Round England/wales start July23rd

[High & Dry]

Nothing much to report - a day at Penzance and it looks the same for tomorrow. They both watched Stormbreaker at the cinema for a second time - perhaps they are trying to telling the weather something!

They didn't manage St Ives today but it looks on for tomorrow-by bus.

I won't bore you anymore - I'll report tomorrow only if there is any progress in the expedition. So lets keep our fingers crossed!

H & D

[AndrewH]

Katherine thanks for keeping us all posted. I suspect that there are a number of people watching this thread all of whom are just a touch green with envy. Wish Paul and Bryn the very best from those who are watching. We've all got our fingers crossed for slightly easier weather.

Andrew

[randski]

Thanks for the updates, watching this thread with great interest.

Hope the weather breaks soon, the trip from Penzance to Padstow covers some really spectacular coast. roycruse and myself did a trip on that part of the north coast a few months ago some pic's here.

http://www.rib.net/forum/showthread.php?t=14264

[Paul Beaurain]

Hi Everyone
I have found the internet cafe now in Penzance - so will ad a direct post myself.
Having had some very big seas with breaking waves off The Lizzard (SW 5-6) I am being causous about going around Lands End.
Yesterady we went had an abortive try -
Today it is still SW or W 5-6 (SEa sate Rough in the WEst of Plymouth REgion)

We have now seen StormBreaker twice and are using up valualble days sat in port! so will do the bus trip to St Ives today and more general tourist stuff.
Various issues are apparent - if we leave the lock at Penzance (2 hrs beforeHW) when the gates open we will only have 3.5 hours to get to Padstow and get locked in there. So I will take the boat out of the inner harboor tonight and leave it in the main harbour. That way we can make an early start and give us the extra margin for getting to Padstow - with out being under pressure. Tomorrow is foracst as NW 4 sea state moderate.

I'll sign off now - thanks again for all the interest, there is a new challange every day with this. I will keep in touch Alex Brown re MIlford Haven meet up. But first Lands End and Padstow.

Bryn is enjoying things but is now also wanting to get a move on - Thanks Kathryn and Pete (dropped trailer for brake service today) as easier with no boat on it.

Bye for now Paul

[Paul Beaurain]

Woh how we love our chartplotter.

It requires a factory reset every morning, and locks up if the zoom is magified to a usable level. It has lost its user memory (waypoints and routes) but I have the user card with me for reloading them.
After a factory reset the comms is set 'off' for the autoposition for the radio. so has to be reset. (bringing all the manuals has proved essential)

The £200 I spent on getting full backup chart coverage is now proving very usefull.

I will post a seperate thread when Navman have looked at it.

Hope it doesnt deteriate further - for the next few days.
PAul

[whitingiom]

If you liked the film, much of it was shot on location here in the IoM...

Chase at the beginning is on Port Erin beach and the Douglas Marine Drive, Ewan McGregor gets shot on one of our de-restricted roads, Mickey Rourke's (Darrius Sayle) 'plant' is in fact our incinerator (with some digital enhancements).

Alex being chased on the quad bike is also shot in the IoM (Jurby airfield), and several of the minor characters are known locally.

Hope you have a safe trip 'Round the End'

Jon

[High & Dry]

And they're off..........well 5.30 this morning paul & Bryn set off to round Lands End. Winds had dropped to North Westerly Force 4-5. The seas were quite confused - a mixture of Atlantic rollers (good for surfing down) and shorter waves whipped up by the wind and going in all sorts of directions - apparently!

They reached Padstow in 4.5 hours - 70 nmiles in total.
Moored up in Padstow, the Harbour Master kindly agreed to getting emergency Jerry cans filled up for them! (Nice man, a very nice man).
The Tourist information sorted out a Bed & Breakfast for them and before long both were on the beach. Bryn digging sandcastles or should I say a sand speed boat - lets hope it was a RIB bryn! Paul was catching 40 winks

The wind for tomorrow is expected to drop to a Force 3, so hopefully Milford Haven is on! Watch this space!

[High & Dry]

Overnight the high winds persisted, only calming down in the early morning. The lock in Padstow opened about 10am, but crew gave it two more hours in the hope the seas would die down further. All kitted up (full dry suits) they headed out about 12noon.

I received a call around 2.30pm, to say they were back in Padstow!!!! Seas were still heavy and hard going. After an 3/4 hour they found it pretty exhausting and came to the decision that a further 3 and a bit hours to Milford Haven was not sensible and turned back.

I will probably get another update this evening as to the plans for tomorrow, but unfortunately time is running out for the adventurers!!

H & D

[High & Dry]

Well folks, this was the last day of the whole adventure, and having spoken to the crew this morning the aim was to reach Milford Haven and finish there.

The phone was silent all day, so had no idea of progress or plans - no news is good news!

So here's the full report:

The day started overcast and they set out from Padstow at 11.30am and were making 20knots progress. The weather and sea conditions improved as the day progressed, so had wonderful sunshine for the majority of the journey.

They had been travelling an hour then Bryn assumed his usual postion in the bow of the boat and slept for 2 hours

The chartplotter is still not working properly, but managed on a couple of wypoints without hitting anything!!

