The morning forecast is suggesting SW or W F3 to F5 but at least there is no rain on the horizon and the river most definitely looks so much nicer in the early sun than yesterday afternoon’s downpour. There is even a woman and her dog pulling out along the river…

Decision made, and instead of slugging across in a headwind to Falmouth, we opt for Fowey. This should be (almost) possible if the wind has a decent bit of south in it and we want to give it another go. We were there 7 years ago and arrived in the midst of some festival or other, where all the pubs and restaurants were only doing drinks and no food. The place was rammed with loads of boozing and we got royally ripped off in the only place serving food which was an over-priced and very surly Indian….not that we are bitter or twisted!

The wind has already being blowing most of the night and we slide out of the river into quite a swell from the SW. We round the Mewstone rocks and set sail across Plymouth and try to clear Rame head. Sadly not quite and we need to tack back south before we can make a decent course. The sea is definitely lumpier than completely comfortable, but Heydays laps it up and most of the sea stays outside the boat! The weather is glorious and we are in the company of a few other boats making their way west. The submarines (if indeed they are there) don’t make themselves felt and we scud out across Whitsands bay in a freshening breeze. As the afternoon wears on the wind and the seas build with (we assume) the onset of sea breezes. With the headland refusing to move to allow us to make Fowey in one fetch, we tack out once more and the occasional sea decides that it would be better inside our cockpit than out. Still, the sailing is glorious, but we are all painfully aware that our days of taking this for more than just an afternoon seem long gone. We hear a couple of  coastguard calls, one for a yacht which has washed ashore not far from our position, but with no sign of the lone sailor on passage from Roscoff. Boats in the vicinity are being asked to look out…

Another yacht has lost its mast and is looking for a tow in. We are grateful we had our rigging renewed last summer.

Of the dismasted yacht and the missing sailor we see no sign, and we finally begin to close the entrance to Fowey. Grateful for some respite from the constant bracing against the rollers from the west. We are directed to the last remaining walk ashore pontoon and soon a french yacht is also rafted up outside. With lines snug we are in the cockpit with gin and tonic within 10 minutes and bask in the glory of another hardy and  (to us at least) heroic beat to windward.

Thankfully no festival today but almost all the restaurants are fully booked. We end up in a completely un-prepossessing  pub called the Lugger, but which serves up a great few dishes at prices well below some of the ‘nicer’ restaurants. They deserve more recognition in our humble opinion.

A pleasingly uneventful night in studland sees a rather watery sun trying to
breakthrough as we get togged up for a beat along the normally stunning Dorset Coast.
We slip the mooring and head out past Old Harry and his wife and pick up a reasonably
gentle swell rolling up the channel.

There is firing today on the Lulworth Ranges so we need to need to keep at least 3 ½
miles offshore. As it happens this suits us at the moment just in terms of where
the wind is coming from so we head out south past a rather grey and overcast Swanage
and leave Durlston behind on a beat into a chilly F5. The west going tide starts to make a
mark and we begin the relatively slow passage west.
Oddly there are a few boats behind us who opt for the passage closer inshore. Have
we got the firing times completely wrong? We are vindicated a short while later as we
hear the coastguard (relatively politely at first) requesting that they alter course to avoid
being shot at….actually I made that last bit up, but a Navy protection boat most
definitely makes things clear.
Of the stunning Dorset Coast we see little, and Lulworth, Durdle Door and
Chapmans Pool are points on the chart, passing by in the gloom. Never mind we say,
this is June so we must be enjoying ourselves!
Actually the sail is exhilarating as Heydays scuds along with a double reef main and a
couple of rolls in the genoa. We have found over the years, that we could pile mo8re sail
on and get maybe another half knot, but at the loss of balance and calm. So 5 to 6kts is
fine by us and allows for a civilised and even peaceful cockpit. We catch a few decent spells of blue sky to remind us of what it could be like…

It takes ages for Portland to decide to show itself, and we anchor finally just as the sun
makes itself felt once more. There are few other visiting yachts, but the harbour is a real playground
for all sorts of foiling windsurfers, kite surfers and assorted high speed wizzy stuff.

A late lunch, a snooze in the sun….

.. and then the clouds come back, the wind picks up and we have a 3 course meal
tucked up in the cockpit all washed down with some aperitifs and the last of a box of
Rose. Early start in the morning for another beat across Lyme Bay to Brixham….weather
permitting…