Wednesday 18 June 2008

Day 5 - A Day at the Races: River Yealm to Falmouth

We slip our mooring at 0730 in brilliant sunshine and weave our way downstream. Again, the northerly wind does not materialise so we're forced to motorsail towards St. Anthony's Head.

Mackerel lines out again but no bites this time.

Arrive Falmouth 1700 and treat ourselves to fish & chips with a bottle of chilled muscadet.

Day 4 - A Day at the Races: Dartmouth – Dittisham – River Yealm



Setting off in bright sunshine, we cast off from the Town Quay to motor gently upstream for breakfast at Dittisham. Finding a free buoy, we moored up for cereal and croissants in this beautiful stretch of the River Dart. Reluctantly, we slipped our buoy and turned around to motor downstream towards the river entrance and onwards towards Start Point. After Prawle Point, there wasn’t much breeze, so we paid out the mackerel lines and motorsailed towards the entrance of the Yealm River. There was great excitement when two mackerel took the bait and we reeled them in with great care.



On arrival in the Yealm River, we motored slowly amongst the moored yachts looking for our friends on Bagheera – a Bowman 40. Finally we found them well upstream and rafted alongside for a drink and supper. It was almost like “Ready, Steady, Cook!" as both galleys were in action racing to complete at the same time so both crews could sit down together.

Bagheera came to the finish first with their steak casserole made with diced peppers, onions and tomatoes served with new potatoes whereas I’d opted for Sharon’s sausage casserole in red wine with mustard mash – somewhat tricky on a classic yacht with hardly any work surfaces to use.

Unfortunately, we hadn’t caught enough mackerel to feed everyone and two small fish were enough for 4 as a starter. Baked in foil with freshly ground black pepper and a squeeze of lime, after 15-20 minutes, the mackerel tasted sublime served on fresh wholemeal bread and butter. But we took our sausage casserole and mustard mash over and the two crews had a very convivial meal washed down with red wine and followed by cheese and biscuits. To end, David - the owner of Bagheera - made fresh coffee in his vacuum cafetiere. A great piece of kit if you can find one.

Then it was time to cast off and find our own buoy for our overnight stay with a wee dram of Famous Grouse whisky to finish before turning in.

Day 3 - A Day at the Races: Portland Harbour to Dartmouth

Another early start to make sure we catch the right tide for the inner passage past Portland Bill. You have to pass close to land to avoid the notorious race and it seems that you could reach out and touch the lighthouse itself as you pass. Breakfast was on hold until we were safely clear and on our track towards Berry Head. As well as muesli today, we had wholemeal toast – courtesy of the grill on the Force 10 oven – with Barrie’s homemade marmalade.

After breakfast, we set up the spinnaker expecting a broad reach down to Dartmouth on account of the forecast northerly wind. As soon as we were ready to hoist, the wind backed to westerly again so we had to put the kite on hold and go back to white sails. Motorsailing for most of morning :-( we eventually found some wind we liked after lunch as the clouds closed in and precipitation was evident over the land. Just as we reached the entrance of the River Dart, the heavens opened and it was time to find a good excuse to go below!

On arrival in Dartmouth, the clouds parted and the sun came out again so steaming gently, we joined the melee of yachts jockeying for position to moor up on the town quay. After a couple of overnight stays at anchor, we needed to replenish our stores. We found that the Co-Op store had been turned into a M&S food which delighted the guys onboard. Whilst the range of pre-packed food is good at M&S Food, it is difficult to find basics - such as flour and HP brown sauce - so another trip was required to find the Spar.

When we returned from our provisioning expedition, Dartmouth was in full swing with yachts arriving from all points of the compass. On Bryn Mawr – a Southerly 110 - the crew were getting ready for a barbeque on board. Chris & Jan Humphrey [Skipper & First Mate] were joined by their friends Sally & Phil Johns {Bosun and Cabin Boy, not necessarily in that order] and were preparing some wonderful ingredients to pop on their clip-on barbeque. They had arrived earlier that afternoon and bought Tiger Prawns from the local fishmonger and meat and vegetables to make their own kebabs. Also, Phil had marinaded some chicken pieces in white wine vinegar, tomato sauce and sliced fresh chillis – it all looked amazing!

Day 2- A Day at the Races: Hurst Point to Portland Harbour


After a quick breakfast of muesli and fresh fruit, we weigh anchor and depart at 0645 with a good northerly breeze and sunshine. For lunch, we stopped in stunning Lulworth Cove for sandwiches: salami, ham, tomato with mayonnaise on wholemeal bread – yum!



Then onwards towards Portland Harbour where we picked up a buoy and had another supermarket ready meal: this time, Chicken in a cream sauce with fresh broccoli and new potatoes. Ready meals have improved considerably over the last few years and are handy if you’re short of stowage space as we are on A Day at the Races . She was built in 1966 for Sir Owen Aisher and designed for offshore racing rather than gentle cruising. Originally named Yeoman XIV, she is built of teak and has recently been re-varnished and re-painted so is looking rather splendid at the moment.

Day 1- A Day at the Races: Beaulieu River to Hurst Point



Our first leg of our passage towards the West Country was a short early evening sail on the ebb tide down to Hurst Point so we could catch the next tide out West early the next morning. After dropping anchor in the bay behind Hurst Lighthouse, we had moussaka and fresh carrots for dinner with a glass of South African merlot.

The moussaka was a supermarket ready meal but fine for eating on board as it only took 25 minutes to heat up in the oven so the only preparation was slicing the new season carrots to steam gently on the hob.

Wednesday 11 June 2008

Mussels on the beach

Last week, Jen and I escaped to the beach for an "al fresco" lunch. We took a large stock pot, pre-sliced carrot and onion, a sprig of thyme from the herb garden, a little butter, fresh bread and some chilled Muscadet. The mussels we bought en route to the beach so it was simply a matter of washing them under the cold water tap on the promenade, scraping off any barnacles with a pen-knife, pulling the beards off and washing them again. Note that any mussels which are open at this stage should be discarded.

Using a small camping stove and stock pot, we heated up the butter, fried the onion and carrots for a couple of minutes then added the wine, mussels and herbs. After a few minutes and a couple of turns, the mussels were open* and ready to enjoy in the sunshine! With a glass of Muscadet and fresh tiger bread - divine!!

* any mussels which remain closed after cooking should be discarded.