Azores to Falmouth - the arrival
02 August 2020
Paul Kember
With the final 400 NM we were typically doing 140 NM a day or better until the last night on the way to Lizard Point and the entry to Falmouth. The wind was around 20 knots for most of the time but the wave grew bigger during the first 200NM and became steeper once we had crossed the continental shelf.
These were putting plenty of spray all over Mirage stopping us from sitting in the cockpit unless we wanted a cold salt water shower!
On day 8 the wind started to drop below 20 knots and we had some very good sunshine but the waves stopped enjoying it. We were also joined by a small pod of four dolphins who played with Mirage for half an hour jumping and surfing the waves with us. We always cheer the dolphins as it seems to make them more inquisitive in us and they were definitely swimming on their sides to have a good look at us. We also ran out of gas during the period of the largest waves and we had to wait half a day for the waves to drop to swap in a full gas bottle. Bad news for the tea loving skipper!
We were excited as we are making good speed to Falmouth but also slightly sad to know the year away is coming to the end. Gitane (Moody Bunch) who left two days before us have arrived in Falmouth and we hope to see them whilst we are there at a suitable social distance allowed by the quarantine guidance.
Our penultimate day at sea was another good day with sunshine after the rain of the previous night. The good news about the rain is that it washed the salt from Mirage and the cockpit area. We were sailing under a poled out genoa to ensure went as far down wind as practical to keep the distance we have to sail to a minimum. We gybed a couple of times early on in the morning as we had a small high pressure to avoid.
We spent most day 8 enjoying the sun and making good progress. We slowed down towards the end of the day due a phenomena we had forgotten called tides! We ended the day with less than 100NM to sail.
On final day the wind became light which was not as forecast but did eventually fill in as swung to the North East as forecast.
We saw Land's End on the horizon just over 25NM away. Land Ho was at 11:25 UTC. but we still had nearly 60 NM to go! These felt the slowest 60 NM of the trip and the wind dropped as we got into the shelter of Cornwall to the north. Launching the cruising chute we sped back up hoping to arrive in the light.
As we approached Lizard Point, just west of Falmouth, we were boarded by three people from a Border Force Rib that had been launched from the large Cutter that had passed us earlier on in the day. They were on board for around 40 minutes as they chatted with us going through our log, where we had been, what we were carrying, looking at the receipt for the new sail as well as having an inspection around the boat. This added to the excitement of our arrival! All the time they were on board we continued sail to Falmouth and even made our final turn on to Falmouth. All this time we were being followed by the black rib and the Customs Cutter. From any casual onlooker we must have looked like international drugs runners. One of the Border Force personnel was in training which could have also been another reason for the visit.
After the final turn on to Falmouth the BF team left us with 5NM, approx. 1 hour, to Black Rock and the harbour entrance We dropped the sails at the harbour entrance to motor the 45 minutes to the mooring buoys as night was falling.
As we approached the mooring buoys we were welcomed to Falmouth by Chris and Frankie from Gitane who gave then gave us a helping hand to tie on to the mooring buoy and what a wonderful welcome from them. We were finally secure just before 2200 BST after less than 9 1/2 days. We had originally expected to take 10/11 days o were quicker than expected.
The data for the complete journey are as follows:
Point to Point distance 1169 NM
Distance Sailed 1233 NM
94.8% efficient
Time taken 9 days 11 hours
Engine Hours used 22 hours
