The GPS Blog| Activity | Activity date | Activity description |
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| Starcross YC to Brixham | 2018-05-24 | Down from Starcross Yacht Club on the Exe to Brixham. This gave us a couple of hours shorter passage time the next day and the ability to leave at our preferred time (as Brixham is navigable at all states of the tide).
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CI & France 2018
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| Fowey to Megavissey | 2018-09-03 | A walk down into Fowey and then a ferry from Fowey to Megavissey. On the trip into Fowey the ferry had spotted a large whale and porpoises but no such luck on our trip.
From Megavissey, we walked round to Portmellon.
The 26 miles wasn't all dog walking - it includes the return ferry distance!
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Summer Holiday 2018
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| Polkerris Beach | 2018-09-02 | Stayed at Penhale camp site near Fowey. A short walk to Polkerris Beach where we knew that dogs were banned but didn't know that the ice cream shop would shut up shop at half four - outrageous!
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Summer Holiday 2018
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| Prawle Point and The Pigs Nose Pub | 2018-09-01 | Down to Prawle Point - the most southerly point in Devon and a headland well known to sailors!
Pint at the Pigs Nose pub.
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Summer Holiday 2018
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| St Anthonys Head | 2018-09-04 | On to Trewince camp site and one of Liz's favourite walks - around St Anthonys Head.
Stunning views - some of the early photos could be of the Mediterranean.
After going past the light house at the end of St Anthony's Head the walk is then along the eas
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Summer Holiday 2018
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| Rosemullion Head | 2018-09-05 | A new take on another of Liz's favourite walks - to Rosemullion Head (between the Fal and the Helford).
Scooby allowed us to just sit a read for a hour or so while watching the strange floaty things out to sea).
Then back via Mawnan Smith with the walk extended a bit as Scooby couldn't be trusted to cross a field full of cows - even on a lead!
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Summer Holiday 2018
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| St Peter Port to Starcross YC | 2018-06-03 | Back from St Peter Port to Starcross Yacht Club on the Exe.
Up the Little Russell at about 08:00 with just a little "wind against tide bounciness" at the top end.
Then across the shipping lanes with very good visibility.
The sail started with an excellent wind from the north east at about F4 to F5ish but died away a little after crossing the second shipping lane.
So it was on with the motor for maybe the last third of the journey reaching the Exe at about 23:00 and on to the mooring just before midnight. I don't think the Exe is a good place to try to navigate at night without local knowledge (it's our "home port") - too many unlit channel / lateral buoys and moorings very close to the channel edge.
My "top tip" for navigating the Exe at night is that if the red / green channel buoy you are navigating for doesn't flash occasionally then you're heading for Brunel's railway line!
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CI & France 2018
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| Sark to St Peter Port | 2018-06-02 | Round from La Greve de la Ville anchorage on the east side of Sark to the Saigne Bay anchorage on the west side. The Saigne Bay anchorage has some rather dramatic rock stacks (think James Bond / The Man With The Golden Gun - but smaller).
The on - via the Gouliot Passage and one of the passages north of the Lower Heads cardinal - to St Peter Port marina to meet up with lots of other Starcross Yacht Club "yotties" for the traditional meal in La Perla.
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CI & France 2018
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| St Helier to Sark | 2018-06-01 | From St Helier on Jersey up to Sark.
Along the south coast of Jersey where some wind against tide made the sailing a little bouncy but gave us 8.8 knots over the ground as we went round La Corbiere (as a very blurry photo shows).
Then up to La Greve de la Ville anchorage on the east side of Sark.
Suprisingly the wind gusts got up to 25 knots as we were getting close to the pilotage in to the anchorage. Once within the anchorage - and about 30 yards from the shore - the anchorage was very still.
Went for a stroll around Sark - including across La Coupe which I'd promised myself I wouldn't walk across again.
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CI & France 2018
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| Iles Chausey to St Helier | 2018-05-31 | Out from the Iles Chausey via the northern passage. Look carefully at the chart and you'll see that the passage dries to a height of up to 4.5 metres! However, with a tidal range of 10 metres and the excellent French navigational markers and transits (which again can be seen on the chart at higher zooms), the passage pilotage was fine.
Iles Chausey was exceptional - a truly stunning place. What wasn't so good was all the flies that migrated from the rocks that were covered at high water and hitched a ride on the boats all the way to Jersey.
At Jersey, we anchored in St Aubins Bay waiting for enough water over the cill at St Helier marina.
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CI & France 2018
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| Granville to Isles Chausey | 2018-05-30 | From Granville across to the Iles Chausey.
