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Published: June 18th 2014
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I didn't mean to leave you all in suspense for quite so long after my last cliff hanger..
..When we awoke after our dreadful journey from Lundy to St Ives (Via an abortive attempt to go into Padstow) the boat wasn't where we had left it! The anchor had dragged overnight. Fortunately out to sea, rather than onto the rocks. In our exhausted state we had failed to notice!! Woke up to a text from the Pinders saying they could see us out of their hotel window!!! That's when we realised, we might not be quite where we had anchored!
Unfortunately the bright sunshine of morning also brought home the realisation of what had happened. About a foot of water in our food storage lockers, engine room, outside lockers. A bit clean up operation needed and also some analysis on what had gone wrong! Mike quickly realised that as we had been on a 20-25 degree starboard tack pretty much the whole way and with an incredibly rough sea state, water had been pouring over the cabin roof hatch. Unluckily the drain for the hatch is starboard side, we were leaning over to port, so the water had no
where else to go, but though the hatch drain straight into the saloon (Lounge) - in a violent waterfall. The bilge pump is centrally mounted, so wasn't getting any of the water out, instead it was sloshing under & above the bilges, covering everying in sticky sea water. WE HAD LEARN'T A HARD LESSON. Engine parts on order - We were stuck in St Ives with no engine until part arrives. On a positive note there are way worse places to be stranded!
The boys decided I was best removed from the boat to dry land, launderette & meditative alcohol! Seth & I jumped in the dinghy - land ahoy! Seths aims for the day were simple - pasty + pint + dry his shorts & some gaffer tape to fix his flip-flops. We had a most amusing hunt for the laundrette, followed by a not so amusing hunt for change to operate the washers. Only one thing for it - We headed to the pub for a pint while the washing was drying. Here we met some toothless locals, who decided that Seth was the son of the publican. They found this very amusing. Seth was confused.. After
spending 40 mins trying to repairs Seth' 'unbreakable' flip-flops, the landlord managed to find a pair of promotional 'Carlsberg' england flag design flip flops. Seth had started to fit in with the locals..
Next stop was the pasty shop - A total find! We decided to be nice & take Mike a pasty onboard. This was a mistake. The tide had gone out and we had to carry the dinghy 100ms fully ladened with the newly washed clothes/bedding. The pasties balanced dangerously on the top. The sea state was still pretty rough, waves crashed over the front of the dinghy, onto my absorbent broken foot boot! One particularly choppy moment and the pasties where overboard - quick save by me, but alas they had suffered the same fate as Disco Volantes food store - got very salty!!!! Back to the launderette for us - to dry more clothing!!! We ended up having to entirely strip down to towels in the laundrette. The nice owner took pity on me and let me change in his store cupboard - yes Seth & I had our very own Diet Coke moment, together in a laundrette in St Ives.. Met the Pinders for
some cider in town in the evening at a lovely sunset bar called Upper Deck.. Outboard died on way back, we were trapped on board for a whole 36hrs before we realised it had just run out of petrol!!! I hadn't showered since Sunday at this point as engine didn't start so no hot water.
Checks on the engine showed that we needed a part to arrive before we could go anywhere. Unfortunately for Seth we weren't going to make it to the Isles of Scilly on this trip. We needed to pick up a part in Falmouth, so we decided to drop him off for his sleeper train to London (Riviera sleeper) on the 9th. Mike managed to bodge a repair on the engine to get us there.
We filled out last few days in St Ives with pub crawls, cream teas, ice creams and fish & chips. On our last night in St Ives we went on a ghost walk of the old town, learning about rats with a taste for corpses and ship wreckers. St Ives was a gorgeous place, just wish we'd arrived in better circumstances. The harbour master was a darling and called
us everyday to check we were OK and get an update on our progress. He even offered to come in on a weekend to let me have a shower in the council blocks.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Yummy
Sometimes the simple things can make it all better.