2 August 2006
Exmouth to Dee
Having purchased Tonga , a bilge keeled Hurley 24 from Exmouth, I have been asked to write about our trip from Exmouth to our mooring on the Dee , for the magazine. I hope you are not expecting an epic sailing adventure as the need to get from A to B in a reasonable time means going as quickly as possible, no matter which way the wind blows and even if it goes the right way but not strongly enough.
We started our adventure on Thursday May 4 th . We motored out of Exmouth into quite a swell that had me a little uncomfortable but my wife, Georgie ( Georgina ) and son Jonathan quite queasy as they had not been sailing recently. It got worse as we left the last buoy and turned parallel to the swell, where Georgie soon took to a bucket, but not for long. Our first day was a motoring trip to get us into the feel of our new (first) boat. We made Dartmouth and refuelled but did not use much derv. Soon after leaving the fuelling barge, our low water alarm sounded. I quickly stopped the engine and dropped the hook as the tide was still rising. I tried the strainer but with no luck. The harbour master towed me alongside to the town quay and I spent a happy hour or two fitting a new impeller and gasket. We finally showered and ate a fish supper at 21:30hrs. a delightful end to our first day!
The next day was hot and flat calm, the only break in the monotony being the disturbed water off the headlands. Our next night was at anchor in the Yealm entrance watching a beautiful sunset. p.s. Recommend using a good quality paraffin lamp as a riding light. No drain on battery.
Managed a little sailing next day but ended up motoring again for half the trip to Falmouth . Here, at Pendennis marina, I found out that Tonga does not like stopping. Most of my experience is in chartering modern boats that stop at will and spin on a sixpence, not Tonga ! I gave her a burst of reverse after minimum revs. in forward and I was informed that I was going too fast. I gave her a prolonged blast of reverse only to hear my wife shouting that we were going to hit the pontoon. I put her in full reverse and left it there but there was still an almighty bang as we hit the pontoon! When we were safely tied up I went to inspect the damage. Tonga had a small scuff but the pontoon had a dent 1? deep and 2? wide. Thank goodness for the grp thickness on old boats.
Had a day off due to fog next day, Sunday 7 th May and was later told that it was only on the river. Visited the maritime museum, well worth the delay, but went to Helford during the afternoon.
Left Helford and cleared the Manacles before making course for the Lizard on jib alone. The wind soon headed us and we were back on engine. The Lizard was reasonable so we went through the race. By now Georgie had got her sea legs and volunteered to make drinks but I got her to wait until clear of the overfalls as making a good speed had Tonga dancing about quite lively. Wind then increased to 4/5 on the nose. We went into Newlyn and tied up outside 4 trawlers. We had to climb over these boats and scale an iron ladder to get ashore. We reversed the trip in the dark and at low water with a long flight of rungs to negotiate. Georgie does very well at 65 years old (young).
Our son only had a week to spare, so we left him at Penzance the next day as we would not have been near a major rail station for some time after then. We got him to the station just in time for his train and we were soon stood alone. It was so sudden that I felt a great emptiness. He had been a great support for my wife as she has very little experience and I felt that the pressure was on her to help me from now on. We were anchored outside Penzance that night. Next day was one my wife was dreading. Everyone at Exmouth asked her, with some astonishment, if we were rounding Land's End until it took on the proportions of Cape Horn ! As it turned out, we had the tide down to Land's End , slack water as we rounded it (under engine) and the tide then helping us North. We made Newquay that day, sometimes in a quarter mile visibility. Thank goodness for sat. nav. I only wish that I had not told Georgie that once round Land's End that the west wind would be favourable for sailing from now on. It went into the north!
