Dittisham, Dartmouth

One of our favourite places to moor, which is fairly close to our permanent mooring in Brixham, is Dittisham near Dartmouth. This is a very pleasant place to stop overnight. The river here, like time itself, passes faily slowly. Little has changed for many years. There is peace and quite with the only disturbances being the visits from the River Dart swans and the small local ferry taking people to Greenway - the one time home of Agatha Christie.

Early Morning in Salcombe

The passage back to Brixham involves passing around Start Point, which is a promontory that juts out into the English Channel. Today there was a spring tide. That means the journey could involve fast currents and a rough passage. We departed early in the morning to catch the last of the east going tide. We knew that wind against tide, particularly a spring tide, needs to be avoided at Start Point if you do not want everything in your boat, including you, thrown around like a cork in the surf! The weather forecast had predicted a southerly wind that would mean that it would be on our starboard side as we went past the lighthouse at Start Point and with us once we turned north towards Brixham. Unfortunately, the wind proved to be coming from the east and gave us yet another bumpy ride past Start Point with the windscreen wipers having to be used to counter the spray from the waves. Once we arrived in Torbay, the waves subsided and it was impossible to believe that only a few miles away the waves could be so rough.

This was journeys end for this holiday and all that remained was for us to wash the salt off Jomima and prepare for our road journey back to the Midlands.

Kingsbridge

Many people think that Salcombe is situated by an estuary, but there is no river. The correct term is a ria: a river valley drowned when sea levels have risen. The town of Kingsbridge is situated at the far end of the ria and is reachable in a boat, with a low draft, at high tide. Today we checked the tides and decided to visit Kingsbridge that afternoon in our dingy. There was very little wind and it was very pleasant to see the young trainee sailors, from the Island Cruising Club base on Egremont (a converted Mersey Ferry) moored on the ria, wafting past and wishing for more wind. For about 45 minutes we followed the red stakes, which show the channel, until we reached Kingsbridge and tied up at the visitors pontoon provided. We had a pleasant walk around the town, which resulted in the purchase of some new sandles and the inevitable ice cream. The journey back, with the tide, was quicker and enabled us to get back in time for an excellent but inexpensive meal at the Victoria Inn in Salcombe.

Salcombe

The marina in Plymouth is situated on the edge of the town, behind a lock gate, well inside the very large expanse of Plymouth Harbour. As a result, when you decide to travel from Plymouth to Salcombe, you do not actually know what the sea state is going to be like until you have completed about 20% of the journey! Today, it was towards the boundary of what is acceptable to us i.e. a force 4 wind producing white caps on some of the waves. However we knew that the tide was slackening and conditions should improve; so we persevered. Arriving in Salcombe, after an uncomfortable journey, proved to be a pleasure as usual. There are no marinas in Salcombe and you have to moor to a buoy or floating pontoon – all of which were already occupied. We therefore chose to moor on a buoy that already had two motor boats attached to it. It is usually good form to moor against a similar size and shape of boat. The two motor boats, at 50 feet long, were considerably larger than Jomima. I therefore had to dig out the longest rope that we posses to even reach the mooring buoy! However, the view of the town and the fun of watching the various sizes of craft pottering around the harbour made the effort worthwhile.

A Family Visit

It is always a pleasure to be visited by friends and family. Usually these things have to be arranged well in advance and the weather is not always very kind. However today the sun shone and the wind stayed away – which is the way that we like it. My sister and her family have not been to sea on Jomima before. As we discovered they have not actually been to sea on a boat of this size before so time was spent, at an early stage, choosing life jackets! Fortunately, we were able to find a sheltered spot in Cawsands Bay where we were able to drop the hook for lunch. This proved a slight challenge for queasy stomachs when water skiers rocked our boat, occasionally, but the family got used to the conditions and appeared to enjoy the experience. This was followed by a trip up the River Tamar where the navy had laid on a good show of submarines, an aircraft carrier, and some escort vessels. It is good to see that we still have some naval hardware left despite the general comments in the press.

