Royal Cork to St Mary (Isles of Scilly)

We needed to be in the Isles of Scilly for Saturday evening to meet Selma, Jack and Ella. The passage was about 135 miles so an early start was necessary if Selma and the kids weren't going to sleep on the bus station floor .. which would have been tricky because there's no buses on the Isles of Scilly or bus stations .. anyway, the point is we had to crack on. Departure from the Royal Cork was not my greatest triumph. Rob and I both managed to mess up departure by underestimating the tide; my attempt was most impressive because I managed to clonk the back stay on a passing anchor sticking out from the bow of an adjacent boat and bend the navigation station pod. Hey ho, it just goes to show that plenty of miles under the keel does not protect you from being a numpty. We were all a little down in the dumps after our less than seamanlike departure from Crosshaven but then as if they knew we needed a boost a pod of dolphins swam up and started jumping around the boat and playing in front of the bow. Absolutely lovely so I've blogged it with a dedicated post. The sail itself was a beauty. Warm, broad reach, moderate breeze, couldn't be better. Tom stood  a watch which  unlike a couple of days before was more typical lacking electric storms, mad fisherman and headwinds. The whole 135 mile passage took only 24 hours. Top stuff. We arrived in the Isles of Scilly an hour after Selma and the kids, not bad after travelling so far.  To help those of you outside the UK here's a little chartlet:

Passages over the last week

     

Dolphins play alongside Brim            

A lovely sun set, although I always find this bit of the   night sail the worst .. just after supper as it starts getting a  bit cooler and the long nights ahead of you .. probably a hang-over from single handed sailing            

The Isles of Scilly are pretty flat but very rocky. In fair weather they are  fine but I think you would wet your pants approaching in a gale