Nichola / Cornish Drizzle
09/28/2010, River Fal; 1nm travelled

We're waiting in the River Fal until we can head into our winter home at Falmouth Marina at the end of the week. We've been pretty busy since we arrived just over a week ago with a mix of fun and jobs.

I've been wanting a beach fire all summer but it just never happened, until last week when we had a fire and BBQ on the beach with our friends which was great and the almost full moon and clear sky made it almost like daylight as we rowed back to Emerald.

Colin has been busy cleaning and polishing Emerald's hull and deck - she's looking great. Today the rain has arrived so we're trapped inside on indoor jobs. Colin is currently trying to get the screws out of our Lewmar 55 winches which have been making a fingernails down blackboard type noise when being used. Just 1 bolt out of 8 is defying all attempts to get it to move.

On Sunday We had a great sail out on our friends' boat, a Tradewind 35 - a lovely boat so much easier to sail with 2 people than Emerald. Got a few fish and I had a go at filleting - these are the first fish we've had all year so
I haven't had much chance to practise (must point out we didn't actually catch the fish ourselves - thank you Anne and Marc).

I've tried out my crab pot for the first time using mackerel heads as bait and catching a motley collection of small shore crabs and some good sized velvet swimming crabs. Using the long BBQ tongs to keep well away from
the feistly crabs I was able to pick out four good sized velvets for the pot. I went for the technique of putting them in the freezer first to dull their senses before dropping them into a pot of boiling water for 5 minutes. I did feel a bit bad when one livened up as I brought it over to the bubbling pot and did its best to resist being dropped in. Just had some for lunch mixed with garlic mayonnaise on toast - yum!


I've also been out making the most of autumn fruits. Blackberries for crumble enjoyed with Cornish clotted cream, a bag full of sloes into the freezer ready to go into some whisky when we get into the marina and apples that are awaiting the great cider experiment. Colin has been busy building a press from a stainless stock pot and various bits and pieces
found on the boat. I've now got to get chopping to turn the apples into a pulp.

I've had my first Cornish pasty of the season on a walk to St Mawes. The combination of pasties and clotted cream will probably mean I have to up my exercise over the winter to combat their calorific down side. But I'm sure it'll be worth it!

2010: Western Baltic & Western UK

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skip windy
09/19/2010, Newlyn to Falmouth 39Nm travelled

Hi all,
We had a day off to look around Newlyn, Penzance and St Michael's Mount, even though the weather looked perfect to round the Lizard...oops! Can you tell what happened yet?!
So off we went on Sunday morning, with an appointment that evening in a pub up the Fal river for our friend Rich's birthday.
The weather gods had one last sting in the tail of the Lizard for us.... as we cleared Mounts Bay we had two reefs in the mainand a slither of genny out, as the wind was a solid F6 gusting to F7. However we cleared the Lizard under sail (my how things have changed!) despite the strong winds and BIG seas. Emerald is such a spectacular sea boat thank you Doug Peterson!
However once we rounded the Lizard, we were then on a run and with us wallowing in the swells we ended up having to motor for an hour just to clear the worst of the tide race. (speaking of which Adrian how was the season on Tide Race?)
Then we 'blast reached' across Falmouth Bay to Carrick Roads in a F7! Nichola reveling in it and the skipper worrying about breaking
something! Down with the sails and a motor up the river to the 'party pontoon' that we left last summer, up by Tresilick house to a wonderfully warm welcome, and a bottle of champagne with our friends Ann and Marc, and Rich and Clare.
Journeys end for now, a circumnavigation of the UK via the Baltic completed. What next for Emerald and crew......

slainte skip
PS Can anyone work out what the code flags say in the photo. It isn't rude, at least I hope it isn't! Answers in the comments please! Our first interactive blog!

2010: Western Baltic & Western UK

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skip windy
09/16/2010, Milford Haven to Newlyn 121Nm travelled

Hi all,

We were wondering if Cape Cornwall can be considered one of the five great Capes?! If so does rounding it East to West mean that the skipper has to have his ear pierced?! We set out from Milford in a marginal forecast, but thought it would probably be our best chance for a bit to get around the bottom of England. At this time in the season there are more and more South Westerlies barrelling in from the atlantic and western approaches especially with hurricane season in full swing we didn't want to bump into the remnents of one of them coming across the pond.

We left Milford Haven marina in the morning but had to wait a little while at Dale at the mouth of the estuary, so that we would meet the tidal gate at Lands End correctly 20 hours later and 100Nm to our south. We had a meal as the wind battered us on the pontoon, not a great start to a 24 hour trip we thought.... but the forecast was for the winds to drop, so we set off
under a partial headsail only, with Emerald barrelling along at 6 knots, we thought, lets hope it eases!
Ease it did, so we got the main up with a reef in and sailed off into the sunset. Then there were clicks and squeaks all around us as we headed into the Bristol Channel as a family of dolphins came to play with us, including one very young baby. They stayed with usfor hours and hours.

As Mars and Mercury came up in the sky, and the moonlight lit the way south, we had a big smile at each other as we plugged on about 5 knots
under sail, beautiful!

Next morning the wind had died on us a bit, so we fired up the engine to ensure we reached the tidal gate off Lands End, and rounded Cape Cornwall, and the Longships Light pretty much on schedule, with the tide in our favour. Off Cape Cornwall were the tides meet is a turbulent stretch of water, rich in food, and there we saw a HUGE basking shark, and a strange pure white porpoise but we weren't sure what it was.

However the wind was already picking up to a F6 again, so we decided to make a run under engine into Newlyn, to be sure that we got in ok. The skipper managed to berth Em, without too much drama and we were tied up and ready for fish and chips and a beer by 5pm.
All in all a great trip round a notorious piece of coastline, so we were glad to get that out of the way. Only one more obstacle to go.
The Lizard peninsula stood between us and our winter quarters..........
slainte
Skip


PS photo is of us rounding Longships light with Lands End in background.

2010: Western Baltic & Western UK

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