Finally, on the 17th of August we left Plymouth for Falmouth. It was a huge relief to set sail and leave behind the limbo that had been lingering over us. Whilst excited for the adventure ahead, I had found the continuous list of things to do, fitting in seeing friends and impending goodbyes with family quite straining, to the point where I was actually sick. I remember reading an article about planning for an extended blue water cruise that said it is best to finish work as soon as you possibly can to ease the time pressures. At the time, I dismissed this, thinking good planning would help us out but now, looking back on those two weeks between finishing work and leaving Plymouth, there really weren’t enough hours in the day.
Once we knew the weather for leaving on the Wednesday was holding, my mind shifted a little and I now had a date to focus on to make sure everything that needed doing in Plymouth was done. The final two days of prep were tiring but enjoyable, knowing that we would be sailing soon. A couple of big goodbyes were already out of the way and I just had my parents and brother to say bye to on the Tuesday. This felt like another massive milestone that had been looming over me and after we said goodbye, I allowed myself to focus a little more on the excitement of actually going sailing and starting the adventure.
We couldn’t have asked for better conditions on Wednesday, our good friends Al and Laura took us to the boat and their two-year-old, Arlo hoisted the Devon flag. We left Plymouth in light northerlies, warm sunshine and flat seas and I cannot describe the release that I felt when we hoisted the sails and started sailing. I had so much pent up energy that I didn’t know what to do with myself and to finally be sailing properly again reminded me of why we’re doing what we’re doing. We made the passage to the Helford in around 8 hours, the first half was as cruisy as sailing gets. The wind picked up in the second half and we screamed along the rest of the passage making 7knots. The boat felt fast and comfortable. We were a little overpowered as we approached the Helford and dropped the Genoa for the final approach, but we were still making 5 knots. I never thought we would say that 5 knots felt slow!
We’ve had some time to see more family, read and nap a lot and make a list of the last prep we need to do before leaving for Spain. We hope to leave to cross Biscay next week - the long-range forecast suggests leaving Wednesday 25th will give us some good northerlies to blow us down. Whilst I’m still nervous about Biscay (I don’t think many people wouldn’t be), I can now picture it happening and am excited for the prospect of my first extended off shore passage (my longest prior to Biscay is a channel crossing from Plymouth to Camaret sur Mer, 30 hours in total).
I asked Ben when he thinks this will feel like a holiday, as we are both still so tired from the last couple of weeks. He replied with ‘when we don’t have anymore lists of things to do’. I think we might have to choose a different way to gauge a holiday, we live on a sailboat now and I don’t think we will ever not have a list of things to do!
The next update will heopfully come from Spain!
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