Didn't get into the water until about 5pm yesterday (Friday 16th April 2010), so it was quite a late arrival into Cellar Bay at the mouth of the Yealm after a brisk motor sail around the Mew Stone. The sun set as we bent on the jib.
This morning at 5am my alarm went off and I eventually managed to get up. We celebrated the successful first voyage of the trip with a bottle of bubbles last night, so this was harder than it might have been - but it had to be done if we were going to catch the tide and get ourselves to Salcombe.
And here I am in Salcombe, anchored off a white sandy beach directly opposite the town. Internet seems to work OK here - we've 1 bar of Three Mobile fast mobile broadband, 5 bars of Vodafone GPRS (slow dialup speed), and 2 bars of Wifi Spark (a local pay per use wifi service). I'm booked solid with work next week so we'll probably stay here in Salcombe until at least next weekend I think. Will take advantage of the 4 nights for the price of 3 at anchor - which works out at just over £6 per night which isn't bad. Being in a marina worked out nearer £10 a night when on an annual contract so this is a definite saving. If we find we need to go in marinas a lot though, at visitor's rates which can be £30+ a night, we'll soon spoil the average.
The sail was a lot rougher and windier than expected. It's spring tides at the moment so we had wind over tide as the wind was from the east, and at about 20 knots a lot of the way. Couple of tacks though and we made it the 15nm in just under 4 hours.
Don't forget you can keep up with our progress by checking our progress map:
viewtopic.php?t=210
Here's a little movie Rose took during our maiden voyage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czZrGZXDIX8
And here's some pics from yesterday and today:
Isabella being lifted out of the cradle, onto the fork lift truck's straps
Isabellas Sexy Bum!
Me, rushing aboard to check for leaks, there were none!
Rose helms us out of Plymouth
The moon and remains of the sunset, at anchor in Cellar Bay, Mouth of the river Yealm
Sunrise on the way from the Yealm to Salcombe after a very early start to catch the tide
