SCILLY SEASON

Fairline Targa 40 owner Simon Ellis takes a three-month sabbatical from work to explore every nook and cranny of the South West coast en route to the fabled Isles of Scilly

- Simon Ellis

Was I having a mid-life crisis or did I simply need a break? It doesn't really matter what you call it but having worked for 30-plus years, I needed some time out – a sabbatical of sorts. But what to do? Well, being a boater, the obvious answer was to blast off into the sunset and for once in my life not have to worry about finding a weather window to return within the usual two-week holiday period.

My wife, Pamela, and I have kept a boat at Cobbs Quay in Poole for the past 20 years, starting with a Fairline Sprint 21 before progressing to a Targa 34 and then our current boat, a 2002 Fairline Targa 40 called Easily Distracted. We love the local waters around Poole and frequently pop over to the Solent. We have even been across the Channel but the furthest west we have ever reached was Dartmouth. So the obvious choice was to head west and keep on going, all the way to Land's End. Oh, and there are some islands further out so why not try and venture there?

A quick look at Reeds Nautical Almanac and Tom Cunliffe's Shell Channel Pilot revealed dozens of marinas, estuaries, beaches and coves so why not try to visit all these places en route? And so the plan evolved.

ROUTE PLANNING

At no stage was this to be a solo trip. I'm happy enough in my own company, for a while, but it's always more fun with others. Most of the time that's cruising as a family with our two daughters but in 2017 I had invited a few of my mates down for a lads' weekend in July, which went down so well that it has since become an annual week-long event. Perhaps some of them could take it in turns to join me for a week or two as well. It was sounding better by the minute.