Base camp at the always excellent Tretham Mill Touring holiday site. It achieves the impossible and gets even better each year.

Crew List: Helen & Colin Bell Mirror Gadabout Margaret & Frank Deardon GP14 Kyle Tim Evans Yeoman 20’ Molly Rachel & Graham Finny, also Lune Longboat Brisk Declan (aged nearly 4) and Rebecca (aged 4 months) Jane & Colin Firth Cruz Jenya Percy Jackson Gem Kate & Brian McClellan West Wight Potter Water Mouse Gill & Dick Morris Glen 14’-6” George & Isabelle Saffrey Cruz Aurora Eric Scholes sailing in Gem

Saturday: Arrival and launching day. The Finny family arrived at Tretham Mill with their boat Brisk on a low loader, its trailer having collapsed under the strain not far from St Austell. We reckoned that with a slight adjustment of rollers Brisk would fit on the trailer of Water Mouse. So after launching Water Mouse and putting her on the mooring we returned with the trailer to Tretham Mill. A heavy gang consisting of DCA members plus additional heavies recruited from fellow campers then lifted Brisk bodily on to the trailer and she also was soon launched and placed on her mooring. Gem also launched and moored.

Sunday: Lovely morning but the weather forecast was ‘iffy’ with strong SE winds due. The tides were not good for creek crawling as the tide would be ebbing for most of the morning. The crew plan then was to go seawards to Black Rock and then decide where to go from there. Whilst we were getting organised at the boatyard Tim Evans sailed rather stylishly into the moorings with his very elegant looking Yeoman, which he keeps on a mooning in Mylor Creek. He anchored and we gave him the day’s plan such as it was. Colin Bell, hereafter called Colin B to differentiate from Colin Firth who will now be called Colin F (got it?) opted to sail in Water Mouse because of the rising wind. Even in the protected creek the wind was blowing hard and we could see whitecaps out in Carrick Roads. We took an extraordinarily long time to get organised as you do when you are not sure that you really want to go out at all. The two Cruzes set off together but George and Isabelle soon returned. Water Mouse motored out and, once clear of the moorings, hoisted the jib and sailed north. Not bloody likely were we going out to sea, it was blowing a right hooley. We later turned to sail over to Mylor Creek with the wind F6 possibly 7 in the gusts and the sea state quite rough with breaking waves. As we approached Mylor we tried to tack but with jib and mizzen only she lacked the power and the waves knocked us back. We could have jibed round or even hoisted the mainsail but in the event started the engine and motored round. We made our way eastward into sheltered water and anchored. The sun shone and all was calm but within a very short time there must have been twenty yachts anchored with us, some quite large and all sheltering, one came in with a ripped jib. Exciting, or what? I heard Tim calling Water Mouse on the VHF, I replied but he couldn’t hear me. As a precaution we had arranged a schedule for mobile phone contact and when Colin F contacted us he brought us up to date on what had happened to the rest of the fleet, they were all safely in St Just Creek. In due course Water Mouse returned on the flood tide and moored up. A splendid singsong led by the guitar playing Frank Deardon, with one or two drinks, followed in the evening.

Monday: Forecast wind S 3/4 locally 5, sea moderate becoming choppy. Dull start to the morning but quite warm. Only 3 boats left St Just — Gem with Dick, Percy and Eric, George with his Aurora and Water Mouse with Colin B and self. Clear of St Just creek the sea was lumpy with wind F3 occasionally 4 exactly as forecast. Occasional spray flying over the cabin top but otherwise dry. Near Falmouth Docks we lost the wind and had a slow sail over the ebb tide and (rats) we were overtaken by Gem and the Cruz. Just opposite Flushing we landed on a small beach near the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club. Kate, who had travelled across to Falmouth on the ferry to go shopping, saw us sailing in and met us on the beach. Had lunch in a rather tatty shelter above the beach. The tide was now flooding and the boats floated. Of course we had anchors out. That is, we thought that Dick had an anchor out on Gem but it turned out to be a bit of rope dangling over the bow into the water with nothing on the end of it. We decided to head over to St Mawes and made good time on a broad reach. Towards Castle Point it became clear that we had not allowed sufficient offing for the flood tide so had to tack out towards the St Mawes south cardinal buoy. This delayed Water Mouse — so what’s new — and as we passed St Mawes harbour the other two boats were just heading out. We turned with them heading west and this time giving Castle Point a good offing. At the critical point the wind died to a whisper and the tide took over. Colin asked quietly if I was really really sure we would round the point. I replied confidently that I was but after a hard look at the point, I added that I was not really really really sure, and promptly started the engine. We had given Helen an ETA for our return to St Just, otherwise, of course, we could have simply anchored for a while. We arrived back in St Just at 5.30pm where our transport back to Tretham Mill awaited. It had been a super day.

