Written by: Dr John Stark

When my wife Jennifer and I retired in 2009 at the age of 65 we decided to move to a more comfortable pastime than windsurfing. Sitting in a dinghy and being blown along by the wind seemed a reasonable solution for a couple in retirement. Our purchase of a second-hand RS400 proved how wrong one can be. After three years of fun, after a real taste for asymmetric spinnaker sailing, and a number of washes, Jennifer decided a keel was called for. We migrated to a second-hand K6, a 300kg flying machine. This boat was marvellous fun, but had the disadvantage of needing to be dry-sailed. We would crane it in and out of the water using a hand crane on the pier in Torbay.

Three years later dry sailing eventually fell out of vogue with us, and we purchased a J88 second hand and moved to the very agreeable Plymouth Yacht Haven marina in the United Kingdom. Three years with the J88 taught us a lot, though it was neither fast off wind nor suitable for more distant passages offshore. So, we decided to purchase a modern sailboat with twin rudders, namely a Sunfast 3200R2. This boat, named Twilight Time, is really for us and will probably be our last.

We can enjoy fast upwind and distance eating under asymmetric on a broad reach. This is in large part thanks to those that have helped us learn a little about sailing, especially Jon Pegg (Ullman Sails), Nigel Colley (Sea Ventures), and Paul Young (Rondar Race Boats K6). Our spinnaker exercises are not always successful, but thankfully the Sunfast is very forgiving.

Recently, we finally undertook the pilgrimage from Plymouth to Fowey in south Cornwall after three years of trying to reach some level of sailing competence.

The journey there and back

Sailing to Fowey

The trip started with an urgent hull clean on Wednesday, 8th September 2021. Lift out, spray clean, and back in. For some time, the hull drag had been causing excessive heel and side slip. Not optimal for a long trip.

This build-up occurred in less than 5 months

Thursday morning it was misty and raining. What to do, abandon, delay or cancel? I was confident about handling the upwind leg so decided to go for it. Just can’t trust the current weather forecasts. We reached the breakwater after a number of tacks and were treated to a beautiful sky.

Leaving Plymouth breakwater

The plan was to reach WPT Plymouth-Fowey by 12:00 so as to catch a favorable tidal current compromise. We reached it 15 minutes late. Passing Rame Head, Twilight Time decided to show us what she can do with a clean bottom.

Whitsand Bay on the way to Fowey

In Whitsand Bay the wind dropped somewhat for about half an hour, but we were still bowling along at a reasonable speed. As we approached South of Looe things changed. The wind rose, and the sea as well. We tacked twice to get far enough away from the overfalls and keep to our WPT route. Twilight Time got into flying mode. Boat speed and SOG was 9.3knots on a close reach. Fully in her groove and sailing on one ear, we whizzed westward.

Onwards to Fowey

Unfortunately, we did not get a chance to savor Mum’s carefully prepared lunch as we were hanging on for dear life.

The carefully prepared lunch

As we approached close to WPT West 4 Fowey, the entrance became visible. We turned into the wind and dropped the sails. Wow, the South Westerly was piling waves into the small bay at the entrance to Fowey making the mainsail flaking a trifle difficult and dangerous.

Inside the river

Once completed we motored into Fowey river and dialed up channel 12 on the VHF set and were honored with an escort to our berth at Mixtow.

Our berth at Penmarlam Quay Mixtow. 1.5nm up from Fowey river entrance.

The evening meal was a quite a luxury, though had to be inhaled before tiredness took over.

Thursday evening celebration meal

Time in Fowey

Friday was a day of rest. The plan: Dine out, admire the scenery and do a little walk. Reality decided otherwise. The walk involved a steep uphill followed by a crossing of fields and then a steep downhill to the Boddinnick Ferry. From there we crossed the river into the town of Fowey. The steep narrow streets were heaving with tourists. Due to crowds, nowhere attracted us to eat so we kept on walking. We arrived at the river mouth and took a ferry to Polruan. Again, nowhere attracted us to eat so we ended up climbing the very steep village road up to the bluff overlooking the sea. There we found an observation/weather post that had recorded our arrival the previous day.

Now for some reliable forecast for tomorrow: “Sorry mate all a bit weird at the moment. Rame Head has just contacted us reporting an unexpected squall going through. However, tomorrow looks good SW 10 to 14 knots at most.”

So we crossed back to Fowey side and agreed to go into the first restaurant. No go, no longer serving food, and all fully booked for the evening. Right, we take the first cake shop. All that was left were Cornish pasties. We perched next to a wall with seagulls dribbling at their beaks and ate our wondrous purchase. Next, we hot-footed it to the Boddinnick Ferry and returned to Twilight Time. The crew nursed their aching hip joints.

North side of river mouth. Just to right of small red tower is the residence of the actress Dawn French.

That evening I went through the N+1 calculations and realized that we had only one reasonable solution and that was to use our spinnaker to return to Plymouth. Even with a spinnaker, a west wind would take us miles out to sea whilst a SW could be optimal. I assumed that the day would start with a westerly and then back to a south-westerly. The plan was to reach the WPT West 4 Fowey by 10:00.

Fowey centre

During the night I kept waking up and going through the spinnaker raising in intricate detail. Gybing would be essential. The crew’s hips must function.

Ready for the off, spinnaker pole out

Returning to Plymouth

Saturday dawned as a beautiful sailing day. Ready for the off, spinnaker pole out, we motored down the river.

Approaching river mouth

On the way down to Fowey we had encountered a boat with a very tall mainsail travelling towards Plymouth. It turned and gave chase. At first, I thought that it was gaining on us and then the wind increased off Looe and we drew away. After berthing on Thursday, they came up river and called out to us and then buzzed off.

On the South side of river mouth

On the Saturday, there they were again just ahead of us. Clearly, they had spotted us on the move with their AIS. We finally overtook them before reaching the Eddystone Latitude. They could read our speed on the AIS just as we could read theirs because both boats have transponders. We were averaging 0.5 to 1 knot more speed than them.

Out at sea with the spinnaker up and full concentration

They should have wiped the floor with us as their boat is a trimaran. We were flying along with our spinnaker from Ullman Sails!

The spinnaker is safely up

Screwing on the power. 10.8 knots in 17.2knots of wind.

We berthed in Plymouth at 14:42 on Saturday, 11th September 2021. A truly marvelous adventure and experience.

Our spinnaker in its sock