The Iles Chausey are basically a "bunch of rocks" off the French coast. Apparently there are 365 islands at low tide. With a the ten metre tidal range when we were there, there are a whole lot less at high tide.
Most of the photos are at low tide - showing The Sound that runs to the east of the main island.
The approach requires some reasonably careful pilotage and then lying to the fore/aft moorings available in the Sound.
The earlier photos show some very tall navigation marks at low water - look in the later photos which are closer to high water and they only just appear above the water!
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CI & France 2018
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| St Helier to Granville, France | 2018-05-28 | From St Helier on Jersey across to Granville in France.
We were joined by dolphins briefly - very large ones - but as they disappeared quite quickly it became more fun watching the people watching for dolphins!
Then on via the Ilse Chausey - more later on them in this blog - and then on to Granville in France.
Played with the cruising chute for the first time on this cruise.
Granville is an old walled town - a little like St Malo along the coast - but not so crowded. The marina, like many on the French coast, has a cill and at low water the approach to Granville completely dries out.
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CI & France 2018
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| St Peter Port to St Helier | 2018-05-27 | A really good sail from St Peter Port on Guernsey across to St Helier on Jersey.
Along the south coast of Jersey where the usual past times of spotting the German 2nd World War defences and avoiding the Condor fast ferries passed the time nicely.
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CI & France 2018
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| Brixham to St Peter Port | 2018-05-25 | From Brixham across to St Peter Port on Guernsey.
Overall a good crossing with reasonable visibility until just after the shipping lanes. Then the fog came in with a vengeance! Having the luxury of both AIS and radar on Derek's Fulmar made a huge difference.
If you look at the photos I've left one in that looks like "just grey" but see if you can see a yacht. When we reached St Peter Port (via the Little Russell) it was still very foggy but actually not quite as dense as a previous year. We could see the "gates" of St Peter Port harbour well before we would hit them!
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CI & France 2018
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| Helford River | 2018-09-06 | A short walk down to one of our favourite canoeing spots on the Helford - without a canoe this time.
This is where Scooby previously learnt to swim just for the fun of it so Liz was keen to take him back for another paddle.
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Summer Holiday 2018
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| Logan Rock and Penberth Cove | 2018-09-07 | On to one of our favourite campsites - Treen (just near the Minack Theatre and Lands End).
Photos are from the "nature ramble" that Liz went on - organised by the Treen pirate. Photos of Scooby at Penberth Cove are by Liz as the nature ramble also went that way.
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Summer Holiday 2018
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| Gwenapp Head | 2018-09-08 | Another new take on a favourite walk. From Treen, via St Levans, Porthgwarra and on to Gwenapp Head (just along from Lands End and happily not touched by the awful tat at Lands End).
We could see the rain showers getting blown in from the Atlantic - but as they were mostly horizontal it was possible to keep mostly dry by sheltering behind lumps of granite.
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Summer Holiday 2018
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| Pendeen and Portheras Cove | 2018-09-09 | A new walk to Pendeen Lighthouse and the stunning Porteras Cove which we'd not been to before.
Took a wrong turn down to the "Boat Cove" and then took a little while to figure out how to actually get to Portheras Cove (it's via a path high above the cove and then down to the beach on the eastern end).
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Summer Holiday 2018
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| Godrevy and Hells Mouth Cafe | 2018-09-10 | Met up with Ruth and Derek H for a revisit of the walk past Godrevy Lighthouse and on to Hells Mouth Cafe.
Lots of seals in the cover just past Godrevy Lighthouse - they are the blurry black blob things in the photos.
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Summer Holiday 2018
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| St Agnes and Wheal Coates | 2018-09-11 | On to Beacon Farm Cottage camp site and the only day of the two weeks that was really lost to the weather.
As soon as we got to the campsite and sat down to admire the view, the fog and mizzle came in with a vengeance.
So we only did a short walk to the Wheal Cotes mine - very atmospheric perched on the cliff side and appearing out the gloom. The photos of fog and mist may not be the most exciting if you weren't there...
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Summer Holiday 2018
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| Perranporth | 2018-09-12 | No trip to the south west would be complete for Scooby hound without a trip to Perranporth and Woolcombe beaches. So we "did" Perranporth on the Wednesday...
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Summer Holiday 2018
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| Rock, Padstow and Stepper Point | 2018-09-13 | Staying at the rather nice (but rather expensive) campsite directly overlooking Polzeath beach, we drove down to Rock and caught the ferry over to Padstow.
