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SailingPegasus.nl - Zeilen met de Pegasus - Blogdetails
Datum: 1-08-2013    Holiday 2013, Outward Journey
 This year, we planned to sail from Rotterdam to Cork, Ireland, in one swoop. But as often in life, you can plan all you want, in the end it turns out completely different. We decided to leave on Sunday only around 15:00 and passed the Binnenhavenbridge as the first boat. The next bridge, Erasmus-bridge, opens at 15:30. The intermediary time we wanted to make ourselves useful setting our newly assembled autopilot. But unfortunately, this doesn’t succeed and so we are required to contact the Raymarine dealer, after our holidays.

The main reason why we wanted to leave at 15:00, was to cross the TSS at daylight, while we are both awake. Four eyes see more than two and moreover, it feels safer, since I (Caroline), do not have that much experience with crossing the TSS! For our laymen/landlubber-readers: the TSS is the highway in the middle of the North Sea, where large containerships sail at aprox.50 km/hr. It is more than 17 sea miles to the Maasmond and we hope to arrive here around 18:00. There was hardly any wind and the trip, on the engine of course, went prosperous. In the end we arrived at the tidal outlet at 18:30. There seemed to come a little wind and we immediately decided to make good use of this and hoist the sails. Unfortunately we were somewhat too prematurely, because we hardly made any progress. Because of this, we overstayed our welcome in the Maasmond and this was not really appreciated by the traffic control Maasmond. We were requested to start our engine and to sail ASAP, because of the in-and outgoing ships. So we lowered the Genua and on we went, on the engine and the mainsail, in the direction of Buoy MV. As said, we sail right through the night, sometimes on the engine, than again on sails. Monday night we are joined by dozens of dolphins which swim around the boat and thus we sail into the 2nd night. At 1:00 – I have taken over the watch from Fred – the visibility is less and suddenly, out of nowhere, there appears a sailing boat; did not show on the computer screen, apparently this ship has no AIS! We sail far from the coast of England, when we hear a message on the VHF on Tuesday that there is a dead whale floating in the water. Moments later we hear the position of the dead animal, luckily safely far away from us. Next day, Wednesday, I still feel ill (not seasick, mind you!), warm and feverish. We decide not to sail on to Cork, but to deviate to Dartmouth harbour, a historical town. We arrive just after sunset at the impressive entrance of the river Dart, which is surrounded by the Devon hills. The glow of the setting sun drops its light on both castles, Dartmouth Castle to the left and Kingswear Castle to the right, a magnificent sight.

Dartmouth has a rich history: this small marine harbour played a major role in the nautical history of the UK. Dartmouth is an ideal place to start your journey back in time. As a deep sea harbour for sailing boats, Dartmouth has always been of importance. Already in 1147 and 1190 this harbour was used as a starting point for the crusades and Dartmouth Castle has been watching over the small entrance of the harbour for over 600 years. In 1388 Richard II ordered the mayor of Dartmouth – the merchant and privateer John Hawley – to compel the townsmen to contribute to a ‘fortalice’, which was built shortly afterwards. He was Mayor of Dartmouth on fourteen occasions between 1374 and 1401 and was elected MP for Dartmouth 4 times, in 1390, 1393, 1394 and 1402.

