Valent

Overt the last couple of weeks we have gone back and forth a bit between Plymouth, Helford and Falmouth, but yesterday Thu 25 Aug we finally arrived in the Isles of Scilly. We have dropped anchor in Porth Cressa on the South side of St Mary’s and plan to move again on Saturday. Going back a couple of weeks we arrived in the Helford to be greeted by the Red Arrows.

We spent an enjoyable week in the Helford as the weather gradually broke. We managed to do lots of geocaching, visited the NT garden at Glendurgan (and completed the maze). On the beach at Helford Sophie found a ‘Mermaid’s Purse’ – more specifically the leftover egg-case from Sharks and Rays. Following our detective work and a visit to the National Aquarium in Plymouth we think this one is from a Spotted Ray. Not to be outdone I found a complete Scallop, the shell being about the size of my palm. Just about big enough to eat, but we decided that it could become a bigger Scallop, and 1 small one does not go very far.

Getting short of water and needing some supplies before heading to The Scilly Isles we set about finding a marina that could fit us in. (Did I mention that we also wanted to do a big wash of bedding & towels, we still have to do the mundane). Falmouth were too busy, and ultimately returning to Plymouth became the best option – especially as we learnt that the National Firework Championships were occurring on the 17/18 Aug. Additionally, Andy Willet and family were also in Plymouth and it was an opportunity to say Hi. Even better, Andy was moored in Sutton Harbour with a grandstand (well a waterside perfect) view of the display. Wednesday was dry and mild, and the display was amazing. The format is 6 of the best display companies in the UK each out on a 10 min show, 3 displays per night. Each is trying to outdo the other, and at the end a National Champion is crowned.

As the forecast gradually showed some better weather on the way, we started making plans to get back across the bay and on to The Scilly Isles. A trip to Falmouth was enjoyable. Trago Mills was a chaotically wonderful as ever and we had the pleasure of meeting Kaizen and her intrepid crew. Kaizen have been away sailing around the world for the last few years, covering the Covid lock down and numerous other challenges. Falmouth last week was their return evening to the UK and it was a privilege to have dinner and drinks with them. A lot of useful information was gleaned. On the way they sold a boat in Tahiti, got stuck in Australia and bought a boat in New Zealand. Restocked, we departed Falmouth, but a very wet forecast saw us just pop back to the Helford for a night to wait for the sun. Whiling away the time we thought about a spot of fishing and managed to get a decent mackerel. A fresh mackerel starter went down a treat. Both girls gave it a big thumbs up. Then it was off to St Mary’s. The day was sunny, increasingly breezy, but a great dolphin display early on brought a smile to all faces. Finally we made it, anchored in Port Cressa and settled back down to the routine of morning school work and afternoon exploring. There was time before breakfast for Lucy to catch her first fish – mackerel is back on the menu.

Yesterday, Fri 12 Aug we got out the kayaks and explored up the Helford. Our ultimate aim was to use the flooding tide to assist us to Gweek where we would stop, have an evening meal and wait for the tide to turn and use the ebb to take us back to our boat. Gweek is about 3 miles upstream of our position in the Helford.

First stop though was the picturesque Frenchman’s Creek, evocatively brought to life in the novel of the same name by Daphne Du Maurier. The creek itself is about half a mile long and once through the entrance the steep wooded sides quickly enclose you and remove all of the bustle of the pleasure boats on the river. Nestled away in the small nooks and crannies are the remains of once large sailing barges – maybe one of these was rotting away when Daphne Du Maurier passed this way. The girls are now reading the novel, and we will get them to write a short comparison of their memories of the creek compared to the description in the novel. Should cover the English home schooling for a week or so.

After our exploration, we then continued up river via Tremayne Quay and Boat House – built in 1847 in preparation for a visit to Trelowarren by Queen Victoria. Unfortunately the royal barge never made it, but it is now NT property and the quay has public access. After a bit of exploring and geocaching we continued on our way to Gweek. Arriving at the hamlet it is daunting seeing all the large barges and classic boats towering over you. Eventually we found our way to the bridge and set off to get food at the pub – before we were distracted and diverted by the Friday Pizza Van. Every Friday in Gweek the Pizza Van parks by the village green and serves up scrumptious pizzas and garlic bread. Opposite was the lovely village shop that had amazing homemade cakes/cookies and yummy ice creams – dinner and pudding in one place, all sat by the river with the swans, cygnets and other happy holiday makers.

