Blue Mistress and I left Plymouth early on Saturday morning.
The wind was favourable but the tide was still ebbing at the Great Mew Stone . . .
. . . and would be against us until Bolt Head, where the tide would turn but the wind would begin to head us. Both wind and sea rose at Start Point and pushed us further out sea before we tacked back towards Dartmouth, arriving just over nine hours after leaving Plymouth.
Overnight in Kingswear, looking across to Dartmouth, then the following morning . . .
. . . with little wind, and joined by my son, we motor-sailed to Teignmouth, an amiable passage, arriving around 1400.
Monday morning, we have a swing mooring – and a fresh start.
(Images by Bill Whateley)
Beyond Steeple Point 
I am enjoying your blog. Blue Mistress looks like a FolkBoat? Is this correct?
…. or is she a Contessa 32?
She is a Folksong – a FolkBoat derivative – more beam, less draft, designed by Eric Berquist in the late seventies; built at Lymm, Cheshire, for the home completion market.
Hi Bill
Intrigued by an earlier image of Folksong on the hard and the ‘elaborate’ trestle support system. Grand Banks/Lovable @17,000lbs is supported by just four posts: 2 at the absolute stern and another 2 about 4 ft from the bow. Not that it really matters … both appear to work! Keep sailing!
Regards,
Martin W.
Hi Martin*
Yes, on the face of it, the chocks do seem a ‘belt and braces’ solution, especially when most boats can take the ground with just a pair of ‘legs’. I suspect every yard has a set-up they prefer. In this case, the props hold the boat very firmly and the battens anchor the props. This is a large boatyard with many yachts normally packed closely together. A few years ago, at a yard downriver, a storm blew a small yacht off its cradle. It knocked the next yacht over, which knocked the next yacht and so on – six or seven yachts – like dominoes. Messy – and expensive. I suspect Blue Mistress’ cradle was over-designed to please the insurance and the health and safety people. Whatever, it worked. The only problem is that when the props are removed, there are ‘windows’ in the anti-fouling, which need a hurried touch-up before the boat goes back in the water.
Bill
* from Victoria Island?