We landed back in Guernsey late on Wednseday 9 April with clear blue skies and a lovely easterly wind; perfect for our first sail of the year which would be to Falmouth planned for 12-13 April. Three days to load up Blue Velvet with clothes and food seemed to be a nice timeline. However, on checking the weather forecast we found that the wind was going to veer to the west on Saturday 12 April and then increase quite strongly. We really didn’t want to have to beat all the way to Falmouth but we had an appointment with our sailmaker to have our new sails fitted. The only logical thing to do was to depart Guernsey as soon as we could, to take advantage of the easterly wind.
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| Friends setting off on their overnight race training |
So, after a frantic day and half of washing clothes, repacking, buying food, loading it all onto Blue Velvet and saying goodbye to family, we found ourselves pretty-much ready to go sitting on board Blue Velvet. We had initially planned on a 1615hrs departure which was the earliest we could get out of the marina but, after a more detailed study of the tidal atlas, we realised that would put us heading directly into a strong tidal flow at the north end of the island. A 2-hour delay would mean that the tidal flow would have become more northerly and timed perfectly for us to have a great view of some friends of ours starting off on an overnight race training package, part of their work-up for the Fastnet Race in July.
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| Turning west at the north end of Guernsey |
As it was our first time out on Blue Velvet for 6 months we took things carefully and motored north up the Little Russel hoisting the mainsail and checking that we had rigged all of the reefing lines correctly. We planned to take the Doyle’s Passage at the northern end of the island and there is a short stretch of overfalls there as you enter. For a short while Blue Velvet bucked up and down and we had a couple of good waves across the foredeck; perfect for properly checking out our new windows and hatches! I’m pleased to report that there was not a drop of water coming in and so our hard work replacing them over the winter has been successful. Doyles Passage was both straightforward and calm, at the top end of which we turned northwest and set off on a broad reach. The conditions were glorious and we both had broad smiles on our faces.
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| Working our way through the moorings in the Helford River |
The passage to the Helford River was about 115 nautical miles and was a nice overnight passage to get us back into being on board and the routines of our watch system. The wind stayed good for us overnight and into Saturday morning before dropping off at about 11am which prompted a few hours of motoring before we were able to sail again for the last half hour as we approached the Helford River. We dropped the sails at the entrance to the river, when the wind died again and then picked our way through the moorings…
… enjoying the river scenes and looking at the lovely houses on the shore.
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| Looking back east towards the river mouth from our anchorage |
Just west of the mooring field and close by Frenchman’s Creek is a lovely area to anchor. We skirted around the deepest area and at 1515hrs found a nice spot to drop. After motoring back on the anchor to make sure it was dug in well, we put out 40 metres of chain because the wind was forecast to get up and we knew that we would be pushed about with wind against the tidal flow.
After several disrupted days of busy travel, preparations, and an overnight passage we both felt it was worth popping the cork on some fizz to celebrate being back aboard Blue Velvet.
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| Helford River, Cornwall, UK |
