The GPS Blog| Activity | Activity date | Activity description |
|---|---|---|
| The Helford and Frenchman's Creek | 2014-09-08 | From Helford Passage via Frenchman's Creek up into Mawgan Creek towards the top of the Helford Estuary. A little windy on the way back meant plenty of exercise!
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Helford Estuary
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| Helford to Gweek - Falmouth | 2010-09-20 | From Helford Passage all the way up to Gweek and back. Not stopping at Daphers French Mans Creek this time.
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Helford
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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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Helford
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| Helford Kayaking | 2023-09-10 | A lovely paddle on the Helford. Via FranchMan's Creek then up to Tremayne Quay for lunch (and a VHF message relay for a broken down dory). Then back via Port Navas.
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Helford
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| Helford Passage to Gweek | 2018-07-08 | On yet another stunning 2018 summer's day, we put the canoe in just past the Helford Passage and paddled up to Geewk at the top of the Helford.
Then a dawdle back stopping at an old lime quay.
Highlight of the day for Liz was teaching Scooby to enjoy swimming! We think that his buoyancy aid may have helped.
At Penwarne Farm Campsite - lovely views in a field overlooking the sea between Falmouth and the Helford.
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Helford Passge
Helford
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| Kayak Puncture! | 2023-09-09 | A second puncture (in a about 4 year's use) in our Sea Eagle 465 inflatable kayak put paid to our kayaking plans for the day.
Instead we spent a bit of time on Bar Beach on the Helford avoiding the day's strongest sun. Scooby still doesn't like swimming.
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Helford
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| Helford Passage | 2021-07-04 | Checking out the options and costs for launching a kayak or canoe at Helford Passage (we used to launch from Bar Beach when we went to Cornwall with the car),
Launch price reasonable at £2 (that's not taking the piss) but the hill back up from the Helford Passage beach will take some effort wheeling a kayak).
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Helford Passage
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| A new walk round Durgan and Trebah | 2025-07-15 | Tried iWalk (https://www.iwalkcornwall.co.uk/) for the first time on a new walk around Helford, Durgan and Trebah.
The iWalk app and its instructions turned out to be very good (albeit this particular walk wasn't the most interesting all the way round).
Slight diversion to Glendurgan NT for an excellent lunch.
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Helford Passage
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| Helford and Frenchmans Creek | 2013-09-18 | A walk along the Helford Estuary, back inland and then along Frenchmans Creek back to the village of Helford
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Helford
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| Helford to Gweek paddle | 2024-09-13 | Launched the Sea Eagle inflatable kayak at Helford and paddled up past the Seal Sanctuary to Gweek Boatyard. Which was a surprise as I didn't think, at the start, that either of us fancied paddling that much.
Lunch at Tremayne Quay as usual.
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Helford
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| Helford Paddling | 2023-05-18 | A quick dip into Frenchman's Creek and then up to near Tremayne Quay for a coffee stop.
The first bit of the track is on land to measure the distance we dragged the kayak back up from Helford Passage to the campervan. Quite hard work but do-able. The kayak launching fee from Helford Passage was £2 which we thought was fair (and the more expensive ice cream was very nice too).
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Helford Passage
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| Helford Passage to Padagarrack Cove | 2017-07-09 | With Winguru and the Met Office differing in forecast speed by about two and a half times, we wanted to avoid the possibility of too much incoming tide against the westerly wind. So we had a short paddle from Helford passage down to Padagarrack Cove and then up past Port Navas.
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Helford
Helford Passage
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| Rosemullion Head and Mawnan | 2015-09-18 | Round Rosemullion Head and back via Mawnan Smith. Lovely walk but the plan was slightly spoilt as the midges on the Head put paid to the idea of reading there for a couple of hours.
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Helford
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| More creeks and kingfishers | 2015-09-20 | A paddle round the creeks of the Helford. More kingfishers today - in Frenchman's Creek. Lunch at Merthen Quay and then back via Polwheveral and Porthnavas creeks
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Helford
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| Helford and St Anthonys | 2022-09-07 | Mostly a "re-do" of a previous walk with some slight changes after reaching Manaccan.
