Wednesday 5th March 2025
0000
hrs
Lat: 50° 59.99'
N
Long: 004° 59.59'
W
Trellugan Boatyard, Cornwall
I woke at six after a cold night, another one below freezing point, and popped my head on deck to be greeted by a blanket of thick fog, a layer of hoar frost and water frozen to 10mm in a bucket that was on deck. Today might prove some interesting navigation!
As Mark who had done this trip before was unavailable I had put out a call on a local sailing group and Morag volinteered to crew. Thus we met each other at the sailing club at 0755 and started the two car shuffle between there and Treluggan.
0830
hrs
The yard team arrived and started the tractor. I removed the last items that needed to go ashore and popped them in the car.
The slope was inspected for ice and treated with grit before the tractor started its slow descent to the river. At that point an inbound vessel arrived, realising that we needed to be launched before they could be lifted, drifted back down river and moored to one of the lower pontoons.
Boat Launching Treluggan Style
The dinghy was walked down the slope and manhandled onto the deck. Time to climb onboard and swap the blanking plate for the depth sounder; an essential bit of kit on this passage.
Next was the moment of truth. Would the engine start on this cold and frosty morning? After what felt like an eternity she caught and after a roar at full revs was happily chugging away at tickover. Forward and reverse propulsion was engaged and the wheel was turned port and starboard - just to check that I had not accidentally shut the hydraulic circuit off. All working we were set to go.
0900
hrs
The bow was led round the end of the pontoon, I pushed the throttle forward and we were off - almost going the wrong side of the first navigation post! A few shouts of 'starboard' and we were on course chugging our way down to the railway viaduct.
Just after the railway viaduct the engine began to hunt for revs, always a nervous moment, I pushed the throttle to the stop and hoped that it was just a few air bubbles in the line - thankfully this was to prove correct.
The Joy of Being Back at the Helm
© Morag Thomson Findlay 05/03/2025
An early morning trip down from Treluggan in good weather is always stunning, the place can be quite magical and so it was today. On reaching the confluence of the river where it branches up to St Germans a bright yellow fishing boat with two massive outboards passed and we roughly followed her down to Dandy Hole. As ever Dandy Hole has a few liveaboards and still has one wreck that has not been lifted.
Past the Royal Navy training ship by Beggars Point and we were out into the Tamar with the tide just on the ebb. We motored slowly upstream and I pointed out the mooring to Morag, let her have the wheel to get a feel for the boat before turning round and as we came alongside the mooring gave a big thrust astern after I picked up the rather mucky lines and managed to get the aft starboard line on the cleat.
1006 hrs
We were back on the mooring.
On the Mooring - at last!
With one line on a cleat it was a matter of adjusting the very messy lines, a mug of coffee and getting the dinghy fully inflated and over the side for the trip to the pontoon.
I had forgotten that the sailing club was having an RNLI Fundraising Coffee Morning, so we sat and had a coffee, by this time I was regretting not putting some sun lotion on! Then it was back for the two car shuffle so that Morag could get to her early afternoon meeting.
Back at Treluggan I handed back the keys and had a final wander round where the boat had been and picked up any litter, chatting to the owners still working on their boats - mainly passing news of the route down.
1400
hrs
Back to the club and out to the boat for a final check that all was in order.
I had left the engine sea cock open to check what the water ingress was like without the engine on and was surprised to see that the engine bilge was almost full. At that point I decided to invest in a new water pump rather than faf about repairing the original one as that would take time and a few tools, a three armed bearing extractor, that I did not have.
The fuel leak was sorted by the fuel being turned off and a nappy placed round the leak - on my next visit to the boat I'll need to measure up for a new fuel line and get that sorted.
A final check of the lines and I locked up the boat and rowed ashore - only to discover that I had left the dinghy pump onboard and a couple on a boat on the pontoon were kind enough to let me borrow their outboard to speed up my return trip to pick up the pump.
Finally got the dinghy back to the car for deflation and transport home - the summer dinghy park is not yet open - and into the bar for a well earnt orange juice and lemonade before the drive back to East Devon.
All times are UT.
The Log
| |
Distance
NM |
Underway
|
Avg SOG
knots |
Max SOG
knots |
Night
Hours |
| Day |
5.30
|
1h 06m
|
5.00
|
6.00
|
0h 00m
|
| Year |
5.30
|
1h 06m
|
5.00
|
6.00
|
0h 00m
|
Crew: Sandy Garrity (Skipper), Morag Thomson Findlay
Sunrise: 0655
hrs
Prime Meridian Passage: 1211
hrs
Sunset: 1804
hrs
The Shipping Forecast
The shipping forecast issued by the Met Office, on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, at 23:30 (UTC) n Tue 4 Mar 2025 for the period 00:00 (UTC) on Wed 5 Mar 2025 to 00:00 (UTC) on Thu 6 Mar 2025.
There are gale warnings in:
Viking, North Utsire, South Utsire, Forties, Cromarty, Forth, Tyne, Dogger, Fisher, Rockall, Malin, Hebrides, Bailey, Fair Isle, Faeroes and Southeast Iceland.
The general synopsis at 1800
Low 800 miles west of Shannon 980 expected Southeast Iceland 970 by 1800 Wednesday
Dover, Wight, Portland, Plymouth
Forecast:
Variable 2 to 4, becoming south or southeast 3 to 5. In Plymouth, slight or moderate, becoming moderate or rough later, otherwise smooth or slight. Fair. Moderate or good.
© Met Office Synoptic Chart 05/03/2025
Update: 15/12/2025
Tuesday 4th March 2025
0000
hrs
Lat: 50° 24.04'
N
Long: 004° 16.92'
W
Trellugan Boatyard, Cornwall
With the boat being booked for launch on the 5th of March I was down at the yard for a few days before making sure the engine ran and to clean the worst of the green algae that covered the decks.
On starting the engine we discovered that the work done on the water pump, replacing one of the lip seals had not fixed the problem, but was liveable with on the short journey down to the mooring. I also discovered where the fuel leak was! Again liveable with for the trip to the mooring, but will need fixed before we take the boat to sea.
Given the dreich winter we have had the yard was bathed in warm sunshine and lots of people were down and preparing hulls to be antifouled and it was good to wander about the yard chatting to people and hearing of their plans for the summer.
The mast waiting to be stepped
The yard had two jobs to do, step the mast and moved Aphrodite to the top of the slope to the river in readyness to be launched just before high water.
Just after lunch the team arrived and I let them get on with it. The last thing they wanted was an owner looking on while they carefully lifted the mast and positioned it on the deck. From afar I watched the process and once they had the mast up spoke to Dan to make final adjustments to the halyard catcher so the tension was correct.
1600 hrs
The yard tractor, with launch cradle lumbered into sight and I wander off to chat with another owner.
It took some time of toing and froing to get the cradle in the correct position, I was beginning to think that Aphrodite had taken root, as there was an awkward angle between a couple of boats that had to be negotiated.
Toing and Froing
Eventually, I heard the clatter of props falling and knew that the boat was on the cradle. Now just the need to reverse the process, all done quietly without any panic. Aphrodite was then moved to the top of the slope down to the river ready for launching just before High Water. The ladder onto the boat was at the top of quite a long slope and I needed to be careful not to fall off!
