Barry Pickthall’s Cruising Blog: Plymouth to Milford Haven, via Newlyn

Week 3:  April 12 – 21. 2023.  Plymouth to Milford Haven, via Newlyn

Any hopes of leaving Plymouth after Easter were dashed by Storm Noa, a huge depression that swung in from the Atlantic to envelop much of the UK and Northern Europe for 3 days and nights.

Plymouth Yacht Haven is well protected from south westerly winds by Point Mount Batten on the opposite side of the river to the Barbican, and particularly by the giant Sunderland flying boat hangers from WWII that now house Plymouth Haven’s comprehensive boat repair facilities and act as a windbreak for boats in the marina.

Even so, the huge gusts – one was clocked at 76 mph – caught the masts and had all the yachts rocking and rolling in their berths. One of these blasts pulled out the top of SEA JAY’s roller furled genoa. Luckily, I was onboard and no sooner had I donned my jacket and clambered on deck, then two members of the Haven staff had run out of the office and down to my dock and alongside.  They had been monitoring the marina with binoculars from the office windows. The three of us could not dowse the flogging sail, but a quick call over the radio brought two more employees rushing down, and between us, we got the sail down and folded on deck without any damage sustained.  Brilliant service!

While storm-bound in Plymouth, I met up with two bearded Robinson Crusoe characters sheltering in the bar of the Bridge Restaurant; boatbuilder John Owles and Josh Dick, owner of the newly purchased classic Laurent Giles designed 28ft Peter Duck motorsailer HELVALUA built by Porter & Haylett in Wroxham.

After a few bevvies, I found that we were both heading for the Scottish Western isles.

After a few more, we decided to do so in company.  For me, this was perfect. My last hope of having a crew onboard to share this experience, had just fallen through after fellow photographer Phil Russell hurt his back, and I was now down to sail singlehanded until recruiting someone else.

I tried word of mouth in Plymouth, and then resorted to Facebook to seek a sailing companion. That generated a lot of replies… “Lovely yacht…Bon voyage…have a safe trip…wish I could” but no one with time to spare just now.

Engine problems continue

The weather finally cleared on Saturday 15^th April and SEA JAY and HELVALUA set out at 22:00 to take advantage of the outgoing tide for a 65-mile overnight sail to Newlyn, at the southern tip of Cornwall.

Before we left, Merv, the engineer from the Mount Batten BoatHouse had stripped down SEA JAY’s fuel system and given it a clean bill of health. Whatever had been causing the Vetus engine to suddenly ‘hunt’ for revs after several hours of running during previous stages, I was now confident this wasn’t down to fuel alone.

Light headwinds left no alternative but to switch on the engine again.   This time the ‘rev hunting’ ranging between 3,000 down to 800 tick-over and back resumed after 6 hours of running (about half tank) I stopped the engine, set the sails and tacked round the Lizard.  After an hour later, restarted the engine and it ran perfectly for a further 4 hours into Newlyn.

After refilling the tank, I  set out from Newlyn the following day, bound for Milford Haven, The winds were  again too light to sail and I had to motor for 23 hours which gave me some time to experiment.  the engine started hunting again after 5 ¾ hours, not badly at first, swinging between 3,000 and 1,500,  but after half an hour  it went back to between 2,800 down to 800 tick-over.

These are the experiments I tried

Opened the filler cap to in case a vacuum had built up in the tank should the breather pipe be blocked – no difference

Added 10 litres of fuel to the tank  – no difference

Filled the tank with a further 12 litres – no difference

Removed the engine covers in case it was overheating – no difference  (none of the Vetus warning lights have lit up)

Stopped the engine and lay hove-to for 1 hour.  Engine started fine and ran for a further 5 hours without problems all the way into Milford Haven

Having missed my ETA window of an early evening arrival, I ran the engine at 1,500rpm (4knots) to extend my ETA to 07:00 – first light.  No problems.

This has got me thinking:  This issue may not be linked to fuel flow alone. Could one of the injectors or possibly the engine governor be the problem?

Gravity feed between tank and engine fuel pump?  The level in the fuel tank when half full is approx the same, or just below the electronic fuel pump on the engine?

Has anyone any thoughts? The Vetus 11hp was fitted new in 2022, and before the start of this trip from Chichester, had only 25 hours running time. It is now ready for a 1st service, which I plan to do at the first opportunity.

Sailing solo

This wasn’t the plan at all!  This trip to the Western Isles has been in the planning stage for 2 years and 30 ‘old’ friends had suggested I should count them in for a leg or two. ‘Old’ seems to be the operative word. Keith, my greatest stalwart, who has been working with me on SEA JAY all this time expecting to join for the entire cruise, has sadly gone down with ‘Long Covid’. Get well soon old friend!

Others have had hip and knee replacements that have not gone according to plan; one got a bad back 24 hours before the voyage and others have reported all sorts of ailments or appendages that appear to be giving up.

During the solitude between Newlyn and Milford Haven, I began to question why my friends are becoming so old and infirm all of a sudden?

Is it because of modern day living – retiring early, then wearing themselves out walking on the Downs or the golf course, or is it the fear of going to the bother of working down the bucket list only to then spend our latter years in a nursing home and remembering nothing?

I don’t have the answer yet – and nor can I find my packets of Ibuprofen and Paracetamol. Amazing how much one can mislay within a small 27ft yacht!

In the absence of a fellow swashbuckler, I have ‘Basil’ the Raymarine ST2000 autopilot tugging away at the tiller, steering a better course to windward than I. For a start, Basil doesn’t snooze off after a few hours on the helm and suffers none of this arm ache. He steers to a compass course, not to the wind, but since the breeze has been so steady of late and he has 10-degree and 1-degree buttons I press to reassert a bee line to any waypoint, Basil is not taxing company at all.  Best of all, I don’t have to share Sheila’s generously soaked Christmas cake with him. Note to Sheila: the cake is now half eaten.  Time to bake another…please!

My other ‘best mate’ is proving to be my ICOM  IC-M94D hand-held VHF with built in AIS which not only bleeps a warning whenever other vessels (with AIS) are on a collision course, but navigation marks, and as I found en-route to Newlyn, lobster pot trots which appear to have the same technology – probably as an aid to find them rather than as a warning that one is about to wrap around your prop!

These two bits of kit have allowed me to sunbathe on deck and snooze the time away below (well, 30 minutes at a time) without a worry in the world. I arrive at a port after 24 hours at sea, refreshed, jolly and raring for the run ashore. By contrast, my two friends on HELVALUA, who have been taking opposite watches, arrive looking absolutely knackered, and don’t surface on deck again for 6 hours at least.

Sailing solo is not so bad after all!