Heavy rain for about 20 minutes.
Annoyingly, I ripped my bike jacket on some thorns. Bloody annoyed - a very good jacket that I'd had for over 20 years. Now held together with even more gaffa tape.
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Helford
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| Helford Paddling | 2021-07-02 | A change to normal by putting the kayak in the water on the south side of the Helford Estuary (at Helford itself).
Explored Frenchman's Creek and then up[ almost as far at Bishop's Quay (but ran out of water at neaps).
Lunch at Tremayne Quay.
Scooby really not keen on enhancing his swimming skills.
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Helford
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| Helford Creeks | 2019-07-13 | An early summer long weekend paddling on the Fal and the Helford.
With the winds being from the north, we chose the Helford for the Saturday.
Back to Frenchman's Creek but with a rising tide we were able to get right to the end of it.
Lunch and some Scooby ball action at Tremayne Quay (and helping an old wooden sailing boat moor alongside) and then in to the strangely named Vallum Tremayne Creek for the first time.
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Helford
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| Up and down the Exe Estuary | 2012-04-01 | Down towards Starcross a couple of times and up to the Turf on a gloriously sunny April afternoon. Lovely F3 to F4 wind. An average speed of 4.5 knots in a 30 year old Wayfarer is none too shoddy
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Exe Estuary
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| Sail with Liz and Julian | 2012-04-14 | No wind but some thunderstorms. Not the ideal sail on the estuary for Lizs brother.
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Exe Estuary
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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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Exe Estuary
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| Darts Farm and back | 2017-01-07 | Off to Darts Fram to hire a tandem for Liz's birthday next week. Liz bought a leek!
Average speed distorted by the time spent shuffling round Darts Farm while Liz looked for other stuff to buy.
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Exe Estuary
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| Another twenty miler | 2016-11-20 | Well almost a twenty miler. The 2 inch rain fall in Exeter meant that the last part of the cycle path ride was under water.
Hard work cycling in to the head wind that was the remnants of Storm Angus. Disappointing that the winds dropped away for the homeward leg - as shown by the drifting boats when stopping briefly at SYC.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Exe estuary drift | 2012-06-17 | Downstream against the incoming tide. Over on the Lympstone side for a change as there was some water. Got about as far as the Duck Pond before the tide started to change.
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Exe Estuary
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| A perfect summers sail | 2012-07-22 | With the first spell of decent weather this summer the dinghy cruise down to the Beach Cafe and back had an excellent F3 southerly sea breeze and lots of sunshine. Marvellous.
All the best photos courtesy of Lizs brother Julian.
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Exe Estuary
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| A sunny Monday evening sail | 2012-07-23 | A great Monday evening sail. The tail end of a F3 sea breeze and a strong incoming Spring tide. The average speed over the ground may not win any prizes but a cracking sail down past the floating cafe and through the moorings
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Exe Estuary
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| Exeter and back | 2017-06-12 | Quite hard work as I hadn't been on the bike for the last three weeks and there was a bit of a head wind on the way out.
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Exe Estuary
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| Exeter and back | 2017-01-05 | Quite fast on the way out but a bit of a head wind on the way back slowed things down a bit overall.
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Exe Estuary
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| Exeter and back | 2016-11-19 | Another 20 mile ride into Exeter and back.
First ever average of 13 mph on a twenty mile ride.
Storm Angus had left the flood prevention overflows in full spate in Exeter.
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Exe Estuary
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| Down river dinghy cruise | 2012-09-15 | Down to the beach cafe and back. Very light winds most of the time but the sun was shining.
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Exe Estuary
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| Autumn estuary sail | 2012-10-06 | An end of summer sail down to the beach cafe and back. Fairly light and variable winds. Six SYC boats.
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Exe Estuary
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| More rowing than sailing | 2012-10-20 | The last SYC dinghy cruise of the year. Varied between next to no wind and no wind at all. Rowed about two thirds of the way. Lovely morning to be on the estuary though.
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Exe estuary
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| Work cycle ride | 2017-05-23 | Into work and back. Not much wind which made it a bit easier.
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Exe Estuary
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| New Years Eve bike ride | 2016-12-31 | Exeter and back
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Exe Estuary
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| Another 26 miles | 2016-11-06 | Round to Lympstone and back again. Another windy ride.
Stopped at SYC for the AGM.
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Exe Estuary
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| Car buying bike ride - part 1 | 2013-04-21 | Bike ride into town to look for a new old car given that our Citroen has just dies with only 77k on the clock.
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Exe Estuary
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| Up river to the Turf | 2013-04-28 | Only the 2nd dinghy sail of the year. Up river as far as the Turf in a nice gentle breeze
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Exe Estuary
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| Gusty estuary sailing | 2013-05-04 | A sail in the Wayfarer with Derek H. The wind was very gusty and very shifty. Made for an interesting sail even though we only went back and forth across the estuary
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Exe Estuary
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| Orcombe Point Paddling | 2023-10-26 | Around a low tide and out to (pretty much) Orcombe Point.
Lovely late October day with little wind and a fairly big tide.
The recent easterly storm has made quite dramatic changes to Bull Hill Bank.
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Exe Estuary
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| Pole Sands Paddling | 2019-06-22 | Out to the Pole Sands in the canoe with Scooby.
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Exe Estuary
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| Work cycle ride | 2017-05-12 | Into and Exeter and back to work.
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Exe Estuary
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| Last hurrah of the summer? | 2021-10-10 | Lovely morning on the estuary on Nigel H's Dart 18. The wind filled in a bit - nay just have guested F4 occasionally.
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Exe Estuary
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| Liz and Jill go large | 2013-06-14 | Too much talking too much wind and too much carrot cake to make for a respectable average speed but not bad on the distance front. Next week the girls will be cycling to Exmouth and back apparently.
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Exe Estuary
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| Exe estuary dinghy sail | 2013-06-29 | A nice sail on the Exe in maybe a F3 to F4 on the day of the Hurricane and Dart opens. Imploded trailer tyre cut short the time available for sailing a little bit,
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Exe Estuary
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| Liz, Jill and Ben stroke Agas | 2013-07-05 | Liz, Jill and Ben cycle to Darts Farm and lust after the Aga cookers. Jills son probably not so impressed. Back via Topsham.
Average speed severely affected by taking GPS with them when Aga stroking.
Rather unbelievable max speed generated when Liz heads towards the till mistakenly believing she can actually aford an Aga.
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Exe Estuary
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| Round the Pole Sands | 2023-08-22 | Lovely days paddling. Down and then out along Dawlish Warren a bit. Then around the Pole Sands and the back up with the incoming tide.
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Exe Estuary
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| Safety boat at SYC | 2017-06-24 | Safety boat for SYC dinghy cruise. Nearly an out to sea cruise but it was a little lumpy just out towards the fairway buoy.
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Exe Estuary
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| Return to the Exe | 2020-05-15 | First time back on the Exe Estuary after many, many months.
First trip out on our new inflatable kayak - a Sea Eagle 465 FastTrack.
Overall - very pleased with it.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Lympstone and back | 2017-02-19 | Round to Lympstone and back with Liz
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Post work paddle | 2013-07-17 | A paddle down the Exe Estuary and along the Pole Sands with Nigel after work. A lovely sunny evening in the middle of the heat wave. Photos by Liz from a distance!
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Exe Estuary
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| Sunday evening sail | 2013-07-21 | That rare occurrence - plenty of water, plenty of wind and plenty of sun. A lovely evening sail on the Exe Estuary.