Padstow was heaving with tourists as expected (even on a Thursday in the middle of September). We then walked on past the famous Doom Bar and on to Stepper Point (on the west side of the entrance to the Camel Estuary).
Then back along the sands of the Doom bar at low water to give Scooby hound a run.
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Summer Holiday 2018
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| Mortehoe | 2018-09-15 | Another one of Liz's favourite walks. From North Morte campsite down to Lee and then up and down the rather strenuous coast path round to Mortehoe Point.
The coast path coming up to Morte Point is genuinely scary for someone like me with just a hint of vertigo. Still - survived again!
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Summer Holiday 2018
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| Woolacombe Beach | 2018-09-16 | Last day of our holiday and a quick walk along Woolacombe Beach - Scooby hound would not have been pleased if we'd left without giving him a run along the beach.
Met Cathy and Mark S at Putsborough - we were sitting having an ice cream and they were just finishing their first surfing session of the day.
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Summer Holiday 2018
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| Saying hello to The Queen Mary | 2020-09-05 | Out on Nigel H's Dart 18 for a possible trip down to Teignmouth, In the end, we went a little further to have a look at the Queen Mary 2 - one of several cruise liners anchored up in the bay due to COVID.
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Dart 18
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| Stoke Gabriel to Dittisham | 2023-09-24 | Down from Stoke Gabriel (via Flat Owers) to a mooring off Dittisham ready for an (vaguely) early departure the next day.
Couple of pints in The Ferry Boat Inn.
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Dart
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| First Dart sail of 2021 | 2021-06-10 | After a couple of delayed attempts, this was the first sail of the year with Nigel H on his Dart 18.
A sort of "shakedown sail" remembering how it all goes together.
Not much wind and out against the tide to make sure something would push us home if the wind completely dropped.
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Dart 18
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| Exe Estuary Darting | 2021-06-15 | A trip out on Nigel H's Dart 18. Very light winds to start with and then a good sea breeze came in. Because of teh tide times, we had to go up river / up tide of SYC in case the sea breeze dropped off.
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Dart 18
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| Dawlish Dart sail | 2021-06-23 | Around to Dawlish with Nigel H on his Dart 18. A lovely sail. Took a while for the sea breeze to come in but once it did it was a pleasant, steady force 3 or so. Sun as well!
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Dart
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| Exe Dart 18 sail | 2021-08-03 | Sail with Nigel H on his Dart 18.
Light winds in the morning but the wind picked up in the afternoon as we headed Topsham way. Unfortunately, the GPS battery ran out - time for a new one.
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Dart 18
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| Dart sail | 2021-08-24 | With Nigel H - out on his Dart. Poked our noses out to sea and then up towards Topsham on the rapidly falling tide. Ran ever so slightly aground.
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Dart
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| More Dart Sailing | 2021-08-25 | Out with an ebbing Spring tide. With 14-15 knot winds from the east, the channel past Exmouth beach had some reasonable (1 metre-ish) wind against tide waves. So we turned round and came back against the tide. Easy when there is wind - slightly harder (even on a Dart) when the wind drops!
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Dart 18
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| Exe Darting & SYC 250 | 2022-07-10 | Out on Nigel H's art 18 for a bit of up and down the estuary. Great day - hot with steady winds.
Then back to SYC for cream teas as part of the SYC 250 celebrations.
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Dart 18
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| Dart drifting | 2022-07-13 | A drift up and won the Exe estuary to the Beach Cafe on Nigel H's Dart 18.
A little bit of wind occasionally.
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Dart 18
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| Dart to Dawlish Warren | 2022-07-29 | Down to Dawlish Warren with Nigel H on his Dart 18.
Lovely gentle wind.
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Dart 18
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| Dartmouth to Plymouth | 2023-06-18 | A very gentle sail and motor from Dittisham on the Dart round to QAB in Plymouth.
With the gentle wind both Start Point and Prawle Point were pussycats even though it was Springs.
We probably sailed about half the way from Start to Plymouth with a fair amount of tidal assist.
Very pleasant gentle summer's day sailing.
Missed the planned train back from Plymouth due to a taxi cock up! Derek H continuing on to Falmouth (for the Scillies) the next day.
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Dart
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| Exe to Stoke Gabriel | 2023-09-22 | On David K's trimaran Triskelle. From SYC on the Exe up to Stoke Gabriel up the Dart. Interesting nosing up the Dart past Dittisham at low water.
The sail down was fun - F4 gusting F6 as forecast with maybe only one squall being a bit higher than that.
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Dart
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| Stoke Gabriel | 2023-09-23 | Left Triskelle anchored and wandered round Stoke Gabriel. Saw the 100 year old yew tree in the church grounds and then had lunch at The River Shack.
