On Saturday, the wind was still heading me, although a direct tack out to sea allowed a long tack back into, and west along, the coast. An approaching front appeared as forecast as the long tack took me into Beer Roads.
(Click on image for short slideshow)
Beer in sight over the post bow. The approaching front – high cloud, then middle layer cloud followed directly by low cloud.
The constricted entrance to Axemouth harbour
The beach at Beer
In ‘Sailing for a Living’ by Basdil Greenhill, Percival Marshall, 1962, theres is a photograph of a three-masted Beer lugger – (“Beatrice Annie”), which would have been launched from this beach.
Beyond the white cliffs around Beer lies Branscombe and the familiar red cliffs of Devon.
I tacked close to the beach and headed out to sea again. The next tack would have taken Blue Mistress all the way to Teignmouth had the wind not veered when we were off Straight Point, between Exmouth and Budleigh Salterton. I lost interest in photography at this stage and concentrated on the beat along the final 10 miles.
. . . end
Images by Bill Whateley
. . . 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.
Beyond Steeple Point 