I woke up to a choppy Oxwich Bay. This was all a bit weird as the chop was coming from the south east and there had been little wind, especially from that direction. The other boat that had been anchored in the bay had left: presumably they had caught the early tide up channel. Scavenger still looked tempting, but the waves were lapping its base and it clearly wasn't up for it. I raised the anchor for the last time on the trip and set off to Portishead.
We had a light wind as far as The Mumbles and we sailed reasonably slowly almost to the lighthouse. I wasn't too fussed about making good speed at this stage as we would get caught by the spring tide against us as we got out of Swansea Bay anyway: there was little point in getting caught there earlier: it made no difference.
The wind died off The Mumbles and we had a frustrating motor towards the Scarweather Sands. What was annoying was that there was still the chop around. Every time we hit a wave, Cervisia slowed down and we didn't seem to get very far. I listened to the South Borsetshire puppy show on The Archers and put up with the conditions.
It was really obvious when we crossed the Scarweather Sands that we left one type of water (the clear inviting stuff) into another type (the muddy estuary stuff). It was a really clear divide between the two types of water. I guess the sands cause this change in the water and the water causes the sands. The sands are probably there as a deposition feature between the faster running waters of the Bristol Channel proper and the slacker waters of Swansea Bay. My original plan had been to anchor on the Scarweather Sands until the tide slackened and I could make meaningful progress eastwards. However when I was scouting around for a good spot, the wind started and I decided we might as well try sailing on the spot (going as far forward through the water as the tide took us back). To start with we were going backwards, but as the wind strengthened, we could make slow progress tacking eastwards. Eventually we passed the South Scar buoy and we seemed to be off, South Scar thankfully passing behind us into the distance.
There was more motoring up the channel as the wind died again. We motored past Nash Point towards Barry (where I saw a dolphin in the muddy water: I have never seen one this far up the channel before). The wind started up properly again at Barry and I hand steered (to get the best speed out of Cervisia) from there back to Portishead. We were really lucky in being able to sail in a dead straight line all the way back. It doesn't usually happen this way. One thing I had been worried about was running out of fuel. I had made calculations that I might just be able to make Portishead on the half tank and 5L can of diesel I had left, but it was looking touch and go. I'm glad we had the wind so we could sail instead.
I finally called Portishead marina up at about 10pm, just half an hour before the top of the tide (i.e. just in time). St. John welcomed us back. When I stepped onto the lock pontoon, it had been the first solid land I had been on for 4 days (since Dun Laoghaire on Thursday morning). It was a pretty weird feeling. Although it had been nice to be on Cervisia for that length of time, it was also nice to have the space to move around on land. I parked Cervisia in reverse first time on the pontoon, went to look for some food in Portishead (not easy at 11pm on a Sunday) and then went to bed. An early morning and a bus trip to Bristol would see me back at work on Monday morning.
It's pretty good to have Cervisia back in Portishead. Although it is nice to be away, it is a bit of a worry having her a long way away and knowing that you are going to have to sail her back in a defined week. I think I made the right decisions about how to get her back, but things could have been a lot more difficult if the weather had been less kind to us. I think the rest of the sailing year on Cervisia will mainly consist of weekend trips to Penarth. This is no bad thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment