Photos: (1) One of the many Dolphins playing beside Svalen in the Western Approaches (2) Peter having his last cuppa on board before leaving for home from Falmouth.
As planned, we set sail from Dublin on Wednesday 8th August at 0840, and arrived in Falmouth at 0715 on Friday 10th August. The sail was a memorable one for two main reasons – first, the fact that for once we were able to sail without engine for practically all of it, and that on a single tack until shortly after Lizard Point when we turned northward towards Falmouth harbour. Second, because of the enormous number of Dolphins who joined us in the Western Approaches between breakfast and lunch on Thursday 9th August, playing in their usual joyful manner around the bow wave as we made brisk progress in strengthening west winds. Less notably, it was also quite tiring with only two of us to manage the boat, cook, check forecast information, and keep track of progress. In the end, we had to slow the boat down by reefing sails severely after land End. We did not want to arrive in Falmouth before daylight came and the sometimes heavy shows and gusts had stopped.
At any rate, we were tied up by 0745 at the muddy end of the Falmouth Marina, which fortunately had a space available for us. Again, both being pretty exhausted by this time, we went straight to our bunks for a few hours before having a good big brunch. Peter in particular had suffered some feelings of nausea in the sometimes heavy jumbled seas we came through since leaving the protection of the Irish coast, and did not eat a great deal en route. But we mostly had great sailing, and arrived safely in this strong boat, well-named Svalen (Swallow) because she goes through the waves so easily and flies with the wind.
Sailing with Svalen 