Speedwell of Rhu Ship's Log

12 th to 13 th of August 2012 - Plymouth

Sunday 12 ^th August

As we were inside a raft of three we didn't plan to make an early start. The wind had become south westerly so we knew we would have a fairly easy sail and the sun was still shining. As it happened both the yachts outside left in good time so we followed them down the river. We had inadvertently left the oars in the tender which we were towing, so Andy, with long arms managed to get them off and into Speedwell. When we got out to sea we counted more than fifty yachts all heading east after a weekend in Fowey. It was amazing how many boats could be squeezed into the river. I'm guessing we left a lot of space. After the quiet seas that we had got used to, it was quite nice to sail in company. The wind was as promised and we had a gentle sail at around 5 knots in a fairly flat sea. When we headed past Rame Head into Plymouth all three yachts from our raft in Fowey were abeam one another. We left the other two and headed into Cawsand's Bay, where we anchored for lunch.

It took two goes for the anchor to set because I decided to see what would happen if I applied 1400 revs in reverse before the anchor had settled. The fact that it didn't trip until 1400 revs I thought was reassuring, but it meant poor Andy had to get the anchor up and start again.

After a rest we slowly sailed toward Drake's Island under genoa and mizzen. As we turned toward the Bridge, a shallow buoyed channel between Drakes Island and Mount Edgecombe, we gybed and the wind died so we dropped the sails. We then, passed the docks and motored up into the Saint German river to anchor.

We were expecting the weather to take a turn for the worse and this seemed like a nice sheltered place to sit out a storm. We had good radio reception and using my mobile as a hotspot we were able to watch some of the Olympic closing ceremony, just catching the very end of Kate Bush, to Andy's disappointment

Monday 13 ^th August

It was very windy overnight so we were glad to have spent the extra hour or two heading up river the previous day. There were very few boats in the river and we were alone in our anchorage, making a nice change from the hustle and bustle of Fowey and giving us a chance to charge our batteries before heading toward Weymouth and the Solent which we are expecting will be very busy.

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