WESTWARD HO in 2026!

 For next year’s Brisbane Star adventures, we would like to propose cruising the West Country, offering the chance to spend a week or more on the boat, with a mix of long coastal passages and shorter day-sails, and weekend crew changes.

We would like to hear from people interested in coming along.

Tides out of the Solent are best for setting out on July 24th - joining that Friday late afternoon, overnighting in Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight, then taking the early morning ebb west down the Needles Channel.

The south -west is a brilliantly varied area – big harbours (Plymouth and Falmouth), rivers large and small, odd nooks and crannies for anchoring (Helford, Bigbury, Hope Cove), marinas for showers (two – by Dartmouth and Falmouth – are free for Brisbane Star as part of its Gosport berthing package). The plan would be to take two weeks sailing down to and around Cornwall.

First week would take us to Dartmouth. Based in the river, we could explore nearby – Exmouth,

Second week we’d sail down to Falmouth and work out from there. Weather permitting, we might even get to the Isles of Scilly.

We could then take another two weeks sailing back up the coast to Gosport, hopefully enjoying good south-westerlies for spinnaker/cruising chute runs.

Best is if people can do a week, Saturday to Saturday. Both Dartmouth and Falmouth are accessible by train from London, so there would be scope for joining and leaving there.

So: Look at your diaries, check your dates, and let us know what/when/where you could sign up for. We can welcome novices who want to try offshore sailing as well as more experienced people of all levels. There will be passage-planning, mile-building, night sailing, watch-keeping. We’ll take the dinghy for getting ashore in remote anchorages, and (optimistically) fishing gear for fresh supper.

Initial planning for weeks one and two suggests something like the attached, making best use of tides for the long passages.

Week One

Fri July 24th   

  •             Leave Gosport 2000   Tide west till midnight             Overnight Yarmouth

Sat July 25th  

  •              Leave Yarmouth 0700
  •             25 nm/5 hours to St Alban’s Head - arrive 1200. Tide still running SW.
  •             15 nm/3 hours to Portland - arrive 1500. Tide SW till 1430.              Overnight Portland

Sun July 26th 

  •             Leave Portland 0800.            
  •             3nm/1 hour to the Bill - arrive 0900. Tide W across Lyme Bay from 0900-1500
  •             50nm/10 hours from Bill to Dartmouth - arrive 1900. Tide out of Dart from 1840
  •             Stay in/around Noss-on-Dart
  •             Four days: Explore from Dart: Exmouth, Teignmouth, Brixham, Salcombe, Totnes.

Fri July 31st   

  •             Leave Noss 0930 - tide out of Dart. Outside, tide NE till1400. W till 1730.
  •             70nm/14 hours to Falmouth - arrive midnight. Tide against going into Falmouth.
  •            Stay Falmouth Yacht Haven

Week Two

Sat Aug 1st    

  •             Day ashore in Falmouth.                    Possible crew change
  •             Four days: Explore from Falmouth: Helford, St Mawes, River Fal, Mevagissey.

OR

Sun Aug 2nd  

  •             Falmouth to St Mary’s. Leave Falmouth against tide at 0800.
  •             45nm/9 hours. Tide SW off Manacles and on passage from 1200-1700.
  •             Arrive Scilly at half-tide on flood (HW St Mary’s at 2120).
  •            Two days in Scilly

Wed Aug 5th              

  •           HW St Mary’s 1120. 40nm/8 hours to Penzance/Newlyn.
  •           Leave St Mary’s 0600. Tide NE till 1600.
  •           Penzance/Newlyn HW 1110/233).

Thurs Aug 6th  

  •           Day in Penzance/Newlyn

Fri Aug 7th

  •          Tide turns NE at Lizard at 1130. 35 nm/7 hours to Falmouth.

Sat Aug 8th    

  •          Falmouth.                                                Possible crew change

 The return journey could take two weeks, including stops in Fowey, the Plymouth area, Brixham, Lyme Regis, Lulworth, Swanage, Poole, Christchurch. With this we could have a crew change after a week in Plymouth.

Other options would be to take just one week coming home – two legs with a break in and around Plymouth – or it could be done in one long hit of 150nm/30 hours.

The important thing is timings to get back into the Solent through Hurst on a Friday/Saturday afternoon/evening for clean & clear the following day.

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