SCILLY SEASON

Having made it to Plymouth, Simon Ellis continues his three-month long mission to visit every bay, marina and harbour from Poole to the Isles of Scilly

- Simon Ellis

DAY 52 MONDAY 24 JUNE

With my eldest daughter, Beth, and her two friends staying on board for the next few days, I was hoping for some favourable weather to ease our journey west. The day started with overcast skies but as there was little wind to trouble us, and the promise of sun to follow later, we were keen to get underway as soon as possible. Our aim was to reach Looe for lunch and then press on to Fowey for the night.

The lock at Queen Anne's Battery was on free-flow when we departed at 1000, leaving just the swinging bridge to negotiate. As we approached it, that swung open too and within minutes we were out at sea once again.

With the engines spinning at a gentle 1,000rpm and 1.5 knots of tide pushing our speed over ground up to 6 knots, we made the most of the conditions to drink in the scenery for just over an hour before raising the speed up to 20 knots for the final 7nm to Looe.

Dropping the hook opposite Banjo Pier, we fired up the BBQ for a brunch of good old bacon sarnies. We had the bay to ourselves, and as the overcast skies gave way to sun, things warmed up nicely. Even the sea temperature nudged past 16°C, the point at which I'm prepared to take a dip.

Two hours and a bracing swim later, it was time to move on. We still had some tidal assistance, taking our SOG up to 6.7 knots, so we chugged the remaining 10nm to Fowey. The sedate pace and gentle rocking from the eerily calm sea meant my crew slept on the bow most of the way, while I chilled out at the helm, noting how much I enjoyed this displacement mode of travel.