Crew's Log: Stewart, 13-17/07

Met Tim on the train from Waterloo to Weymouth and the trip was on. A few hours later we were aboard Catweasel and looking at the mountain of things to be done before we could leave. 24 hours later and most of it was done so we headed to the local for a last few pints before and early start on Friday to get around the infamous Portland Race. Local advice served well and we we cleared the race without problem and started plugging in waypoints so we could watch our progress. Typical of this information age is that our shore based followers had a better idea of our location than us, thanks to the SPOT tracking device Tim acquired.

The day didn't serve us up the best winds and Exmouth was looking like a sensible, if conservative stop for the night, a decision slightly compromised by the fact that we couldn't raise the harbour master by phone or VHF. Rather than chance the iffy looking entrance we opted to fire up the Yanmar and make for Teignmouth, about 2 hours away. At around 22:00 we were in and moored, at around 22:20 we were in the pub. You just have to love small harbours.

The following day was an early start and we broke south, aiming for Salcombe. The seas and winds were pretty lively but we made good progress, making our final approach to Salcombe's amazing harbour in the early evening. A few wrong turns later we were moored, had grabbed a water taxi, showered and made the pub for a couple of cheeky ones.

Sailing on the 17th was an exciting but short lived affair. We'd broken out past the headlands and were settling down for a day of beating into a strong north westerly when the coastguard came on the radio warning of gale force 8 in areas west of Start Point. Salcombe is the first thing to the west of Start Point so that meant we were sailing into some pretty unpleasant weather. So that was it - we'd only put in one tack and were heading back to harbour.

So here we sit, in the Victoria, hoping for fairer winds tomorrow. On the plus side, Salcombe is as great place. I've managed to bag some cheap waterproofs, we've got a load of gen on pubs, restaurants and tides from the locals and even met a girl from Bearsden, the suburb of Glasgow in which I was born. Tomorrow may see us here again but some friends have been in touch so if we're not sailing we'll try and hook up with them. Good times either way.

captain's log 16th July 2011 Fareham to Salcombe Bay

16^th July 2011 - Am sat in the Ferry Inn in Salcombe with Stewart. A pint is in front of each of us and we’re ‘havin’ a go at updating our respective blogs. ‘Ere’s mine.

picking up Stewart in Weymouth

We left just over a week ago and struggled to get the sails up for one reason and another (gales, poor preparation, tiny niggling issues) but, finally, the sails went up. I must admit to a feeling of frustration when I am not moving forward so I felt a nice sense of relief when we were finally moving. At the same time I felt a growing sense of apprehension as one of the significant events looms ever closer on the horizon - can my brother and I survive   each other AND the elements as we cross the Biscay? Well, in a few days I/we find out. There’s no way I could have it this far without him (Stewart) but we do bicker and when we do I get saddened and have a hard time seeing the lighter side for a few hours. That said we are working., I think, hard to resolve conflict issues as they arise and I reckon we’re eventually going to run out of things to fight about…brothers eh?!!

Salcombe Bay - the GPS saw 20 knots here :) and it's real pirate bay stuff, I loved it.

Anyway, enough for now, next entry from, I hope, Plymouth.