Monday 7th October 2013 - In Sutton Harbour
Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2013 11:51 am
We've made it to Plymouth!
Overnight stops in Salcombe then the Yealm - and now we're in Sutton Harbour, in the middle of Plymouth, where we used to live on Isabella, before we sailed around the UK, got married, and had Nina.
Sutton harbour is lovely - it has the nicest showers of any marina we've ever encountered all around the UK, and it's right in the middle of the cultural centre of Plymouth with restaurants, cocktail bars, theatres, a massive aquarium etc etc. Here's their website with pictures: http://www.suttonharbourmarina.com/
Will be nice to catch up with a few old friends while here including Terry & Val who live aboard in another nearby marina.
We set off having possibly finally fixed the air leak in the fuel system, and the fuel leak into the engine. The latter may still be resolved, only time will tell, but unfortunately air is still somehow finding its way into the fuel. I can bleed it out and be up and running from cold in about 60 seconds - and once running we have no issues whatsoever - so it's not fatal as-is, but I really want to sort it. It might be coming from the injector pump itself and if so, it could potentially get worse without warning. Very unlikely, but not ideal.
The trip here went very smoothly... except it was very roly around Salcombe and the Mewstone. We motored most of the way but when it came to Nina's lunchtime sleep yesterday, between Salcombe and Yealm (a 3 to 4 hour trip), and partly because we had to wait a while to enter the Yealm due to low tide, I switched off the engine and put up our mizzen, main and jib. I didn't expect much from it as the wind was light and coming from 45 degrees off dead ahead but remarkably we were making 4 knots into it and ended up having to overshoot and turn back in order to take up time so we could enter safely.
Then this morning was filling me with dread. Parking in Sutton Harbour scared me in Isabella (previous boat) so you can imagine how I felt in Towser!
I phoned ahead to book a space and let them know how I felt - so two people were on hand to assist. I shouldn't have bothered - I pulled off a textbook parking manoeuvre into a very tight finger berth, alongside a large yacht - so good was it that I was complemented by the berthing master.
Heading off shortly to enjoy the sites and sounds of Plymouth...
Overnight stops in Salcombe then the Yealm - and now we're in Sutton Harbour, in the middle of Plymouth, where we used to live on Isabella, before we sailed around the UK, got married, and had Nina.
Sutton harbour is lovely - it has the nicest showers of any marina we've ever encountered all around the UK, and it's right in the middle of the cultural centre of Plymouth with restaurants, cocktail bars, theatres, a massive aquarium etc etc. Here's their website with pictures: http://www.suttonharbourmarina.com/
Will be nice to catch up with a few old friends while here including Terry & Val who live aboard in another nearby marina.
We set off having possibly finally fixed the air leak in the fuel system, and the fuel leak into the engine. The latter may still be resolved, only time will tell, but unfortunately air is still somehow finding its way into the fuel. I can bleed it out and be up and running from cold in about 60 seconds - and once running we have no issues whatsoever - so it's not fatal as-is, but I really want to sort it. It might be coming from the injector pump itself and if so, it could potentially get worse without warning. Very unlikely, but not ideal.
The trip here went very smoothly... except it was very roly around Salcombe and the Mewstone. We motored most of the way but when it came to Nina's lunchtime sleep yesterday, between Salcombe and Yealm (a 3 to 4 hour trip), and partly because we had to wait a while to enter the Yealm due to low tide, I switched off the engine and put up our mizzen, main and jib. I didn't expect much from it as the wind was light and coming from 45 degrees off dead ahead but remarkably we were making 4 knots into it and ended up having to overshoot and turn back in order to take up time so we could enter safely.
Then this morning was filling me with dread. Parking in Sutton Harbour scared me in Isabella (previous boat) so you can imagine how I felt in Towser!
I phoned ahead to book a space and let them know how I felt - so two people were on hand to assist. I shouldn't have bothered - I pulled off a textbook parking manoeuvre into a very tight finger berth, alongside a large yacht - so good was it that I was complemented by the berthing master.
Heading off shortly to enjoy the sites and sounds of Plymouth...