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Exe Estuary
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| Bike ride to Exmouth and back | 2013-08-11 | Bike ride round the Exe Estuary from Cockwood to Exmouth and back.
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Exe Estuary
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| Beach cafe sail | 2023-08-16 | In Malcolm B's Vision down to the Beach Cafe for a choccie ice cream. Saw Colin and Avril Y in their inflatable kayak.
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Exe Estuary
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| Lympstone and back | 2017-10-15 | Round to Lympstone and back again. Choccie bar near Lympstone Sailing Club, said 'hello' to Graham A at Topsham Sailing Club (who was putting Celtic Breeze to bed for the winter) and then round to Starcross Sailing Club for a coffee and a look at the Topper Open Meeting. A bit slow as Liz had some aches and pains and the wind was starting to get up.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Beach cafe paddle | 2024-06-23 | A paddle down from SYC to the beach cafe with Marija and Jeremy L.
Very pleasant paddle around the low tide.
Strangely, a very foggy day for some of it.
Passed Nigel H's "office" on the way back and then Nellynui once last time (before she heads off to her new home).
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Exmouth and back | 2017-07-30 | Round to Exmouth and back. Stopped at the Turf Locks for a pint on the way back. And then another pint when Gerry H appeared. Quite a strong wind but mostly on the side until it moved to being dead on the nose after leaving the pub!
The birds in the photos were by the Turf Locks. I thought they only "grouped up" like this just before they headed south for the winter and it's too early for that...
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Exe Estuary
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| Paddle round Pole Sands | 2013-10-06 | A paddle from Cockwood, out of the estuary and round the Pole Sands. There were even some little waves at times.
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Exe Estuary
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| Start of holiday Scooby walk | 2014-01-11 | Scoobys first walk of our winter holiay
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Exe Estuary
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| Cycle ride and SYC | 2014-01-26 | A basic cycle ride to the A379 and back again with a stop at the sailing club to watch the death and destruction. Some very big gusts of wind going through led to a few capsizes.
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Exe Estuary
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| SYC safety boat | 2024-01-28 | Crewing on an SYC safety boat
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Exe Estuary
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| Work cycle ride | 2017-09-28 | Windy and slow on the way back
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Exe Estuary
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| Exeter and back | 2017-04-24 | A fairly gentle ride into Exeter and back. Had the Marin loaded up with a pannier and computer bag as though I was going to cycle into work. After a bit of adjustment it all seemed to work ok.
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Exe Estuary
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| Morning dog walk | 2021-08-10 | Checking out new battery in Montana 600 GPS. Old one was about 7-8 years old and had probably done 500-600 recharges so can't complain too much.
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Exe Estuary
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| Beach cafe sail | 2024-06-20 | Sail down to the beach cafe in Malcolm B's RS Vision. No wind until we got some sea breeze. Then hot weather and a reasonable sea breeze. Sail aided by the new mainsail on the Vision.
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Exe Estuary
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| First beach cafe sail of the year. | 2014-05-03 | A lovely F3 south easterly for a sail down to the Exmouth Beach Cafe and back again
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Exe estuary
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| Sunny beach cafe safety boat duty | 2014-05-17 | A lovely sunny May sail down to the beach cafe and back. Light winds but just enough.
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Exe estuary
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| Push The Boat Out at SYC | 2014-05-26 | SYC's "Push The Boat Out" day to offer people a taster of dinghy sailing. A very successful day - about 70 people got to try sailing and the winds were an ideal F2 to F3.
Liz got to try helming a Topper on dry land!
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Down river paddle | 2023-05-24 | Down river but I was short of time. So that meant paddling back against the last hour of the outgoing tide. A sea breeze helped though. Lovely day - good exercise!
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Exe Estuary
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| Brixham to Exe | 2017-04-23 | A lovely day sail on Derek H's Fulmar.
First a quick trip with Liz on board round Berry Head. Mostly motor sailing and watching the wildlife.