The next day (Thur. 11 th ) We made Boscastle, the wind flukey and often heading us. We needed to try and sail as we constantly had trouble getting diesel but the wind seldom obliged. Boscastle is a nightmare for a stranger to enter. We were fortunate as the sea was calm. I studied the pilot and almanac and was sure we had the right place but all we could see was cliffs. We entered a depression in the cliff as far as we dared and saw a ?lead? to the left but there was little room to turn round if it was wrong so we went out and looked at the directions again. Sure that I was right, I tentatively re-entered the cove. I turned left and crept along the lead until at last I could see that it did indeed turn right into the harbour. It never quite gave up on me as I managed to ground her before we tied up. We spent the rest of the evening trying to get derv. with no luck. In the pub. that night, I found that the nearest derv. was at the main road filling station at the top of a long hill out of the village. We had mixed luck the next day. A local lad turned up in the morning on a trail type motor bike with 6 litres of red tied on the back. His celebrating the previous night meant he had missed the tide! He made up some of his losses by selling me the derv. which I graciously paid over the odds for. After filling the tank, I used a cooking oil tin from the pub. to carry the rest. This tin stayed with us until we reached Holyhead! The down side was that we had run out of Calor and unable to get any. This meant no hot food or drinks until Ilfracombe. (2 days later). From now on we ate rather stale cheese and onion sandwiches and washed it down with water/squash! We left Boscastle at about 05:30 as our stern anchor had dragged and we were in danger of suffering damage against the wall. Hartland Point was rough and Georgie was afraid to look behind at the large breakers that swept past us. When the tide began to head us, we settled for Appledore rather than Ilfracombe. I wished that we had chosen Ilfracombe before the day had done with us. I could not make out the river entrance so carefully scanned the water between us and the shore and decided to get closer. We ran along parallel to the shore when we suddenly found ourselves among dangerous breakers! We were in shallow water at mid tide! I swung her out to sea and used full throttle for maximum steering effect as broaching would have possibly been fatal. We eventually cleared the ledges that caused the problem. A kindly yachtsman talked us in when we tried to get help on the radio. We eventually ?borrowed? a spare mooring hoping that the owner did not need it that night. The powerful flow at mid tide caused us some headaches trying to pick up the buoy and we only succeeded when the tide slackened later. The next day, Sun 14 th May, had us making an easy exit from the river and there was no sign of those overfalls of the day before. We made Ilfracombe early and had to wait for the tide to get on a mooring. We asked directions of lots of village idiots when trying to find the garage that sold Calor gas but in spite of them we found it. Carrying an empty gas bottle on fruitless wanderings in (by then) warm weather is no joke but at least the thought of hot food and drink instead of stale sandwiches soon had us cheerful again. We ate out at the sailing club that night.
We actually managed to sail most of the way across the Severn to Swansea on the Monday but the vis. was not too good. We had to put the engine on yet again and eventually the fog closed in as we were watching a large ship that we appeared to be on a collision course with. We were not less than a half mile from her and the collision course was very shallow but it was enough to make me anxious. I stopped the engine and listened. The fog cleared within half an hour and the ship had changed direction and crossed behind us. We struggled to make Swansea as a cardinal was not in the position marked, on a new chart, according to my sat. nav. and I had to make quite some distance against a strong current to round it. I noted that we had had enough of being cold, damp and miserable.
We took a long time from Swansea to making the river at Milford Haven. Only having a passage chart that did not show all of the buoys meant we had to play safe, no short cuts. The weather was deteriorating and we were motoring again. We made Dale in daylight and tied up on the pontoon and spent a miserable noisy night as the wind had gone through 180 degrees and increased to about F6/7 with rain, blowing onto the main hatch and the boat snatching. We went on to Milford Haven the next day which rained by the bucketful, and as the forecast was bad for the rest of the week, decided to leave Tonga until we could make time to complete the trip. We tried to make Rudder's boatyard, 10 miles inland from the river mouth the next day, but they advised us to use Neyland Marina for the night as they couldn't launch their RIB in those conditions. This was a nightmare to get into as the tide was falling and wind blowing F8/9. We had great difficulty due to boats being crammed in to maximise use of space but eventually managed with help from marina staff. We managed to moor up at Rudder's the next day but not without help from two employees working from the RIB alongside us. Our boathook got broken during the attempts to moor. I fastened the strongest ropes we had to the mooring strop and the jib winches as added security, taking the main and dodgers off to reduce windage.
We left her there for four weeks during which I took Georgie on a cruise to Norway on board the Oriana that I had kept as a surprise, to celebrate our 40 th wedding anniversary. I managed to visit the bridge during the trip and I asked about radar and small boats. They said all small boats except wooden hulls were visible on radar. Whether this held good for bad weather I forgot to ask!
