As the first S-W rally took place three days before the summer Bulletin reached us, the notice of it was confined to those members in Cornwall and West Devon that I was able to contact in a telephone half-marathon. It was in fact a pretty foul weekend and only Les Richmond and his wife attended on foot to see me in Jady Lane at St Just in Falmouth harbour. The event was timed to coincide with the beginning of the DCA North-West holiday week, but sensibly they confined their activities to getting their boats on moorings and themselves set up in the campsite instead of going sailing. So I went out on my own for a thrash round Falmouth Roads with my oilskins on and two reefs in the mainsail in the strong southerly breeze and rain. I finished up at Turnaware in what I thought would be a sheltered place for the night, but it blew first from the east then from the west with more rain which made for a disturbed night. Sunday morning was no better so I sailed back to St Just and left Jady Lane at the boatyard in the rain on her trailer with a cover over her, to return later in the week for a lovely couple of day’s sailing and rowing to Helford and Truro in company with Alan Glanville in Lowly Worm III and other DCA members. So no one missed anything by not coming to that rally. Aidan de la Mare

Plymouth — 24th-26th August

A hundred percent increase in the number of boats attended this rally — there were two of us! John Cole and his son Tom in 11ft Gull dinghy Orca and me in 14ft Jady Lane met with commendable punctuality at Mayflower Marina just inside The Narrows on the Tamar. There was a good forecast, a very light northerly breeze and bright sunshine, so, as I had no indication that anyone else was coming, we were soon under way being carried by a fair tide out of the harbour, bound eastwards. It looked for a time as if we were going nowhere, but the sea breeze won over the northerly to give us a good reach along the coast past the Yealm entrance and on to our destination the River Erme. But when we got

there it was so soon after low tide that there was plenty of sand but no river, so we had a brew of tea while waiting for enough water to float us in. John and Tom left Orca on a mooring in a pool up the river and, as they don’t sleep aboard, called up their mobile recovery unit and went home. With the rising tide I alternately rowed, punted and towed Jady Lane up the river, which is remarkably beautiful and unspoiled even in this land of beautiful rivers, and found a quiet place to spend the night in absolute silence in a world totally divorced from the hubbub of a Bank Holiday Weekend.

On Sunday, which was heavily overcast at first but cleared later, we continued our passage eastwards with a north-easterly breeze that gave us a good close reach to the Bolt Tail. We made good progress until we got to Soar Mill Cove with its outlying islet the Ham Stone and there, although we went on sailing well through the water, we stopped for three hours — it was the tide! In these waters the tidal streams are generally so weak that they can be ignored on coastal passages in normal wind strengths, but off Bolt Head and the other prominent headlands it is a different story, and we have rediscovered that it is impossible to sail to windward against a strong tidal stream. If we had waited a little longer, or the wind had freed a bit we would have soon have got clear, but as it was we made no progress even though I tried inshore and John tried offshore.

We both eventually gave up and decided to motor, arriving at Salcombe almost together. But the place was a madhouse with boats of all descriptions going in all directions, the bay was churning like a washing machine and every beach and anchorage was teeming with boats and people. I have heard about Salcombe at holiday time, and now I have seen it — and never again! We motored up the harbour where John and Tom regretfully recovered and went home for previous commitments, Tom’s job as a barman at the Bank Holiday weekend having prior claim over dinghy cruising. I went on up Southpool Creek but found it like a motorway with boats flocking up to the pub at the end; so knowing they all had to come down again, I moved to the adjoining Waterhead Creek where I spent a surprisingly quiet night.

On Monday the north-west breeze continued even stronger and it was fine from the first. I made an early start, leaving the harbour entrance at 0800. There followed an exhilarating reach along the cliffs between Bolt Head and Bolt Tail, riding the squalls that came over the hills with the boat going at hull speed; in fact after a while the exhilaration seemed more like adversity so I took in both reefs. Later, as I encountered the waves coming out of Bigbury Bay, I changed to the small foresail as well and still Jady Lane was going at hull speed, but so much spray was flying about that I had to heave-to to bail out. But progress was so good that I was off the entrance to the River Brine two hours after leaving Salcombe — and that meant 5 knots over the ground. Thereafter it was a bit easier in the lee of the hills until I stopped off Cellar Beach at the mouth of the River Yealm in a busy but sheltered anchorage, to wait for a fair tide up the Tamar. When I left there at 1500 the wind had eased a bit so I shook out one reef and had a good passage, hard to windward but with a good fair tide up to Saltash where I recovered.

It was a really good cruise in excellent weather during which our two boats were well matched in performance and had no difficulty keeping together on passage, but it would have been better still if there had been more of us. Our venues in the south-west offer sea passages or creek crawling whatever the weather, good opportunities to sail in company, and the possibility of leaving your boat for the night if you do not sleep aboard. Join us next year. Aidan de la Mare