The Azores to Falmouth
The final leg, lazy days, whales, battle in the English Channel, home at last.
Finally and reluctantly we departed
Terceira and The Azores on Sunday the 13th July, with fond
farewells to our friends on sailing yacht Liv 1. If you get the chance
have a trip to the Azores, quite wonderful, peaceful, and offering
walks, ocean and wildlife.
In light breezes we made slow progress in a NE direction over the next few days. Perky Perkins was pressed into use much of the time and so we motored across calm blue seas. The benefit of a calm sea is that we all get on with plenty; cake making, fresh bread, reading, repairs, school work (not much of that though). Although warm and dry during the days we found things pretty cool in the cockpit at night and were soon wrapped warm in oilskins and fleeces. Bridget favoured 2 woolly hats at night!
On days 5 and 6 we had good breezes and
made 150 miles plus each 24 hours, but this didn’t last, and with light
winds, and no real helpful current we gradually made towards England.
Another advantage of calm seas is that seeing whales is easier and
Georges’ sharp eyes spotted whales on 3 occasions. Whilst eating supper
in the cockpit we all glanced up on Georges’ shout to see two large
dorsal fins, one either side of Double waters, just passing by……
With land almost in sight, the smell of
Cornish pasties wafting in the breeze and the Big Adventure coming to an
emotional end, the weather had one last sting for us. A stiff easterly
breeze coming down the English Channel. This meant a tough final day as
we tacked to and fro easing our way past Lands End, Wolf Rock, The
Lizard, and finally as darkness fell, navigating past The Manacles and
in to Falmouth Harbour. At well after
midnight we dropped the hook into
the mud, English mud. Home at last. And celebrated with some bubbly
and chocolate and bed.
Our few days in Falmouth were made special by seeing our sailing friends, Peter, Benedicta, Filipa, and Emil and reuniting with John, Angela, Josh and Benny from Tavistock. Wonderful.
By the end of July we had sailed Double Waters back to Plymouth where we were greeted by more of our special friends and family. A very emotional home-coming and a lovely evening spent aboard DW with a BBQ on the dock.
All very sad over the next few days as we removed most of our belongings from our brilliant floating home of the last two years! Rapidly Double Waters began to feel just like any other boat, not our special home; we seemed to strip out her character. And now she is securely moored in Cornwall, near Millbrook, and we tidy and prepare her for the FOR SALE sign and her next owners.
By Graham.
