dying, we paddle/sailed to camp and the four of us enjoyed another lovely evening round the campfire.
Friday had always shown the most promise in the numerous weather forecasts I had been monitoring for the preceding week and so it turned out to be. Mostly cloudy but very mild and rather light of wind, so more paddle/sailing was needed to explore Mylor, Falmouth and the Penryn River. The sun even shone weakly for a while during our lunch stop at Flushing, opposite Falmouth town. There was a useful breeze on our return north up the Roads and we diverted via Loe Beach to exchange greetings with some new arrivals from the Group (Paul, DaveP & family and Warin) who were rigging and packing to head over to the campsite. The lure of the beach café at Loe also proved too much to resist and anyway we need to support the local economy, especially in the low season!
Back at the camp we encouraged much collecting of any fallen wood before it got too dark, helped James and two of his young daughters to land and carry their camping gear up to their already pitched tents and had a great camp party with a larger fire to sit so many of us around.
The forecasts for the weekend were none too promising, with much wind and rain expected, so Ann and I decided to break camp next morning (Saturday) and head back to civilisation, having had a couple of really good days exploring some of this gem of tidal but sheltered waters. Others stayed on for a trip up the much more sheltered river towards Truro but that, as they say, is another tale and for someone else to tell. (Indeed - see DaveP's report below - Ed.)
Extract from a sailing guide to the area:
The Fal Estuary is the third largest natural harbour in the world and the area known as the Carrick Roads extends 4 miles from Black Rock to Turnaware Point with nowhere being less than 1 mile wide. Its huge expanse of sheltered water is accessible in all weathers and at all states of the tide. The famous Helford River is close by and the many beautiful waters within the estuary provide enjoyable sailing even when there is a full gale in the English Channel.
Day On The River (DaveP)
Sunday morning was wet and windy. Sailing out into the Roads seemed unwise so we decided to sail up the river to Truro. There were some drawbacks to this plan. It involved setting off downwind and therefore returning to windward and as low water was at midday we would have the tide as well as the wind against us on the way back. On the other hand it wasn't as though it was a Morecambe Bay tide, we were going inland and we didn't like the idea of having travelled the length of the country to sit in a tent in the rain. There were eight of us in five boats; James, Amber and Holly in their giant canoe, Jeff and Ellen in Njuzu, Paul in Coruisk, Warin in his Peterborough, Jan in Petrel and Oliver and I in Osprey. We all had outriggers except Warin. Paul had a powerful electric outboard.
Despite the vile weather we had an enjoyable run up the river. It wasn't cold and the scenery, moored boats and pheasant shooting were interesting. We stopped just short of Truro, there was nowhere to land and, thinking it was low water some of us decided to park ourselves on a mud bank instead of picking up a mooring. This was a mistake. It wasn't yet low water and the tide went out quite a lot further leaving us high if not very dry. Upon tentative investigation I found that the mud would not bear my weight. It looked as though we might be there for some time.
After lunch we saw the moored boats swinging to the incoming tide but rough calculation suggested we might be there for another hour or so. Fortunately Jeff had had the sense to pick up a mooring rather than getting stuck and with the use of throwlines we were able to get ourselves off. Petrel was a particularly effective mud sledge but Osprey, being deeper and narrower, was much messier to re-launch (and when I say messier…)
Eventually however we were all afloat and heading upstream downriver. In general the tide behaves according to the "twelfths rule." It comes in for about six hours; in the first hour it comes in one twelfth of its total range, in the second hour two twelfths, in the third hour three twelfths, in the fourth hour three twelfths, in the fifth hour two twelfths and in the sixth hour one twelfth. Thus we see that in the third and fourth hours, three times as much water is coming in as in the first and sixth hours so the current is likely to be three times as strong. All this is greatly modified by the local geography but in the absence of detailed local knowledge, with which we had not provided ourselves, it gave us something to work on.
So, we set off. Jeff and Ellen had warned us before we started that they had to be back at work on the Monday so they didn't hang about. Encouraged by their rapid progress we proceeded a little more sedately. Soon however the increasing current began to hinder us and it was necessary to carry more sail than we might have liked in order to stem it. Warin was a magnificent sight, heeled to a terrifying angle and going like a train. If it had been a sunny day I would have envied him. Paul
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