They stopped for lunch - in the middle of nowhere, just south of Milford Haven. With the good progress made and a quick calculation as to how far the 80ltrs of fuel (that they had transferred from the jerry cans), would take them, they decided to press on,

They rounded Skomer Island, passed Bishop Lighthouse and managed to miss the rocks off St Davids Head. With enough fuel they upped to 30knots across Cardigan Bay where they were joined by a group of dolphins - to everyones delight.

It was a straight 67nmiles from St Davids to Pwllheli and arrived in drizzle -just found the harbour entrance about 7pm. Talk about making up for lost time!!!!

Paul & Bryn are now tucking into their last supper and hopefully celebrating the end to a fantasic journey - one I know they will both treasure.

Pete is calling in to collect the trailer later this evening and will drive through the night (missing holiday traffic we hope) and aim to recover Marikh and crew early morning.

So its about time for me to sign off. (No it can't be I haven't had chance to use every smilie yet!!!)
On a personal note, I would like to thank you all for following Paul & Bryns adventure. It has been a real pleasure keeping you all up-to-date and at least I feel I have been part of this journey even if I kept my feet on dry land.

I'm sure I will post the odd thread from time to time, so I doubt its farewell.

H & D

[vince]

Epic journey! Loved every post you and Paul sent. I would love to do the same journey, maybe one day eh! Did they manage to take pics? Post them when you get a chance. Congrats on a safe return!

[TQBoater]

Congratulations thanks for keeping us so informed with your posts

[jwalker]

Cool and well done to them. And thanks, High & Dry, for your pleasant reports.

[Ian Sharlot]

Congratulations on getting so far. A great sucsess . That is a trip that most of us would love to do, We look foward to meeting up with you some time and hearing all about the trip.

[randski]

Well done, great trip & updates

[loose canon]

just read this what a fantastic think to do well done shame about the chart plotter that could have been nastie

[phoenixpete]

Hi everyone.

Left Towcester around midnight Friday for Pwllheli with the sorted trailer,fantastic clear roads allthough TomTom did take me down some very narrow roads covered in sheep,managed to avoid hitting any though visibility was down to near zero at times due to fog.
Got to The Crown Hotel around 06.15, after a 3 hour stop for some shut eye,had a nice full english before we set off to the marina to drop Paul off while me and Bryn headed round to the other side to the slipway. Met Johno there who was waiting to see if we turned up and he immediately got roped in to helping get Marikh installed on the trailer (very nice man,very very nice man)( Thanks for your help mate)
Due to holiday traffic and roadworks arrived home mid afternoon ( a bit zonked out ,can't remember exactly) Got the Tvr home safe and sound,must have a bath and early night.
Took a couple of pic's.

[M Humphray]

Well done Paul and Bryn, a great achievement, look foreward to seeing you in the near future. All the best Martin and Stephanie

[Bern Hanreck]

Are you still thinking about doing the " other half "of trip next year ?
I reckon a few might join you . Regards Bern .

[Erin]

What a fantastic trip and also a great write-up of the event.

I'd love to hear a bit more about the boat set-up and all the gear you took and the problems you had. What was the outcome of the engine problem and the chart plotter?. How much fuel did you use or perhaps more to the point what sort of mpg did you manage with a 115. How did the humber ride in the F5-6 seas. So many questions

Keith

[Paul Beaurain]

Hi Everyone

Well we are safely back, Bryn and I had a fantastic trip. one to be remembered. Thanks in Particular to PhoenixPete and High&Dry (My Wife) for all their land based support. In most ports (Padstow) in particular, our welcome was wonderfull, especially when they learnt where we had come from!

We had hoped to get to northern Cumbria thus completeing around England and Wales. Time ran out at Pwllhelli. One more day of good weather would have completed the last leg of 140Nm. Whos to say we cant do this bit as a local trip before the year end...
The mileage we did was 955.5Nm (we achieved 87% of journey)

I have now gone through all the notes/dailey notes and log entries. and here is summary of milage, hours fuel used etc.
Mileage 955.5, Engine hours run 52.6, fuel used was 1081 litres.
This gives an average speed of 18knots (including slow speed work)
Best value fuel was Hull Marina (British Water Ways) @94p/L
Worst value Suffolk Yacht Haven (Levington) @1.40L

Fuel consumption worked out at 1.13L per Nm
Each day when we started we carried 253litres, ie heavy boat. The calibration of the fuel flow meter was spot on. When adding fuel at the end of each day we were within 2% of indicated fuel usage.

I have many images and will see if I can reduce them down and put some for each leg in the 'gallary' section, with a title/location on each.

Chartplotter update - The chartplotter fault destroyed the Cmap cartridge 'Western English Channel'. This chip, upon my return also fails to work on my PC. All other charts now work satisfactoriry in the plotter. In some ways yes it was inconvienent to have lost use of it, but it does take you back to basics in respect of Navigation. We could,on occasions, have taken coures closer inland had we had better charting data, but the safer further out course was preferred.

Jobs required to the boat
minor control cable adjustment to ensure the neutral inhibitor switch operates correctly. Oil changes for engine and service.
Thats it -

Thanks again for all your interest and encouragement.
I will ask Bryn to add a post. He wrote a diary each day (into a progressively wet book!) and will say something about the trip, which for an 11 year old, was quite some adventure.

Those of you who have posted but we have not met - we look forward to meeting at some future time.
Paul Beaurain & Bryn