With the wind and tide behind them the MBM fleet make their way to Plymouth
Friday 14th July
Day 7
Position – Queen Anne’s Battery, Plymouth
50°21′.847 N 004° 07.849 W
At 1145hrs Time Flies departed Dartmouth to access the sea conditions at the Start Point and beyond. Yesterdays forecast was predicting North-Easterly Force 4-5’s with occasional 6’s. The plan was to have the fleet to depart at slack water and with the wind behind and to carry tide all the way to Plymouth.
When Jon and Simon aboard Time Flies had reached Start Point they reported back that the sea conditions were 3-4’s with about a metre swell. Fifteen minutes later they reported just south of Bigbury Bay that the sea had smoothed out considerably.
All boats had departed the Deep Water moorings in Dartmouth by 1315hrs and were safely on passage. There was a gentle swell from the east, which together with an easterly wind and west going tide produced a beautiful and very comfortable downwind passage. Paddy aboard ‘Joyful II’ reported 17.5knots surfing downwind and said ‘the boat had never been that fast in its life’. Just three miles out of Plymouth the sea had got a little choppier. But overall ‘It was a gorgeous sunny Devon day’ Jon observed.
The MBM boats began entering the Plymouth Breakwater just after 1500hrs. Aided by the Queen Anne’s Battery Harbourmaster, Jon and Simon helped everyone into their berths on the events pontoon just behind the marina breakwater. Everyone was safely secured in Plymouth by 1700hrs. After two nights without a power and water in the middle of the Dartmouth estuary, participants scrambled for power sockets and hoses.
To catch up with the planned itinerary the MBM fleet will only spend one night in Plymouth and hopefully, weather permitting, will depart for Falmouth tomorrow afternoon.
