Dartmouth to St Mawes Cornwall UK

Leaving Dartmouth behind us

Dartmouth Castle

We left Dartmouth at 1020 on Tuesday 24 August, a time predicated on catching the first of the favourable tide to round Start Point and to carry it for as long as possible towards Falmouth.

Dartmouth Harbour entrance with Dartmouth Castle to starboard and Kingswear Castle to port

Dartmouth was quite grey as we left, though not as grey as when we had arrived, but it was fun to see the castle at the entrance from the sea again, having recently toured it from the land.

Reg enjoying some fun sailing on a beautiful day

Passing the Start, the wind picked up a bit, the sun came out and it turned into a beautiful sailing day.

Our favourite sailplan

As we turned downwind for Falmouth, we poled out the genoa, our favourite sailplan, and delighted in watching the dolphins which rushed in to join us and which seemed to be having as much fun playing with BV as we were having watching them.

Dolphins

It was a good-sized pod, maybe 10-12 animals, and the first of many that we were to see on our cruise.

MPS flying as we passed Eddystone Light

By mid-afternoon the wind had dropped somewhat so we hoisted the MPS but only for about an hour and a half as the wind dropped further and, with a low apparent wind, the sail just slatted around, sometimes filling nicely, sometimes wrapping itself around the forestay.  At 1630 we ran out of patience, lowered the sail and switched on the iron topsail.

Nearly there.  Sunset on the final approach to Falmouth Harbour

We spent the final few hours under power, hoping that we might make it into St Mawes before the sun set but it was not to be and sun sank below the horizon whilst we were still just outside Falmouth Harbour.  However, the long period of twilight played in our favour and we made it into St Mawes, dropping the anchor clear of the moorings on the north side of the harbour just as darkness descended properly.

St Mawes, Cornwall, UK