After a tiring paddle home (albeit with tidal assistance) a very tired family (about 7 miles kayaking) returned to Valent in time for an amazing moonrise.

Finally we managed to pack up our house in Woking and get away. After numerous trips to the tip, charity shops and neighbours, not to mention posting parcels to various friends, we have escaped. We got down to Valent on Monday 1 Aug, and then it took us a further few days to get everything stowed away in various nooks and crannies. Valent is now well stocked, and on Thursday we finally set sail – only not for the Canaries and our trip.

Unfortunately it has become apparent that Valent needs to have a couple more items addressed, 1 of which is potentially a safety critical item. In order to get this work done we will need to return to Southampton around 9 Sep and Valent will get 2 weeks of focussed attention from Andy Willett and his team. The main item is possible stress fractures in the bolts securing the foredeck plate. These are responsible for keeping the forestay attached to the front of the boat, and ultimately for stopping the mast from falling into the sea. The second item is some delamination in the upper deck – not safety critical, but good to address now before it leads to water ingress (particularly as it is above our bed).

So, instead of a leisurely trip across Biscay, down the Spanish coast and across to The Canaries, we are having a 5 week South Coast/Channel Island cruise before returning to Southampton. On completion of the work we will be ready to depart pronto around the end of Sep. This will make for a rapid trip across to warmer climes, with the aim to arrive in The Canaries by 24/25 October.

In the meantime, we are enjoying this wonderful summer and have so far spent an uncomfortable night in Worbarrow Bay (near Portland), a very pleasant few days in Salcombe and are currently in Plymouth, departing tomorrow, Wed 10 Aug. Our plan is to keep going West and aim for the Helford River/Falmouth and possible The Scilly Isles.

In the meantime I keep fixing the little things – the outhaul block split, the galley pipework sprang a leak and we needed a catch enhancing so we can lock the cooker in place.

For those interested in knowing where we are at any time, please take a look at the new page added, “How to follow us at sea”.

The departure date is getting closer. The to do list should be getting shorter, but it never does. Yesterday we moved Valent round to Shamrock Quay where she is going to have a new fuel pick up system fitted. This will enable our smaller spare fuel tank to become the day tank (primary tank) and the larger tank to be the reservoir that fills the day tank. In between will be a scrubbing system to clean and polish the fuel before it enters the day tank. As you can see from the below photo, the small fuel tank was originally designed as a spare water tank, but many years ago it was changed into an extra fuel tank.

While Valent is over in Shamrock Quay a number of other small jobs are going to be actioned – making good the spring storm damage to the whip aerial to boxing the microwave in so it is secure at sea.

On the way over to Shamrock Quay we stopped off at Hamble Yacht Services to collect the second spinnaker pole that had been left behind last year since it required some rather more bespoke repair. Valent now has 2 good spinnaker poles that may be very useful when sailing for miles across vast oceans.

All the admin tasks are coming together, the mail redirection is done, the global health insurance arranged, medical supplies ordered plus telemedical support and departure party arranged. Suzy finishes work next week, the girls finish school next week and the house removal company are booked. We have to go now, we will be homeless in a few weeks and the tenants move in at the beginning of August.

Other jobs on the list include finishing the plumbing under the galley sink. I found that the pipes just came to pieces with the slightest knock resulting in sink water in the cupboard and eventually the bilges. As you can see the system looks stressed and has many strange angles. I am pleased with my work so far, though it has been very frustrating learning about imperial and metric measurements, especially when they were mixed on the same system. I never knew that imperial pipes are measured on the bore diameter (inside) and that metric pipes are measured on the outside diameter. All I will say is thank goodness for these new flexible tubing joints.

Lots of new bits of kit are arriving, never realised just how many flags I would need to carry! We have a full set of signal flags, a set for dressing ship (think all your flags making bunting) and then courtesy flags. When you visit a country/island you need to fly the flag of that nation. We plan to visit quite a lot of countries/islands, and that is before we add in any cruising in the Caribbean. Now I am onto foreign currency and paper charts. But I am very pleased with my ‘new’ sextant acquired on ebay. Dates from the 1950s, but appears to be in excellent working order with a relatively small index error (20 minutes, so a third of a degree). I even got the light to work again. I am excited by the prospect of using the sun and shooting the stars to plot our way across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Of course the GPS should work, but where is the fun in that when you have time on your hands.