Hawley was both a merchant and licensed privateer though he was often accused of piracy. He conducted a number of naval operations in the English Channel and briefly held the post of deputy to the Admiral of England under King Henry IV (1399-1413). He organised the defence of Dartmouth in 1404 against an attack by a Breton fleet, which culminated in the Battle of Blackpool Sands. He was the inspiration for Geoffrey Chaucer‘s ‘Shipman’ in the Canterbury Tales. Hawley’s grave is to be found in the St. Saviour Church. Bayard’s Cove is the oldest shipyard and on the paved quay lay the famous ‘Mayflower’ in 1620. (the ship that took the Pilgrim Fathers to America). Dartmouth is also known for the TV series ‘The Onedin Line’.
We berth the Pegasus at a pontoon, next to the ‘Moon Shadow’, a boat with an elderly couple, who have been sailing for years. Still not feeling too well and very tired, we dive into bed. Our neighbours tipped us that we could have a free shower in the municipal park, at the quay. With the water taxi to the shore, have a nice shower and then explore the town. Since we chose to stay here for a couple of days, we did some shopping too. At the quay you have beautiful houses with nicely painted wooden façades. In the afternoon we happily do nothing at all, enjoy the sun and the steam whistle of the steam train on its tour from Kingswear to Paighton and back. The harbour master comes alongside to collect the harbour dues.
The following day we plan the next step in our journey. We decide to go to Cork by way of the Scilly Islands. Maps on the table, check the tides and put WP in the gps. In between we relish in all the boats that pass by, including an enormous marine ship. In the afternoon back to the shore in the dinghy and have a beer on the quay, with a view on our Pegasus. After that, strolled around, looking for a nice restaurant. We leave the following day, so to bed in time. The weather forecast being a sturdy wind, later too fall back. Because there is already a strong wind, we have aangeslagen? The storm jib on the detachable stay and furnished the mainsail with a 2nd reef and at 11:00 we leave Dartmouth. Under the watchful eye of several onlookers from the pontoon, we lose our big bulgy fender (Maybe not properly fixed, Fred?). But no worries, we turn in a perfect circle and pick up the fender in one go. Fantastic teamwork, what? How well we are attuned. The perspective is a nice day and night of sailing with a strong wind with speeds up to 26 knots (wind force 6). In the morning at 3:00, we cross the TSS (that leads to Ireland), to the Scilly Islands. Here you have to really watch where you are going, at high tide, but certainly a low tide! Considering the tide, we decide not to go to St. Mary’s, but to Tresco. There is a beautiful bay, where we can drop anchor. However, the weather is not getting better, the wind is increasing. Moments later, the topping lift snaps and because of the tension in the lift, it shoots up around the backstay. Luckily, we can solve this problem by using one of the many hoist lines as a topping lift. To make matters worse, the hoisting line of the storm jib snaps, causing it to be whipped around the mast and other lines. This problem we cannot solve; we would have to climb the mast for this and that is way too dangerous in this weather. On the engine, with the mainsail in 2nd reef, we sail on to Tresco. When we finally get to the bay, there is not enough room for us to drop anchor. We try a couple of times until the anchor service breaks down.
SIGH…. It never rains but it pours….
We have reached the top of our irritation-level and we give up the anchoring. We decide to immediately sail on to Cork. There is a strong wind, but that won’t stop us. On the engine and with help of the sails, it should work. Pretty soon it turns out we have the current against us, the wind comes from the wrong direction and the waves are getting higher and higher. We’re not getting anywhere like this! Next the sky gets darker, the view gets less, it is one of those days, you know… and then… the engine makes a funny sound and quits spontaneously. Despite frantic efforts we can’t get it back to life again. Most likely, the filters of the engine are completely silted by the pollution of the diesel tank. Well… now what? We try again to sail to Cork, but it sets no grist to the mill. It doesn’t seem justified to sail another 2 or 3 days in the direction of Cork, with this unpredictable weather and a non-working engine. We decide to turn around and sail to Falmouth, a large harbour where we should find help with the engine. A wise decision: after our holidays we hear that the Dutch boat ‘Astrid’ had engine trouble just before Cork and was locked on the rocks for a few days!  After a few hours of sailing we are back at the TSS at Land’s End. The wind has decreased considerably (just now, when we needed it most). At first we try to cross over straight through (is obliged). But we are in bad luck, the current is once more against us ánd the wind is from the wrong direction. We call up on the other boats to let them know we are under sails and have engine trouble and are not capable of manoeuvring. Fortunately, there aren’t that many boats and they give us all the space we need. Still, the situation gets more and more pressing, the wind drops and the current causes us to drift in the northern direction. We call the coastguard and tell them of our problems and our plan to sail to Falmouth. The coastguard considers that we are way too long in the TSS – course and wants us out of there now. After consultation, we are going to be towed away by a lifeboat to the nearest harbour. We float around quietly, until the lifeboat of Sennen Cove arrives 45 minutes later. This lifeboat contains 8 men, who gives us clean instructions what to do and tow us to Newlyn in 3 hours, ‘cause Falmouth is too far away.

We arrive in the wee small hours of the morning in Newlyn harbour. The lifeboat sails us to a pier in a very professional way. My compliments to these guys! Much later we hear that the LNLI is an organisation completely constitued of volunteers and that we won’t be charged for the costs of the towing. Completely bushed by all the emotions we fell in our beds.
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18-12-2013, reactie van Freek
Natuurlijk de verhalen al gehoord. Maar toch. Weer spannend als je het zo leest ;) Leuk!
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