Plymouth

Early morning in Fowey a pair of swans and five cygnets greeted us! I am not sure how many youngsters a pair of swans manage to raise each year but this is certainly the most that I have ever seen together. After a leisurely breakfast, we decided that the weather and tides were OK for us to motor to Plymouth. We normally cruise at 10 – 12 knots because it is relaxing and we save fuel. At that speed, we achieve about 2 mpg, which compares with only1 mpg when we cruise at 20 knots – which is about 80% of maximum speed. The entrance to Plymouth harbour gets relatively narrow when you enter from the west particularly when faced by a very large naval ship that has decided to speed up and leave. It is at those moments that I am grateful for Jomima’s ability to accelerate quickly to 23 knots to get out the way.

Fowey Fish

One of the pleasures of travelling by boat is that it gives you an appetite that, with the help of Ann’s excellent cooking, we can then satiate with fresh produce. For me, the best shop on this coast is Fowey Fish (www.foweyfish.com). It is a well run shop with some excellent fresh fish – a lot of which is caught locally by the son of the owner. However, what makes the shop even more interesting is the unusual fact that they also sell some excellent wines. It is therefore possible to buy some fresh scallops and a bottle of chilled Cloudy Bay white wine to go with them. Doesn't that make your mouth water?

Earlier that day we had made use of the excellent, but bumpy, local bus service to Charles Town. There we were able to admire the square-rigged sailing vessels that were in for repair using traditional methods. The whole place is a step back in time with its small harbour and very old quaysides. This must be highly profitable following the popularity of some of the latest films like, “Pirates of the Caribbean”.

Fowey

The 21 nautical mile (nm) trip to Fowey was completed in two hours. The visibility was relatively poor at about ¾ mile so the radar earned its keep by showing us, not only where other boats were but also where the coast was. It is always most comforting to be able to see land – even if it is only on the radar screen! On arrival at Fowey, we were able to moor to a floating pontoon opposite the Town. This gave us a lovely view of the area and also the large china clay ships arriving. Fowey is the busiest port in Cornwall with over 350 ships docking each year. It was wonderful to watch the tugs turning these relatively large freighters through 180 degrees and towing them backwards up river for loading. The first time we experienced this made us very nervous because we felt very vulnerable in such close proximity to such large vessels.

Falmouth Harbour

The harbour itself is one of the largest natural harbours in the world; parts of the harbour are very commercial but near by there are some beautiful bays. For lunch, we anchored at St Just Pool with an excellent view of the Roseland Peninsula. However, our lunch was interrupted by a boy in a very small sailing dingy who had obviously failed to notice that the strong wind was taking him away from the coast towards the middle of a very busy harbour. Needless to say, he was unable to return under his own sail power so we retrieved him with Jomima – which must have looked like the QE II to him on his wet ironing board! We were able to get a line to him and keep him from travelling further into trouble until his father arrived with an outboard powered dingy to tow him back to shore.

Unfortunately, after a brief trip outside the harbour, we decided that the wind was considerably stronger than forecast and decided to spend the night at Port Pendennis Marina again. This at least gave us time to remove the dirty fuel marks from the boat, with the aid of some spray on cleaner and a lot of hard work.

Truro

Our dingy and outboard engine got some exercise again today. We could see from the charts that, when the tide is in, it is possible to travel by river all of the way up to Truro. It is very shallow in places but our Avon dingy, with an 8 hp Yamaha engine, is quite capable of getting us there. We checked the tides and decided that if we left at 08:30 and started the return journey by 12:00 we should have enough water for the journey. We saw many different types of bird on the journey including the largest Grey Heron we have ever seen and some little Egrets. We were also able to visit Truro Cathedral. Sadly, the trip had to end with a visit to Tesco for supplies and to acquire a can of petrol for the return journey.

