Page 13 - Folk Boat Year Book 2021

After the tail end of Hurricane George or
Mildred, I’m not sure what she was called
I got the train back to Plymouth and was
joined by my normal crew mate Rupert.
His expectation of the week was catching
as much fish as there was to catch, this
turned out to be none despite his efforts
or perhaps because of me sending out
vibes that I wouldn’t relish the idea of
slipping around on discarded scales and
fish guts.

Newton Ferrers, Noss Mayo, Polperro,
Fowey, St Maws, The Helford River and
Frenchman’s creek. All the characters
from many sailing tales that had always
enchanted me and now I was ready to
explore their mysteries with Spiritus. I
spent the rest of the week visiting these
harbours and getting to know the ins and
outs of the tricky transits and hidden
bars. On arriving at The Helford river after
eight hours of a good reach we noticed
that the port winch block was not as
connected to the boat as it should have
been. Two weeks of sawing spring lines
and strong winds had taken their toll and
I learned yet another lesson. There are
always more to learn.

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