Tuesday: Forecast south 4 or 5 becoming 6, sea moderate becoming rough. Crew decision to stay in Carrick Roads and the Fal today. Almost the full fleet with even the infants crewing Brisk, although baby Rebecca did not like her buoyancy aid. We sailed north in a F4/5 with a lumpy following sea. Round the corner at Turnaware Point all was calm much to the relief of Colin B who’d had a hairy trip in his Mirror Gadabout. For all you Potter sceptics out there no less an authority than Eric Scholes said that Gem could barely keep up with Water Mouse on the run. Gem was reefed, of course, whilst the Potter was not, so they carried about an equal amount of sail. We landed at the Smuggler’s for a lunch of pasties and tea and a natter. We had intended continuing on up the river but we were all a little edgy in view of the forecast and the consensus was to get going and face the head-on force 6 we all expected. Colin B elected to sail in Water Mouse for the return trip, towing Gadabout. As he came aboard he said, as it turned out with misplaced confidence, that it was great to be back on a ‘ship’. We were all under iron mainsails and Water Mouse elected herself tail-end-Charlie. All went well to begin with but there was a choppy sea off Turnaware Point and Water Mouse’s engine was dunked and cut out. The wind and waves caught us immediately but Plan B went smoothly into action as the sails were hoisted and we sailed back round the point and anchored in sheltered water. Everybody else turned back also including Eric and Percy in Gem and they were under sail only. Gem was not intentionally under sail you understand, their engine had also failed and although they had a spare having borrowed Colin’s the boat was pitching too much for them to fit it hence for them Plan C — hoist a well-reefed sail. We passed the Mirror tow to Colin F in the Cruz Jenya, crewed today by Colin, Jane, Frank and Margaret, managed to restart the engine and we were off again. Comfortably plodding north enjoying the motion of the boat as she crested the waves when the engine lost power and stopped. The wind and sea grabbed us again. I suspected weed so did not attempt to restart but hoisted the engine up on the lifting bracket, tilted it to expose the propeller and set to clearing the string weed which was wrapped around it. A tricky job dangling over the stern with the boat pitching so much. Tried the engine again and it fired up immediately we then had an incident free trip back to the mooring we picked up at 5pm.

George and Isabelle Saffrey were not associating with the plebs but were living in state in an apartment near St Mawes and we were all invited round for the evening. Very pleasant it was too and as a result it was after midnight before we returned to the campsite. We rigged for silent running and coasted back to our tents or caravans.

Wednesday: Forecast wind SW or W force 4/5 possibly gale later. It was windy and wet and in St Just Creek it looked as though it would be difficult just to row out to our boats. So we gave sailing a miss and hit the tourist trail. Colin and Jane Firth had to move out on Thursday, to attend a cycling meet up north, so we had the meet dinner this night at the Red Lion in Ruan Lanihorne, a venue we have used several times now. Tim Evans, who now teaches in Redruth, had to work during the week but I left a telephone message on his answering machine giving venue date and time for the meal and it was good to see Tim and Ann there.

Thursday: Weather lousy. Tourist bit as yesterday.

Friday: Still blustery but wind from the northwest. We were pulling out today but managed a short sail. It was interesting sailing back from near Falmouth. Sailing on a reach with a lovely wake, creaming along and barely making headway against the wind enhanced ebb tide Although we had mixed fortune with the weather it had been a marvellous week with good company. There were some familiar faces missing, where were you? Brian McClellan