time far out of sight of land in Vida)
• Rounding Lands End with dangers particularly from rocks and shipping
• Rounding the Lizard: tides, rocks, shipping. And sailing in almost the opposite direction which means finding a suitable wind is tricky.
• Distance. At about 150nm (173 ordinary miles) and without an autopilot (meaning one of us has to be hand steering the whole time for what turned out to be 39 hours) it is tiring.

However, it proved to be our best passage yet. Partly because nothing fell onto the floor (1st time). Just before noon on Sunday we sailed straight from being at anchor in Dale and pootled our of the Milford Haven entrance using the mainsail only. Then we added the yankee. As we haven't finished all the setup yet we can't go directly downwind with both sails (we need a better preventer on the main and a pole for the yankee).

By late afternoon we had gone a fair way east of our course, so we gybed and made our way back. At that point the motion was very gentle so we managed a nice simple hot pasta meal before Jane took a watch asleep. As before we took it in turns to sleep, each time one of us got into bed we set a timer for 90 minutes.

When Jane got up the wind had increased. So we lowered the main and sailed for the night under yankee only which meant we were able to point directly towards Lands End. It was the most boisterous part of the passage, we occasionally hit over 8kts and quite often we could hear waves breaking around the boat as we surfed down them (we could see lots of phosphorescence in the white water as well) . No water at all came into the cockpit and the motion wasn't at all bad, it all felt very controlled and safe.

We arrived at the point where we could turn south to go past Cape Cornwall and then Lands End just after daybreak. The wind then died (as expected) and we went slowly past Sennen Cove (with some help from the electric motor). Gradually the tide changed to be in our favour and the wind started to shift from NE towards the E with the expectation it would continue to change to the S. So we sped up and had a lovely sail to the buoy which marked our second big turn from S to E.

Initially, we couldn't turn at all as the wind was still from the E, we looked like we were heading for Brittany (another time maybe). Gradually the wind changed and by late afternoon we were able to head towards the Lizard (although it was quite tight as a sailing angle). That section to the Lizard was quite challenging, there was a lot of shipping and my cautious route (keep well away from headlands) also seemed to be the preferred one for ships heading in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, as it got dark the wind wasn't very consistent in direction or speed.

Eventually, we were able to get around the Lizard (with some assistance from the electric motor as the wind was dying away. As we headed downwind to pass Coverack (about 11pm), we lowered the mainsail again. The wind continued to fade and it was extremely roly as the waves came from the aft quarter. Once past Coverack the wind disappeared so we motored (still rolling a huge amount) at about 4kts. We are incredibly pleased that our Fogstar battery bank powered about 4 hours of gentle assistance while sailing and then another 4 hours of motor only at 4kts.

By this point we were approaching the first coastline that we know well. Falmouth is also one of the easiest places to enter in the dark, in absolute calm we anchored at St Just-in-Roseland at about 3am Tuesday morning. We had some food, let the adrenaline fade and then went to bed.

We knew stronger winds were coming on Wednesday (and then Storm Austen to follow). So about 11am on Tuesday we motored gently through the Carrick Roads and up the River Fal towards Truro (passing Trelissick National Trust and the King Harry Ferry).

We picked up a mooring in sight of Malpas and had a late brunch (sitting outside in the sun!).

We then decided we would be better using our own anchor in a little more sheltered spot. So we motored about a mile back downstream and have been at anchored in sight of Old Kea church since.

This passage feels like a huge milestone and a great relief. We don't have any long passages left for this season. Just day sails to get to Fowey and Plymouth, then we have plenty of day sails available to give ourselves some practice to visit Newton Ferrers, Salcombe, Dartmouth (and come back towards Falmouth and the Helford).

So now we can relax, do some boat projects and wait for Storm Austen 😃