During the first day of June 2010 I set sail in 'Equinox' my 24ft 6' Cornish Crabber from Chichester Marina and headed West down the Solent on a once in a lifetime adventure. Three and a half months later I completed my challenge; having sailed solo around the entire UK; visiting the Scillies, Ireland, Wales, Scotland and the Hebrides; going with huge trepidation over the top via Cape Wrath - the 'big right turn', before the next 'big right turn' heading south, at John o'Groats. This blog is my diary, written most evenings as I took stock of the day's progress; often with a huge lump of Cheddar cheese in hand and a pint of Speckled Hen to keep it company. Sometimes I was almost in tears; tiredness and frustration having taken its toll. Other nights exhuberant after breathtakingly beautiful passages along our stunning coastline with favourable following winds. It describes the ups and downs; the tears and laughter; the extraordinary kindness shown by complete strangers who offered a tired sailor in their midst refuge, solace, warmth and company; their generosity often humbling. My hormones were, I'm sure, in a mess making me perhaps rather vulnerble; as just six months earlier I'd endured the surgical removal of a cancerous prostate gland; laprascopically - a six hour procedure that left me physically weaker than before. You can read the background to the illness and the reasons for the challenge - to raise awareness of this terribe disease; that could have so easily have killed me elsewhere on this blog.

I am indebted to many; and recorded their names elsewhere; but as I reflect on the voyage many months later, I have not fully sung the praise of Cornish Crabbers, the builders of my sturdy little yacht and Roger Dongray the yacht's brilliant designer who drew upon a hull shape that had developed over hundreds of years by men who worked and fished at sea and whose very life depended on their vessel's seaworthiness. It's long keel, sail configuration and weight distribution in seemingly monsterous seas; quite incredible for a yacht so small. A Crabber 24 is not the swiftest yacht to be had for her size, for sure. But what she lacks in that respect she makes up for by her abilty to take heavy weather and harsh conditions in her stride. Built solidly without compromise, Equinox delivered me safely home after a voyage of well over 2500 miles in some of the most hostile and dangerously tidal waters you can find anywhere in Europe. In Wales, for example, the RNLI were phoned by an experienced commercial fisherman watching Equinox from his harbourside office; reporting to them, that a yacht was struggling in heavy seas and a F7 a mile outside the harbour entrance. By the time the lifeboat had been launched, I was tucked up in Aberystwyth marina; a little bruised and battered it has to be said, but safe and sound; I never even saw the lifeboat!

I've recently set up the blog so that readers can cover numerous diary entries in one go. To access earlier diary entries just click on the link 'Older Posts' at the foot of each page. Only a few clicks are needed to get to the entries at the beginning of the voyage and my preparation beforehand.

I hope you enjoy reading it; and if you do, or have done, please be kind enough to leave me a message. For which, in anticipation, I thank you.
The voyage also raised over £10,000 for the Prostate Cancer Charity - not my main goal but those who donated on my 'Just Giving ' page made a huge contribution too; as I was notified by email of each donation as it was made; each raising my spirits immeasurably. My main goal was to encourage 2500 men to get PSA tested - one for each mile sailed; and I beleive that goal was achieved too. And finally, I would also like to thank the growing number of men who have, both during and after the voyage ended, taken a PSA test, as a result of the publicty the voyage attracted; been diagnosed with the disease and taken the time and trouble to email me.

Saturday 12 June 2010

Fowey in a flash

I find myself at Fowey at 4:20pm. Quite simply a picture perfect postcard of a place!
I was fired out of Salcombe at 7:30am on an empty stomach and an ebb tide which washed me out to sea at 5 Knots with the engine barely above tick-over, as I dodged the armada of moored craft straining at their tethers. It looked ominously dark to the East but brighter westwards. Once out of the harbour on a broad reach I was soon scudding along at 7+ knots and on occasions 8 and even 9 knots! Flying indeed! Watery Landmarks shot by, many with names steeped in sailing and wrecking history. The Eddystone Lighthouse with the stub of it’s earlier namesake standing proudly out of an empty but dangerous sea. Seabirds keep me company as do the Navy offering incessant radio gaga advising the neighbourhood of imminent LIVE firing. I never heard a shot fired from any of the vessels present, so wonder what the hullabaloo was all about. Plymouth viewed through a massive wound of an entrance seems incongruously large and out of place on a coast littered by romantically named seaside vilages of Polperro, Looe and Newton Ferrers. More demons are slain as Prawle Point and Bolt Head are left behind. Equinox has found her legs, she’s responding to the challenge; helping me find her sweet spots where small adjustments to sail trim instantly transfer to greater speed and balance. I’m really getting to know her and how to get the very best out of her. She loves the wide spaces, empty seas and consistent winds. She’s fledged from the confines of the wind-erratic Solent to her spiritual home. Her Gaff rig has come alive; her seaworthiness and stability asleep in the Solent wake to reward the helmsman with power and grace. I feel very privileged and almost sorry for having confining her in the past to those hostile silt laden waters; and now see why men who worked and fished these crystal clear waters for generation upon generation, long before engines, used boats with similar hulls shapes and sail configurations.

I could happily sail these waters for ever.
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4 comments:

  1. Georgina D'Arcy12 June 2010 at 14:14

    Well, I must say Pa, you are writing very poetically. Have you thought about turning your blog into a book when you get back!? Loving every word - so glad to hear you are enjoying yourself. Keeping powering forward (and try not to lose any more fingers!) so that we can see you safely in Anglesey. xx

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  2. Georgina D'Arcy12 June 2010 at 14:21

    Ps. I am super proud of you. xx

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  3. neffertiti12 June 2010 at 14:37

    Aw Uncle Simon! This is amazing, can't wait to read more... Yey! Anglesey!x

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  4. Melanie Jago23 June 2010 at 14:24

    Hi Simon
    I'm a reporter with the Cornish Guardian - could you please give me tinkle on 01726 66944, I would really like to cover your amazing trip.
    Best wishes,
    Melanie Jago

    ReplyDelete

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