We returned to Rudder's on 22 nd June, the day after leaving the Oriana having one night in our own bed. The weather could not have been different, warm sun! We got on board at about 16:30 and attached sails and tried the engine. We went to Milford Marina and topped up on derv. before tying up to Dale pontoon again. Tonga does not like that pontoon. We had another night snatching and creaking so moved on at 04:30 for Fishguard. (Fri 23 rd .) It was a beautiful dawn. Went between Skomer and Skokholm and round the Bishops and Smalls arriving at Fishguard at 16:50. We anchored off the moorings off the village and collected water. Some minor repairs due to motoring vibration were also made. During the foray ashore, I was advised about a spare mooring and moved onto it after dinner. That evening we were surrounded by a Centaur rally who all anchored. The Ship Inn, an olde worlde pub. sells Theakstones at a reasonable price is well worth a visit.
We motored out with main raised. Wrong again. Motored all way to Pwllheli, the highlight being overtaken by dolphins passing about I metre from Tonga along starboard side. It rained off and on all evening and we turned in at 22:30 after a shower and change of clothes. Sun. 25 th left marina at 05:30 with no anxious moments. What a change from F8/9 conditions. It was a long slog to Holyhead but sun out most of the afternoon. Overfalls off Bardsey Island gave a rough ride but at one point we were making 9kts according to our sat. nav! Rest of overfalls was 7/8kts. This would cost a fortune at Alton Towers! As the wind was in the North (ish) we decided to anchor at Trearddur Bay for the night. The wind was about F4 in the early hours but sounded more in the dark. The next morning we sailed off the anchor and goose winged until rounding North Stack where the wind headed us. We motored into Holyhead.
Tue. 27 th At 06:30 we headed out between Carmel Head and the Skerries for Amwlch. It was a typical cold February day and the sea quite rough. The wind was in the N.E. and we motored again. We moored to a giant rubber ?sausage? fishing boat fender that was about 1 metre in dia. and perhaps 30ft long. This had an iron ladder to the dock behind it. We had a lazy day visiting the museum, free, drinking tea at the café and sleeping some of the afternoon away. After a good dinner, we had a longish walk and a couple of pints in a local. The harbour was lit up like a football stadium that night with small fishing boats unloading. They did not disturb us. The next day we carefully fed out the mooring ropes permanently attached to the ?sausage? so as not to foul our prop and motored part way to Conwy in fog. A black pot marker we were heading for turned out to be a harbour seal that ducked under well before we ran it down. Having plenty of time, I put the boat on slow and streamed the mackerel feathers with no luck. We managed some sailing, very slowly at times. As we approached Conwy it was so calm I managed a good harbour stow of the main. We had to stay another day as the sill lowering times prevented us day sailing. We moored on a buoy outside the next evening. There is a wonderful ?Conway Bistro? that served up food that would match top restaurants except for price. A meal for two can be had for less than £50. A walk around the top of the castle walls will help work up an appetite.
Fri. 30 th June we left at 05:30 to a settled and quiet morning. Once free of the buoyage we headed for the Great Orme. The sunrise was spectacular and we saw more dolphins but not close this time. We sometimes sailed and sometimes motored around to the Dee, passing the wind farm on the landward side. A lovely relaxing last day. Having moored up and inflated the dinghy I removed the main. Our son turned up in my Terrano with two massive Danforths that I had made after being advised that my large originals were too small. We managed to swap one over that evening and retired exhausted after a couple of beers. The other anchor was dealt with the next morning and we were ready to leave at noon.
To change the anchors meant carrying/dragging them about a quarter mile through mud that we sank into between 3? and 9?. We nearly lost our Wellingtons a few times and both managed to sit in it once. The anchors weighed around 1 cwt. each, the cross bar being 1.5? in dia. And 3'6? long, the flukes 10mm thick. The shank is 2?x1? with a forged eye in the end (I am a blacksmith by trade). On my next visit I found her leaning on a slope, so fastened the tiller to swerve her to one side on a flat area as I wanted to be level while on board. I noticed that the flukes were turned upward on the seaward end due to the scouring action of the current, so repositioned them and pushed them down to the cross bar. That night I awoke to her swerving backward and forward and lying almost gunwale under. She had straddled her mooring chain and was tied broadside on to a 6 kt. current! I did not fancy casting her off and motoring around in the dark, the only thing I could do to correct the situation. I watched for a while and decided that she was not going to sink so went back to bed. By morning she had sorted herself out. The seaward anchor was completely buried and had about 5'0? of slack in the ground chain which had been left taut previously. She was sitting perfectly level in the scour created by our mooring.
John Britland
Tell us what you think - your comments, contributions and photos are very welcome.
Back to top
