6th July
We set our alarm for 5:00 a.m. for an early departure from Penzance and as soon as the Harbour Master had a cup of tea and opened the gate we slipped our lines and set off under engine, keen to get to the Lizard by 8:30 a.m. before the tide became foul and cause the sea to be too disturbed. We made good time and once past the Lizard put the sails up and achieved a good 5 knots, dodging some of the rainclouds.
We had received a text message from one of our friends Warwick who was tracking our progress from our AIS transmission. This felt very strange that our progress could be followed in real time.
We arrived at the approach to the River Helford shortly after 12 noon and had to take the sails down going into the river as the wind was right on our nose. We then made our way up the river on the lookout for a green visitors buoy for the night. We soon found one and were successful in picking one up on our second attempt. These buoys are pretty substantial with their own mini pick-up buoys. The Harbour Master advised later that each mooring buoy can take up to three boats and do so in the busy summer months.
Once we had tied up using two lines, we felt quite secure and ready for the wet and windy night forecast. Chris then then prepared lunch which was a small spider crab which he had bought in Penzance.
After the welcome news that Andy Murray had got into the Men’s Singles Final at Wimbledon, we had an early dinner and settled down for the night. However, despite the forecast of heavy rain and strong winds, we were surprised at the strength of the gusts (instruments recorded 39 knots of wind) and we even had to put the cooker on gimbal as things were starting to move across the boat. Around 2:00 a.m. Chris even felt it prudent to don wet weather gear and safety line to check all was well at the bow with the lines and anchor. He returned below decks like one big drowned rodent. The winds finally abated sufficiently for us to get some sleep around 3:30 a.m.
