An Unexpected Adventure by Kay Yendole

Ben messaged me. 

‘Would you like to go on a sailing trip around the Cornish coast?’

I rang back immediately with a definite  ‘YES’. My only previous sailing experience had been on a reservoir so the thought of sailing the South Coast and the Atlantic was really exciting.

There were six of us on a Bavaria 46, my friend Jeanne and her husband Mike. Ben, the captain of our boat, and his girlfriend, Ruth, and myself with my beloved Colin. Apart from my basic knowledge, Mike had taken a day skippers course and was quite confident about sailing and taking the helm.  Colin like me had only been out in a small dinghy but was up for the challenge. Jeanne and Ruth had no idea at all but were quite excited about the new experience.

We set off from Falmouth, on a warm day, with a light breeze, the conditions were superb. We had a glass of bubbly and were all relaxed and had got as far as Penzance when Ben licked his finger and put it up to test the wind direction. “Perfect, he said,  ‘lets go to the Scilly Isles”

Surprised we all agreed putting our trust in our captain's obvious competence and experience with boats. He said he had done this trip dozens of times, it was only fifty nautical miles, about twelve hours sailing overnight and we would be crossing the Atlantic Shipping Lane. So out to the Atlantic we went, once away from calmer waters Ruth felt sick so went below and it wasn’t long before Jeanne joined her. Ben allocated us a watch each and said he was going to take a kip. Mike was happy steering and filled us in on certain procedures he had learned on his skipper’s course.

Colin and I took the night shift and Ben came up and briefed us on the course.  ‘Just follow the North star “ he said ‘and if you see a cargo ship on the horizon, get out the way, they can be on you in twelve minutes.’  Slightly alarmed but knowing Ben was just below we sailed the next four hours in darkness with just the moon and stars for guidance.  We did not know at the time that Ben had it on auto pilot anyway so we couldn’t go wrong.

We arrived as the sun was rising and Mike took over while I cooked breakfast and made good coffee. The girls were still rather groggy from their restless night but pleased to be able to see land again.

Suddenly there was a strong thump and we all lurched forward, the boat had hit a sandbank. Ben came up cursing and swearing at Mike for not watching the depth monitor, Mike argued with him that as the experienced sailor he should of warned him of what to expect.

Colin, as an engineer, suggested we lifted the keel to move us off the sandbank.

Danger averted. Colin was still concerned if the impact had damaged the keel so while Ben, Ruth,  Mike and Jeanne set off in the dinghy to look at  Tresco  island,  Colin went down to have a good look and lifted the floor boards to make sure it was secure.

He was still concerned as was Mike but Ben assured them everything was fine. We sailed on to St Agnes and dropped anchor to go ashore for a walk and pub lunch in The Turks head.

Back on board Jeanne realized she had left her handbag ashore and asked Ben to go and get it for her. He was not happy, and shouted and swore it was a waste of fuel in the dinghy and she should swim ashore and get it. Jeanne prone to hysterics started screaming she had had enough and wanted to go home, she didn’t trust him and was cross how easily he blamed Mike for the beaching.  The row subsided but Jeanne was determined to leave and Ben had to take them to St. Mary’s to get a Ferry as she refused to sail back with Ben.

Unfortunately trying to get the anchor up was proving difficult and we kept drifting close to another yacht owned by a Frenchman who shouted at us to keep our distance. It seemed to be stuck but we were able to call out to some divers near by who went down to look.  The anchor had got entwined with some cable and it took five of them to get it free. We paid them with beers and biscuits and set off to St Mary’s harbour.

Waving goodbye to Jeanne and Mike we asked the tearful Ruth if she wanted to go with them as she was so prone to sea sickness but she wanted to stay with Ben. We decided we needed to get back and Ben said we should go straight away before the wind got up.

Sailing back was exhilarating there was indeed a good breeze and we sailed very close-hauled to the wind all the way. Exhilarating and our work was cut out to keep the sail in the right position and we were leaning out a lot of the way.

Past the Atlantic shipping channel we could relax and motor into the harbour.

The next day we went for a swim in the calm warm waters  when Ruth shouted ‘sharks’!  They were basking sharks and harmless but Ruth was already a nervous wreck on this trip and was looking for dry land.  We went into Newlyn Harbour and everyone was waving at us.  ‘Nice welcome’ said Ben but it was not a welcome we were getting we found out later, but a warning, as Ben was steering close to the edge where the old harbour walls lay close to the surface. Another close shave avoided, we tied up and went for a good meal in town.

Before we set off the next day Ruth and I went to the harbour showers while Ben filled up the water on board and fuel for the homeward stretch.

Colin was down below cleaning the shower when Ben called down, ‘Alright below?’ Colin replied OK and Ben roped off and started moving out of the harbour when Ruth and I came out of the harbour showers we could see them moving out. Shouting and waving at them Ben realizes what he has done but carries on. He moored up just outside the harbour and came to fetch us in the dinghy. Yet another catastrophe avoided.

The last few days were problem free and we enjoyed a leisurely sail back to Falmouth exploring the Fal Estuary as we went.

When we arrived back at Falmouth there was an official looking man standing with Jeanne and Mike waiting for us, an employee of Cornish Cruisers come to check the boat over. No doubt Jeanne and Mike had explained about the hit with a sandbank.  He wasn’t too pleased with Ben especially when he checked the log book and there no mention of the incident.

Jeanne hugged me and said they had been so scared the keel would come off on our trip back and she would lose her best friend, needless to say they never went sailing again.

But I would certainly give it another go.