I am also waiting on a replacement AIS unit to be delivered. The last one appeared to work, it just never changed our position from Haslar Marina, even when in Cherbourg. We even had a speed of 102.3knots making us similar to a helicopter. The technical team have agreed that it needs replacing, and luckily it is still within the warranty period. Small wins are always welcome. I have started stowing emergency water in various nooks and crannies. Currently I have got 160ltr of bottled water into the holes I have identified. This will be on top of the 1000ltr tank and the water maker that is installed and should give us around 60/ltr/hr.

Many thanks to Richard, Ian and Dwight for helping to move Valent yesterday. Just a few weeks to go!

Valent is nearly ready, the weather is promising and we have a final school holiday before the end of the school year and our much awaited departure on our adventures. There was only one thing to do, sail across the channel and visit France again. Covid restrictions are relaxed and we can work with Brexit.

The girls were very tired as half term started, (Lucy had just returned from a week in France on a school trip, which was preceded by a Dads&Daughters camping weekend), so we postponed going to the boat for a day (in favour of sleep), finally getting down on Sunday. A day of sorting, tidying and prepping and we were ready for an early departure on the Monday morning. As dawn broke (04:00) we readied ourselves, and slipped Haslar before 5am. A pleasant motor sail across the channel, only enlivened by Suzy and I hoisting the repaired Main, saw us arrive in Cherbourg late pm on Monday and be allocated a tight berth on the front of J pontoon. Very convenient for the office.

In preparation I had submitted our UK Border Force form (eC1331) and our French Customs Entry form. After checking in at the Marina office, we phoned PAF (the French Border Police) and were asked to present ourselves at their office, about a 20 min walk from the Marina, but very convenient if you happen to be visiting Normandie Wines or the large Carrefour. The PAF were very friendly and took less than a minute to stamp our passports. Then we were legally in France, free to depart the PAF and explore Cherbourg.

A couple of days were spent in the sunny port of Cherbourg, much cheese and wine was bought before we decided it was time to move on. (I am pleased to report that Normandie Wines are still going, just as friendly and obliging as ever). To be honest, we had thought about staying another day, but a rally of 25 boats was due in late pm on the Wednesday and they had booked pontoons J&K, leaving a boat of our size with not many options. So plan A, or was it C, and we decided to pop over to Alderney. First step to clear out of France. This required a visit back to the PAF. I had not realised that I was meant to complete and submit and on-line exit form prior to arriving for the exit stamp, but it was no problem. The very friendly officer, with excellent English, handed me a form to complete, passports were stamped and we returned via the fromagerie (there are now 2 in Cherbourg), to have an early lunch and get ready to leave. A lovely few hours motoring to Alderney, the sun burning down and nearly all the wind being generated by us and the strong tides. Alderney was picturesque perfect. The girls enjoyed helming us over and we successfully picked up one of the large craft visitor buoys.

Alderney gave us a perfect excuse to get the RIB out, pump her up fully and launch. We explored Alderney for a few hours before returning to the harbour for a meal. Unfortunately Rita shut the First & Last a few years ago, and it now appears to be getting converted into a house, so we ended up eating at the Braye Beach Hotel (it was open and they could accommodate us). Dinner was accompanied by a lovely view of Valent.

Next morning it was time to depart and return to the UK in preparation for a weekend of parties and Jubilee celebrations. The wind remained resolutely from Easterly directions and a steady F3/4. So with a full main and the stay sail out, we had a good sail all the way across and headed for The Needles to give us an acceptable wind angle. The girls found it a little bouncy, but we made good time and around 5:30pm we anchored in Alum Bay (the cliffs being famous for their many colours, off The Needles for the evening.

Friday morning, time to weigh anchor and return to Haslar. On the way up the Solent I managed to complete and email by eC1331 arrival form to the UK Border Force, and within half an hour had received clearance back and was instructed to lower Flag Q. We were officially back in the UK. Once tied up, with the boat cleaned and tidied it was back to Woking to baking birthday cakes and Lucy’s Birthday party.