Then, after dropping Liz off back in Brixham, a sail back up to SYC on the Exe. Light winds - but enough to sail most of the way. A chance to "play" with some of setup on Thalmia including the cruising chute and a think about how a preventer might be rigged.
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Exe Estuary
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| Exeter and back | 2016-12-18 | Foggy ride into Exeter and back
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Exe Estuary
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| Hundred miles this week | 2016-10-22 | The fifth 20 miler of the week. I'd expected this to be a gentle cycle ride with Liz but she was all gung ho! Way faster than I was expecting and I wasn't allowed my usual stopping places to have a breather.
This was the fifth day out in a row doing 20 miles meaning that the target of doing 100 miles in a week was reached with 2 days to spare.Day off tomorrow!
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Up river - twice | 2014-08-31 | A lovely sunny day. Wayfarer sail up river and then up river again. Winds got a bit light going up the Exe towards Topsham and the Clyst so just sailed round and round.
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Exe Estuary
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| Bart's Bash | 2014-09-21 | After ten year's sailing at Starcross Yacht Club we've completed our first ever dinghy race (we did start one about five year's ago but got bored half way through and sailed off up-river).
This race was in memory of Bart Simpson who died in America's Cup practice last year and to raise funds for his sailing academy.
Amazingly we weren't last - but pretty close. On the plus side, 68 boats in the water and we didn't hit one of them!
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Beach Cafe dinghy cruise | 2023-05-20 | A downriver dinghy cruise. All sorts of wind - from absolutely nothing in the 4 knot tide past the Warren with the Tudor Rose approaching to a good F4 for the 2nd half of the trip back.
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Exe Estuary
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| Work cycle ride | 2017-08-22 | Windy on the way back - hard work. The wind was against and small white horses were starting to develop on the estuary. Not a good combination for the ride home.
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Exe Estuary
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| Exeter and back | 2017-04-16 | Into Exeter and back. A fair old head wind on the way out but speedy on the way back. Not a bad average for me given that I'm still not fully over the lurgie I've had for the last couple of weeks.
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Exe Estuary
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| Exeter and back | 2016-12-17 | First ride in a fortnight - work and the weather put paid to the previous weekend.
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Exe Estuary
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| Up river sail | 2016-10-22 | First time out on the Wayfarer for quite some time.
The wind didn't manage the promised F3 / F4 and we ran out of wind trying to get past Topsham.
A seal popped its head out the water about 10 yards away from us and watched us sail by the Turf. Liz would have taken a photo but was too preoccupied trying to retrieve the Double Decker she'd dropped down the centre board casing.
Pleasant sail/drift in the autumn sun.
Tags:
Ese Estuary
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| First beach cafe sail of 2015 | 2015-04-19 | A down river sail from SYC to the Exmouth beach cafe.
Strange winds - a bit of everything. Off Cockwood the NE wind met a sea breeze and shifted 180 degrees! It did this on both the way down and the way back. Coming back to the Club the wind got a bit lively for the last 5 minutes of the sail.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| First SYC dinghy cruise of 2015 | 2015-04-25 | An upriver dinghy cruise to start the 2015 season of SYC organised dinghy cruises. Pleasant wind - maybe F3
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Exe Estuary
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| Pole Sands picnic | 2015-08-15 | Sail down from SYC to the Pole Sands. A bit of everything wind wise. From nothing to about a F4 and quite a lot of gusts in between, Put first reef in for the trip back which made things easier
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Round to Lympstone | 2017-08-20 | Round to Lympstone and back with Liz. The remnants of a lurgy for Liz and the headwinds on the way back contributed to the single figure average speed!
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Exe Estuary
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| Sunny Corner Quay and the Tresillian River | 2015-09-23 | From the small Sunny Corner Quay on the edge of Truro round to the Tresillian River on the Fal Estuary.
Not too far today as there was a keen wind to be paddled against on the way back down the Tresillian.
