We passed a comfortable night aboard in Falmouth Yacht Haven, but the wind had been building during the night. Blowing a F5-6 from SE made for choppy conditions in the Carrick Roads and we did not feel ready to sail in that weather, because I was not confident of being able to set reefs properly. We decided to lay in some stores and find somewhere quiet up-river again. So it was Niki and I motored up the river and found a lovely sheltered spot just down from Malpas, which is as far as low tide reaches on the Truro river.
It is an idyllic spot, with the oak trees reaching to the water’s edge. This early in the season, the oak trees have yet to burst their buds, but there is little traffic and plenty of spots on the pontoon. Within the valley and protected by the trees, we were well sheltered from the wind and passed a relaxing afternoon and evening aboard, cooking a nice meal and listening to music. We were very pleased with the luxury of our facilities compared to Aurora, our trailer sailer – a comfortable saloon, oven, heating and hot water.
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.
A rather glamorous neighbour on the pontoon at Falmouth Niki at the helm“Andy the arm” wearing his pac-a-mac against the rain
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…
Fowey by nightFowey churchyard
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.
Stuns’ls (with no lifeboat in the background!)Lovely meal aboard
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.
“Are you ready?”, he asked, an hour before our launch slot. Luckily we were, and so began our adventures on Molly of Mylor. I had been spending the winter months getting to know our new-to-us Cornish Crabber 26 and learning to carry out the winter maintenance tasks while ashore in the yard at Penryn in Falmouth. We had loaded our gear the previous day, before her cradle was moved from her winter store location to a spot near the slipway. Molly was quickly and efficiently lifted off the cradle and trundled down to the water; I had to remind myself that although this was a first for us, it was very much a routine task for the crew at the yard.
Molly being moved cradle and all, from her winter spot to the slipway Lifted off the cradleSplashdown!
The whole process was reassuringly uneventful and we warped her onto a pontoon and started the engine for the first time. Niki and I were joined by long-time boating friend and fellow Cornish Crabber owner, Russell. He was coming along to help us get used to manoeuvring Molly under engine, our previous boat being much smaller and lighter with an outboard.
The location we chose for our greenhorn boat handling were the pontoons up the Fal river past Turnaware Point. Conditions were ideal with little wind, warm sun and neap tides; it was a most enjoyable introduction to Molly. We soon reached the pontoons and both Niki and I practiced bringing Molly alongside up and down-wind. I was very pleasantly surprised with how well the Crabber 26 handles under engine both forward and astern.
It was now the time to try out the sails and we set full main, staysail and jib in the very light winds prevailing. Motor-sailing downriver, we were passed by Cornish Crabber’s owner Peter Thomas, aboard another ’26 – he took some photos of us and I was able to thank him for delivering a replacement luff spar onto the boat.
All sails set (photo: Peter Thomas)
The next item to try out was the anchor, so we put into St Mawes and dropped anchor in the harbour opposite the town to munch our pasties. Not much of a test of anchor holding, but good practice deploying and retrieving the tackle.
By this time, the wind had died to nothing and our attempts to sail in the bay achieved little, so we motored in to Falmouth, took a berth in the yacht haven and retired to town for a well-earned celebratory curry.
Meandering Molly 