River Fal nr Falmouth Cornwall UK

River Fal views

On Sunday 29 August we cast off from our mooring off the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club and headed the few miles up the River Fal to the mid-stream pontoon just above Ruan Creek where Colin and Becks had arranged we should meet for an informal raft-up, lunch and a chat.

King Harry Ferry landing point close to Trelissick House on the west side of the River Fal

There was virtually no wind so we motored the whole way.  The Falmouth estuary is lovely but the scenery becomes particularly delightful when you enter the confines of the river.

The King Harry chain ferry in action.  The ferry has priority over all vessels apart from
those with a pilot on board

Ships moored above the chain ferry

But there are also some surprisingly large ships moored on the river, awaiting orders or the knacker’s yard.

The Smugglers’ Cottage pub

Just around the corner from the chain ferry and, when we visited, the moored ships, is the Smugglers’ Cottage pub.  It’s in a lovely spot and is well worth a visit for the shipping memorabilia on display inside.  However, on this visit to the Fal we didn’t have time to stop.

The OCC gang moored up on the mid-stream pontoon near Ruan Creek

Colin and Becks had been told that it was not possible to book berths on the mid-stream pontoon, so had asked OCC members with larger yachts to arrive early to hog space on the pontoon and to provide rafting opportunities for smaller boats.  When we arrived, shortly after Zephyr, we found the pontoon quite empty and the crews of those yachts that remained already informed by the harbour staff of the day’s planned rally.  However, when the harbour staff stopped by a little later they said that following recent storm damage rafting was no longer permitted.  It was neap tides and the forecast was for virtually nil wind; Colin and Becks argued the point that without rafting there was no way to fit all the planned vessels on the pontoon.  Had the harbour staff given them even a day’s notice, other arrangements could have been put in place.  Point taken, the harbour officials relented and agreed to rafting one out; light boats only to raft.  Success!  And, in the end, most of the non-OCC yachts left the pontoon and only a couple of yachts needed to raft up and only for the afternoon.

A huge spread of food – unsurprisingly we didn’t manage to finish it all

So, with mooring arrangements in hand, out came the gazebo, some tables loaned by the RCYC and a few sun chairs and, as boat after boat arrived the spread of food and drink grew in quantity and quality.

It didn’t take long for crews to gather on the centre of the pontoon, which gradually dipped precariously towards the surface of the river.  We caught up with friends from the previous evening and made new friends.  Amongst them we met James Wharram (of Wharram Catamaran fame), his partner, Hanneke, and soon-to-be daughter-in-law Elizabeth.  Later we were shown around the new 21ft catamaran that they had sailed the short distance up from their home, in an inlet a little further down the river.  Low to the water and very compact in the hulls, there is no shelter on the deck but it looks to be fun, fast and manoeuvrable for day-sailing or weekending.  Definitely waterborne camping, almost backpacking, rather than caravanning!

The party slowed in the mid-afternoon as people retired for a siesta or a break away from company.  Rockhopper, owned by OCC members Mindy and Reinhart arrived on the pontoon, quite unaware of the OCC gathering that was just winding up.  They had overwintered in Belgium and were cruising the UK, partly as a means to accruing time out of the Schengen area so that Mindy could return without penalty in the winter.  We invited them to evening drinks aboard BV and had a fascinating evening talking with them.  Both Mindy and Reinhart had previously worked at the US bases in Antarctica and the stories they had to tell of life at the sites, the experiences they had had and of the wildlife they had seen were incredibly interesting.  We talked late into the night, far later than we had intended.  Not so bad for them as they planned to stay for a few days before heading out to the Scilly Isles but we had planned another fairly prompt departure in the morning though, happily, we didn’t have far to go.  Just a short hop to the Helford River, so maybe a slightly more relaxed start would be OK!

River Fal, nr Falmouth, Cornwall, UK