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Fal Estuary
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| October dinghy cruise | 2015-10-10 | An iffy weather forecast (F4 gusting F5 with occasional F6) didn't tie up with the conditions at the start time so we went out with one reef. In the end, it turned out to be a lovely sail.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Beach cafe dinghy cruise | 2015-10-17 | A mid October dinghy cruise to the beach cafe. Winds of mid F4 forecast but mostly a bit lower than that.
Broke the tiller extension universal joint which made sailing back a bit different to usual.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Up to buoy 45 | 2017-08-19 | Quite a "feisty" sail as the weather did pretty much what was forecast - which was F4 gusting F5. They were fairly big gusts on the way out. Ran aground near the Turf Locks - whoops - and mutinous crew made the captain get out and push us off.
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Exe Estuary
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| Exeter and back | 2016-12-05 | To the Mill On The Exe and back
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Exe Estuary
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| And another twenty miles | 2016-10-21 | To the Mill On The Exe and back again.
This one was very slightly easier than yesterday but that's probably because it was such a still day.
Average of 12mph!!! I don't think I've ever averaged that before.
Cheating slightly by stopping to read a chapter of a book at the Exe Quay (safe water mark) and at the Turf Locks - as it was such a nice day.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| SYC to Topsham SC | 2016-06-11 | A paddle up the Exe from SYC to Topsham Sailing Club and back. First paddle of the year - a poor do indeed!
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Exe Estuary
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| Squires Cup Safety Boat | 2016-06-12 | Safety boat for the Squires Cup racing for dinghies and cats on the Exe Estuary. Not a lot of wind so not much call for our services. Some rain at times.
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Exe Estuary
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| Up river dinghy cruise | 2016-07-02 | An up river dinghy cruise. The weather forecast was about right with its F4 gusting F5.
The "fleet" got spread out quite a bit and, as the weather wasn't great, we headed back to the club quite early.
The camera was on the wrong settings when the photos were taken so they've been over HDR'd to see if they can be made slightly interesting.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Messack Point | 2022-09-04 | For a change, we went north from St Just In Roseland round to Messack Point for lunch.
Very nice walk slightly spoiled by Scooby Hound trying to eat sheep shit and to play with electric cattle fences.
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Fal Estuary
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| Exeter and back | 2017-03-04 | A gentle wide into Exeter and back with Liz.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Commodore's Cruise | 2017-07-29 | The weather forecast was rubbish - no winds and heavy rain. Turned out to be a nice wind and only occasional rain.
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Exe Estuary
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| Jim Vallis Cruise | 2016-08-06 | The first Jim Vallis Memorial Cruise. A dinghy cruise in memory of our friend Jim Vallis who started up the organised dinghy cruises at SYC. A lovely sunny day with the wind varying between nothing and about force 5 - but with no big gusts so very sailable. Joined at SYC by many from Jim's family and Sandra joined us on our Wayfarer for a sail.
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Exe Estuary
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| Free Sailing Safety Boat | 2016-08-13 | Doing safety boat for a Free Sailing at SYC on a lovely summer's afternoon. A pleasant F3 with the occasional gust made for almost ideal sailing conditions with just a few things to keep us slightly busy. A surprising overall distance as we spent the first 15 minutes at anchor (and expected to remain there for much of the afternoon!)
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| A tale of two ferries | 2016-08-14 | Up to buoy 45 at Topsham (off the Goat Walk) passing the Topsham to Turf ferry and then down to Starcross (to the Starcross to Exmouth ferry pier). Then round the floating cafe and back to SYC.
A gorgeous day's sailing. A strong F3 up near Topsham and one of those rare days that it was warm enough to sail without a spray top. Marvelous.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Down river dinghy cruise | 2022-08-13 | Safety boat duty on a down river dinghy cruise. Twenty one boats, a big spring tide and a few minor dramas.
And my first double scoop of ice cream in about 3 months. Lush.
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Exe Estuary
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| Lympstone and back | 2017-07-31 | Round to Lympstone and back (via the Turf Locks again).
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Exe Estuary
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