River Fal, Cornwall

The weather has again kept us in Falmouth so we decided to explore the beautiful River Fal. We managed to find a floating pontoon mooring near Ruan creek. This was followed by a trip to the Smugglers Cottage for lunch and Trelissick House gardens (National Trust) for an afternoon walk. Both events proved to be a very pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

Port Pendennis Marina, Falmouth

Ann returned from a walk and commented that a group of boats on a cruise with Motor Boats Monthly magazine had arrived in the marina and one of them was a Broom that looked very similar to our own boat. I later went for a walk to see the boats and discovered that the Broom that Ann had mentioned not only looked like our boat it also had the same name! We knew that the previous owner of Jomima, who had kept her on the East coast, had traded our boat in for a new Broom 39. What we did not know was that they had also named their new boat Jomima and we certainly did not expect to come across her In Falmouth – which is a long way from the east coast. I introduced Ann and I to them and they very kindly showed us around Jomima Mk2. She is a lovely boat and, being very new, was in excellent condition. However later, when they saw Jomima Mk1, we were told off for not having her as clean as when they had owned her (our excuse was that she was immaculate three weeks ago but a plane going into Exeter airport dumped fuel over the sea and a number of boats in Brixham, including ours!).

Helford River

The weather forecast last night suggested that easterly winds of force 3 to 4 were to be expected. That is on the limit of what we like but we planned to take the first of the east flowing tide that, along with the wind, would give us a lift to the Scilly Isles. In the Helford River, you have to swing from a buoy because there are no marinas suitable for Jomima at 12 metres long. This is normally not a problem because we simply drop our dingy down from the davits and motor to shore for food etc. Unfortunately, the forecasted easterly wind of force 3 to 4 arrived in the early hours of the morning as a force 4 to 5 gusting to force 6 and was due to last for several days. This woke us early because we were moored near the mouth of the river and it faces east. This meant a change of direction and a move to Falmouth. Unfortunately, even that did not go to plan. Ann noticed that the cooling water coming out of the port (left) exhaust was decidedly erratic. Time for Stuart to get his hands dirty. This involved dismantling the water filter to find a strip of polythene sheet lodged in there. This did not actually totally cure the problem and meant a trip on one engine into Falmouth. When the starboard engine is doing all of the work, Jomima has a natural tendency to turn left and requires a large amount of starboard rudder to go straight and to actually turn right to any degree is nearly impossible.

At Sea

Today we plan to travel from the River Yealm to the Helford River near Falmouth. As you may be beginning to realise, we like the smaller friendly places rather than the major seaports. The Helford River is particularly beautiful and if you have read any books by Daphne Du Maurier then it will already be familiar to you. Jomima is able to reach 22 knots (25 mph) if we open the throttles right up. However, at that speed, we only manage 1 mpg (yes, one mile per gallon!). Fortunately, legally, we are able to use the pink diesel that the fishing boats use at ‘only’ 50 pence per litre. However, we are in no rush so today we travelled at 10 knots and achieved a whole 2 mpg. The sea was calm. There was virtually no wind and the sailors were using their ‘iron sails’ (engines) and all was well with the world – for us not them.

Leaving Brixham

When we go on holiday in Jomima, we do actually plan where we want to go. However, firstly, the most important thing is safety and secondly we want to enjoy the journey. As a result we rarely actually manage to get to all of the places we plan to visit. This week we plan to travel to the Scilly Isles, from Brixham, in three steps. So far this week we have sat in Brixham waiting for suitable weather and tides. We do not do winds of force four or above and try to avoid white horses. By that, I mean waves that are breaking rather than the four-legged kind although, in my case, I avoid those as well! Today we actually made it, as planned, to the river Yealm East of Plymouth that is straddled by Newton Ferrers & Noss Mayo. We also managed to round Start Point without any excitement. It is a particularly unfriendly piece of rock, which sticks out into the English Channel between Dartmouth and Salcombe. Our worst memory of the sea happened here - before we learnt that the wind blowing against a strong tide leads to the contents of the galley being strewn all over the inside of the boat by the violent motion of the sea. In addition, the pilot and crew tend to look a little ashen on arrival.

Introduction

Six years ago my wife Ann and I bought our first boat - a 20 year old Fairline Corniche called 'Moonlight Lady'. Two and a half years later we swapped her (boats are always female) for 'Take Five' a 12 year old Broom 36. Finally, she was exchanged last year for 'Jomima' (we believe that the previous owner had children called John, Michael & Marion) a six year old Broom 38.