Waiting in Falmouth

We have been in Falmouth for about a week now.  We sailed here non-stop from Weymouth Bay, which took the best part of two days.

Measuring the piece of wood to replace

On the first day, we had lovely weather, which meant that while sailing along, we could also get on with other bits and bobs.  Up until now, we have usually been beating into strong winds, rocking and rolling all over the place.  In those conditions, doing anything other than sitting in the cockpit trying not to feel ill has been a challenge.  This time, though, Kate did some fishing and caught us three mackerel while I did some soldering and got the auto-tiller that came with the boat working.  This is a device that attaches to the tiller and maintains your compass heading for you automatically.  Once this beauty was up and running, our lives got a whole lot easier.  On previous journeys, we had to steer by hand, which gets quite tiring.

In the evening, I cooked up the mackerel in a nice sauce before getting some sleep while Kate took the first watch of the night.

I was sleeping lightly, monitoring the VHF with half an ear as the coastguard was searching for a missing RIB that had failed to return to their home port for the day, when, through my dreams, broke "Alex.  Alex.  ALEX!  THERE'S A REALLY FAST BOAT COMING TOWARDS US WITH A FLASHING RED LIGHT"

Feasting on the way to buy a new piece of wood

I scrambled out of bed and just got out through the hatch in time for the low-flying coastguard helicopter to light me up with their really bright spotlight, standing there in the cockpit wearing nothing more than my under crackers.  Satisfied that we were not the missing RIB, and no doubt chuckling about what they just saw, the helicopter sped off into the night again.

We're waiting in Falmouth for a weather window for our crossing to Spain, but whatever the weather, as always, there is critical DIY work to be done before we leave.  The job that we're working on at the moment is to replace our anchor with a bigger one, which means replacing the bow roller that it sits on, which means replacing the rotten wood that the bow roller bolts to...it seems as though every task we try to accomplish goes down a similar route with a seemingly simply job stretching into days of effort.

New wood and a Cornish Pasty.  What more could a man want?

Being 'stuck' in Falmouth isn't bad, though, as the people here are super friendly and we have become

addicted to Cornish Pasties.  I have also become particularly fond of the Cornish Sundae, which is found in Wetherspoons, where we go for free Wi-Fi.  Hopefully we'll leave soon or else our next boat job will be to cut a bigger hatch for us to fit through.

The mighty Cornish Sundae