SCILLY SEASON

The Leaver family fulfill a lifelong ambition to cruise the Isles of Scilly in their 18m Dutch steel motoryacht, Duchess

- James Leaver

Regular readers may remember my previous story in MBY Sept 2020 about buying Duchess, a 59ft Van der Valk steel motor yacht, as a floating second home in Chichester Harbour as well a means of satisfying our thirst for cruising adventures further afield.

In 2018 we ventured to the Channel Islands and the West Country. In 2019 it was northern Brittany. For 2020, after many years dreaming about it and bearing in mind the difficulties of travelling overseas during the pandemic, our goal was to make it to the Isles of Scilly. I had been loosely planning a cruise there for a couple of years and this seemed the perfect opportunity. After the strict measures of the first lockdown, it was a relief to see the harbours in the West Country opening up to visiting yachtsmen in early July and the pubs and restaurants we were hoping to visit also sparking into life.

Being 30 miles to the west of Land’s End, a trip to the Isles of Scilly usually comes with a certain degree of trepidation for many boat owners. Quite right too. To get there and back safely you need the right weather conditions for the passage. And in an ideal world you also need a good weather window in order to enjoy a carefree exploration of this remote archipelago. I had read many reports of boat owners getting to Falmouth, not having the right weather window and having to postpone the trip to another time.