Niki having joined me again, we had decided to make our first passage in Molly, and the wind direction suggested Fowey. The weather made an un-inspiring start to the day, with drizzle and very poor visibility, so we delayed starting for an hour or two; the visibility had improved but the drizzle was annoyingly persistent.

We tacked out the the Carrick Roads and finally settled on a close-hauled course towards Dodman Point, as yet invisible in the grey. Motor sailing, we were making a comfortable 4.5kt through the water and a little more than that over the ground. We had an anniversary brunch on the move, though Niki was feeling unwell and did not enjoy hers. We continued steadily NW and I was able to ease our course a little. Niki was asleep below, so I stopped the engine when we had passed Gwineas reef (a site I know well from diving there in the past) and we only lost a little less than a knot of boat speed. There were several large sailing vessels out off Mevagissey – Bessie Ellen an early C20 115ft trading ketch, now operated as a sailing experience vessel and also Pellew, a pilot cutter freshly-built in Penryn. They made a fine sight as we made our way steadily towards the mouth of the Fowey river.

Niki picked up a mooring opposite the town, we inflated Aurelia and rowed across for dinner at the Ship Inn (a fine fish pie and some rather gritty Camel estuary mussels). Rowing back to Molly afterwards was easier than I feared – though it was mid-tide, there was not a very strong current in the river. We passed a rather rolly night – it seems in the light winds Molly kept turning across the swell. Perhaps we’ll use the pontoon next time…

In the morning, Niki and I decided to spend the day in Fowey and enjoyed a sunny morning wandering around this pretty town, busy with Easter tourists. We saw an RNLI stand which was being largely ignored, and chatted to the volunteer there. He told us there was an open evening planned for that afternoon, with the lifeboat to come up to the town quay at high tide for the public to have a look around and also that a shanty group would be performing.

So our tender Aurelia got two trips across the river that day, as we returned to Molly, prepared a beef stew in our thermal cooker, to be eaten later, had a restful afternoon and returned to the town quay in late afternoon. The performance by local shanty group, Stuns’l, was excellent. It was just as well that this was our main reason for coming, as the lifeboat was nowhere to be seen, having been called out on a shout!

The harbour was very busy, so we kept our mooring, as we could see that all the pontoon berths were taken. We enjoyed a pleasant evening aboard with our beef stew and a film.

We set off in the morning with a lovely southerly and set a cracking pace, close hauled, expecting to bear away after the Dodman, and arrive back early enough to anchor somewhere for lunch, but the wind swung inexorably to the west and we ended up in a light air beat (with engine assistance). Sadly Niki had to return home that evening, but we were pleased with our first expedition.