Banged my head on a tree somewhat younger than 100 years old while walking on the foreshore of the Dart
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Dart
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| Drew Trophy yacht race | 2011-07-30 | From Exe safe water mark down to Brixham and back again the next day
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Dart
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| Exe Estuary Darting | 2020-08-30 | Back on Nigel H's Dart 18 for the first time in a long while. Lovely trip down and up the estuary. Wind was up and down - nothing too strong and it didn't completely die away/ Lovely.
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Dart
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| Exe to Dartmouth | 2018-08-13 | A lovely sail down from the Exe to Dartmouth.
Wind ranged from very little to about 22 knots.
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Dart
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| Exe to Dartmouth | 2018-06-16 | With the SYC Newport Trophy cancelled due to the possibility of a Force 6, we set of with Peter S for company hoping to get as far as Salcombe.
However, with the wind pretty much on the nose, progress was a little slow for us so we motor sailed.
As we crossed Torbay we saw the annual Brixham Trawler Race taking place.
The weather forecast was pretty much right (with maximum gusts of about 26 knots - F6), so we gave up on the idea of rounding Start Point and ducked into Darthaven Marina in Dartmouth.
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Dart
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| Mackerel for tea | 2016-07-18 | A glorious summer sail on a Dart 18 with Nigel H. Caught some mackerel for the first time ever - a few hundred yards off the safe water mark. Blisteringly hot and light winds - ideal for a summer sail / drift
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Dart 18
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| Dart sail | 2016-06-27 | First sail of the year on Nigel H's Dart 18. Wind was up and down and we fought the tide on the way back to SYC but some fast speeds out at sea.
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Dart 18
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| Dartmouth to Plymouth | 2016-06-26 | Starting from Dittisham, a sail round from the Dart to Plymouth on Derek H's Sadler 26. A good sail down towards Start Point. A easy rounding of Start at just before slack water. Then a motor sail from Start to Bolt Tail as the wind was too much on the nose. Then a good sail across Bigbury Bay and into Plymouth Sound (where the visibility dropped down to about a quarter of a mile).
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Dart
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| Broadsands, Galmpton and Greenway | 2016-03-22 | A circular walk from Torbay to the Dart. Quite long as we went the wrong direction a couple of time! Down to Greenway on the Dart - opposite Dittisham and the old home of Agatha Chritie
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Dart
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| Breezy Dart Sail | 2015-09-28 | A breezy day sail on Nigel H's Dart 18. Wind was generally between F4 and F5 but probably touching F6 for a short while as we left the beach cafe.Top speed of 17 knots just below the 18 knots on a sail last year.
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Dart
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| First sail of the year on Nigel's Dart | 2015-06-08 | Lots of wind going down the estuary. Quite a bit of wind out at sea for a while and some waves to play with. After lunch at the beach cafe the wind died away a bit making the sail back up the channel alongside Exmout beach somewhat tricky (including some fun in the shallow waters just before the Warren point), More wind when back in the estuary but the strength of the ebbing tide made it a "tactical" sail back to SYC.
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Dart
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| Sail on Nigel's Dart | 2014-08-18 | A decent wind (gusting maybe F5) for a storming sail on Nigel's Dart. Some excellent speeds with a top speed of over 17 knots - probably the fastest I've been under sail. Top stuff
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Dart
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| Darting about in light winds | 2014-07-21 | Down river and out to sea (a little bit) on Nigel's Dart. Light, and sometimes non-existent, winds suggested that venturing too far on an outgoing tide might be a problem. Interesting tacking back up the estuary against the ebb tide - couldn't do that in the Wayfarer.
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Dart
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| Sail on Nigel's Dart | 2014-07-14 | Beach cafe and just a bit beyond on Nigel's Dart 18. A day of lulls and gusts. A max speed of 14.6 knots is just a bit faster than I'm used to with my Wayfarer
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Dart
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| Sail on Nigels Dart 18 | 2013-09-02 | A super sail out to the beach cafe, out to sea and back via the Warren.
A bit of everything in the wind - well from F2 to F4 - and lots of sun. Ideal.
GPS battery died on the way back.
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Dart
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| Baltic Wharf in Totnes to SYC on the Exe | 2012-04-10 | A great sail down from Baltic Wharf at Totnes down the Dart to Dartmouth and then up the coast to Starcross Yacht Club on the Exe. First sail of the year on Dereks Sadler 26. Weather forecast was a bit lively but turned out to be a great sail
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Dart
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