By Tim Pearson, PCC Publicity Officer

If there’s one thing I’ve learnt about Bristol Channel tides it’s that trying to beat them at their own game is a fools errand. So, when you put together weather, available time and tide, you end up sailing at all sorts of strange times of the day and night! However, sailing at these times often provides sights that more than make up for it.

This year, my annual sojourn with friends Mark and Jo on their yacht Molia saw us set sail from Swansea early one morning bound for wherever we got to in the days I had available.

Our first leg was pretty much due south across the Bristol Channel and a northerly wind helped us on our way towards Ilfracombe before lining up on Hartland Point and it’s infamous tidal race – no great surprise when you consider the volume of water in Bideford Bay pouring out as the tide ebbs.

Off the North Devon coast we were joined by a pod of dolphins which is always a magical sight and the first time I’d seen any on ‘this side’ of the south west peninsula. Arriving into Padstow around 22h30, we gilled around off Stepper Point occasionally nudging Doom Bar to see if we had enough water, before heading up the River Camel and into Padstow Harbour at just after midnight.

Leaving Padstow at 03h40 we passed Trevose Head and settled in as the rest of the Cornish coast passed by. Passing Pendeen Lighthouse the tides became confused and continued until we cleared Cape Cornwall. More tidal fun and games as we rounded Lands End and then it was on past Mousehole to Newlyn before heading for a welcome pint and dinner in the Fisherman’s Arms pub.

After waiting for a front to pass through which gave us time for a walk to Mousehole, we set off across Mounts Bay. With St Michael’s Mount behind us a brisk wind provided a great sail as we ‘raced’ the other boats that left Newlyn with us. Rounding the Lizard the wind dropped but then filled in again as we enjoyed another great sail into Falmouth and up Carrick Roads. Mooring at Mylor just up the river from Falmouth is always special and made for this year’s journeys end for me.

By Stu Phipps, PCC Cruising Captain

After a fun bank holiday cruise in company up to the Severn bridges, it was time to move my boat, Segeta from Portishead to Portland.

Leaving Portishead, Martin and I had a brisk South Westerly on the nose and fairly lively conditions until we got to Ilfracombe later that evening. Overnight, the wind disappeared and we motor sailed. As the daylight returned we enjoyed sunshine all the way down the Cornish coast until Lands End which we reached in the late afternoon. Perhaps this was our reward to see the chimney’s at St Just in full sunshine after our ‘spicy’ start leaving the upper reaches of the Bristol Channel!

Rounding Lands End, we spotted fellow PCC members who had left Padstow earlier in the day and were heading just round the corner to Newlyn. Our course though was to continue to Portland and so we set about organising our overnight watch shifts. After a few hours without much breeze it soon filled in so we turned the engine off and sailed our course.

During Martin’s watch he thought he was seeing things on the AIS but in fact we were in the middle of a French yacht race with approximately 14 boats heading for us and the bobbing green and red navigation lights were headed in our direction. We were well clear of them but gave them a wave as we continued on our way.

The following morning and we were just off Dartmouth and the wind filled in on our stern quarter. This meant we could power across the significant distance of Lyme Bay and make the tidal gate around Portland Bill at 16h00. As we approached I thought we were close enough to the land for the inner route but as the tide was running fast we drifted into the edge of the race for 5 minutes. This was enough of a nudge to ensure that next time I’ll get even closer as we experienced 6 – 8 feet waves which were extremely confused!

After a successful rounding, we headed into the Boatfolk Portland Marina and were allocated a visitors berth for the evening. As ever, the staff at Portland, a sister facility to Portishead, were very helpful and came to meet us. We’d radioed them and explained we were sailing short handed and very tired having been going for 49 hours. Of more concern was the strong wind coming off Chisel Beach into the marina which made berth hunting much harder. All tied up we headed to Portland and found a local pub which although not serving food, allowed us to bring back a Chinese takeaway to enjoy with a well deserved pint. A good end to our trip!

By Stu Phipps, PCC Cruise Captain

With some decent weather finally in sight, our bank holiday cruise program could finally get underway.

We’d like to thank the 6 boats from Portishead Marina and PCC who joined the first cruise up to the Prince of Wales Bridge on June 1st. With the wind from the north, our outbound leg gave us some great upwind sailing practice and involved plenty of tacks as we headed up through the channel markers between the two Severn bridges.

We had hoped to anchor at the unappealingly named Slime Road for a short picnic but the dropping wind meant that most of us decided to use the remaining wind for a downwind cruise back to the marina while eating.

Everyone had a great day out and the club would like to welcome Allen and Jane as new members to PCC and look forward to seeing them out sailing with us again soon.

If you have a boat and would like to explore beyond the lock in the company of some PCC boats, let us know. We’ll put your name on the list and let you know next time we’re out.

If you’re planning your bank holiday or summer cruise, the club has news to share from the recent BCYA meeting attended by PCC. The updates concern Lydney and Watchet harbours.

Lydney Harbour

Members are advised that Lydney Harbour is now managed by the Environment Agency following a £2.1m regeneration scheme that completed in June 2023.

Including a new cafe, visitor centre and public toilets, updated information for visitors can be found here.

Watchet Marina

The club has received reports that the approach lights to Watchet harbour are non-operational and water depths continue to be sub-optimal due to silting.

Any member considering a passage to Watchet should contact the Marina Manager at Watchet Marina to check the latest information.

If members are aware of any other updates to popular locations that are visited across the Bristol Channel or further afield, please contact us so we can share the information with the rest of the membership. Equally, if anything above changes, please let us know!