I was first to arrive in Marazion and was very fortunate to meet a keen member of the local Mount’s Bay Sailing Club. As soon as he heard of our wish to sail to the Scillies he strongly advised against such a trip. When we met the secretary and some other members of the club the warning was repeated and we had our work cut out to persuade them that we were not completely mad. As we talked there was a gradual relaxation of their attitude until some were telling us that the conditions were, then, as favourable as they had been for some time. But this was as near as they ever got to encouraging us.

On the Sunday we launched Tony’s Wayfarer Karinger using inflated rollers to reach the water’s edge. Access to the beach is reasonably easy and it is very gently sloped so the tide goes out a long way. Some rocks a short way out are conspicuous and the shore is quite friendly in anything but strong S.W. winds. There was a good (force 4-5) breeze blowing and this gave us an easy plane across the bay. As the wind was off shore it was impossible to tell what conditions might be like west of the Runnel. We decided the only thing to do was to set off next day prepared for the complete journey, to study the conditions as we found them and then to decide whether to go on or retreat.

Perhaps with more practise we will be able to make a quick start in the morning but we have not yet got the knack — it was 10.15 before everything was stowed and we were ready to depart. This was cutting it fine on the supply of daylight as we reckoned on anything up to 12 hours to reach St. Mary’s.

The distance from Mount’s Bay is about 35 nautical miles and for the first ten to the Runnel Stone Buoy we had much the same wind as the previous day, blowing off shore over a moderate sea. At the Runnel we began to lose the influence of the land and the wind became steadier and seemed to have eased a little. Although there was a little disturbance of the sea around the point it was not at all troublesome and we felt encouraged to press on, close hauled and just pointing due west. Current and leeway combined to take us well south of our course and we progressed straight towards the Wolf Rock. At one point we saw a shark right in our path, the dorsal fin and tail about five feet apart. It was right on the surface, rising and falling in the waves which were about five feet from crest to trough. I thought we were going to touch the shark, but at the last instant it moved out of our way.

As we had no wish to collide with the Wolf Rock we tacked north and began to realise that the wind had backed and was now heading us, its strength had fallen some more and the helmsman alone could keep the boat upright with no effort. This made sailing easy but slow, and it was two or three hours later that we first sighted the islands which are very low. For a stranger it is not easy to pick out the passages between the islands from a dinghy so although our first idea had been to go round the south of St. Mary’s to the harbour at Hugh Town, we found ourselves close to the north passage and decided to go in that way. Because of the narrow passage and many rocks considerable care was needed to navigate in this area and we were glad to be arriving near high water. The islands looked magnificent with their many inviting white sandy beaches. The water is shallow and patches of sand and rock could be seen. Light was fading as we made our last tack into the bay at Hugh Town and ran onto the sandy beach. The trip had taken us eleven hours, but because of the easy conditions we were not particularly tired, but very hungry, and we only paused to telephone to the mainland to announce our safe arrival before descending on the flesh pots!

We would have liked to spend a long time amongst the islands, but a steady drizzle in the morning and recollection of the many warnings we had received of how quickly weather conditions could change helped to start us on our return journey. Some hot coffee and a wave from some very friendly resident dinghy sailors, and we were off. The wind was now almost due west, about force 3, and there was only a slight sea running with a very long swell which at times was as much as six feet from crest to trough. Land’s End was visible from the start, except when we sank into one of the deeper troughs, and as it was almost a dead run there was no navigation problem. Only the correction of the occasional sideways surge of an overtaking wave kept us on the alert. Once again as the day grew older the wind strength fell and about seven or eight miles from home we only just had steerage way. The beach at Porthcurno was just a mile away but the thought of people awaiting our arrival at Marazion, not to mention food, persuaded us to dig out the Seagull and take the sails down. Fortunately, after ¾ hour we found some more wind and were able to finish under sail.

A day or two later we visited one of the coastguard stations we had passed and saw our movements recorded in the log. We were also very interested to learn of a service provided by the coastguards to any small vessel making a passage. It was very strongly impressed on us that anyone using this service should, on completing the passage or stopping at any intermediate point, immediately advise the coastguards to avoid unnecessary alarm.

Back at Mount’s Bay we were made very welcome in the dinghy park and club house. One evening we went out in an Osprey, which is the most numerous class sailed there. Their speed was most impressive.

The last sail we had was round the Lizard to Falmouth and once again we had a very easy sail, but this time the wind was about force 4 and almost due west. This meant a long plane down to the Lizard, an easy run through the only mildly disturbed waters off the point, followed by a broad reach up to Falmouth. We had taken the precaution of advising the coastguards of our intended movements and it was apparent that the guard at Falmouth was very pleased to provide this service, for as we passed he flashed us with his signalling lamp and then came outside to wave energetically to us to let us know our safe arrival was recorded. But we telephoned as soon as we got ashore just to be sure.

The weather was very kind to us on these trips but we feel sure that they could be made on many occasions in a normal season. It is obviously advisable to have as much experience as possible before tackling such journeys and we would certainly like to have had more. The next essential is a suitable boat and Karinger is certainly in this category. We need not have used the outboard motor, but would always take it with us. Life lines were in permanent use and, despite our fears, they never became entangled or got in the way. A radio navigation device is probably as essential as the outboard in case of fog or being overtaken by darkness. Finally, unless one is of the calibre of Mr. Frank Dye, suitable settled conditions should be established before venturing quite so far from shore. I had been greatly encouraged by the steady anticyclone which had established itself about 100-200 miles off Land’s End during the week preceding our holiday.