Page 17 - Yachter Spring 2023

Flying the Spinnaker towards the Lizard
gone through at twenty-eight knots true, so much for our twenty knot spinnaker limit when sailing double handed. Under fresh conditions and with no working autopilot, we managed to work out a way of lowering the spinnaker without leaving the cockpit. This was quickly replaced with the jib poled out to make up for the shortfall in power. Heading towards The Needles fairway the wind reduced to twenty knots but there
was still a good sea running.A yacht came in from the south and crossed ahead of us apparently going towards Christchurch, a strange heading considering the weather. We continued on past the Bridge towards the Needles only to see the yacht, now identified as French and probably lost, heading back east across the Shingles.They took a battering through the overfalls and we were fairly sure they were wearing brown corduroys by the time they reached the safety of the channel. By19.30, we had tied up inYarmouth and were off to the pub for food.Another fine sail - ninety-three miles in thirteen hours, averaging 7.5 knots! Incidentally, the following morning we noted a French yacht on the next pontoon with the crew’s oilies hanging out to dry....
That just left a leisurely motor sail against the tide to Gins and a well-earned cup of tea after a cruise of 930 miles in nineteen days.
Another Axe One Design classic dinghy was nearing completion at Pete Williams’s yard,so the following day we had a leisurely sail to Fowey in a pleasant north west breeze to have an early viewing. It is always a pleasure to visit Pete who has been building Axes for twenty years now.This one had been built by James Baker with guidance from Pete for Iain Morison who had been James’s house master at Milton Abbey. Whatever the chemistry, the product is beautiful, an excellent collaboration.
Twenty-five knots from the south west, rain and poor visibility greeted us the following morning, so with two reefs in we had an excellent sail up to Dartmouth in six and a half hours, where we were met by a helpful Harbour Master, who had held an overnight berth for us on the main ferry pontoon.Thank goodness we didn’t have to
unpack the dinghy, that made the 06.00 start the following day easier.
Bound forYarmouth the wind was ten knots from the west, so the big blue sail went up.We sped across Lyme Bay and
by Portland the wind had backed south westerly twenty to twenty-five knots. Off St Alban’s Nigel observed that the last gust had
Steve Daniel
Fastnet Rock
Axe One Design Avocet nearing completion at Bodinnick
CRUISING REPORTS 17