Plymouth Sound

The first time i had heard of the Plymouth Sound i had imagined a
vibrant city home of jazz cafes by the waterfront, with a refined
atmosphere rich in culture and creativeness. Little did i know that this
place seems to share the same historical roots of australia, everyone
appears to be a descendant of a thief, murdere or rapist and if silk is
smooth Plymouth isnt. However, after a couple of days in Mayflower
marina, getting the boat ready for this trip, i started to feel guilty
about such harsh judgment of Plimoudians, nothing was stolen, i hadnt
been mugged nor threatened at gun point and in fact every one had
treated me with surprising welcoming friendliness, at first i though it
was a trick to gain my attention. The truth is that after the cold
fronted life of london even a mass murderer seems friendly so i left the
city this morning with a burning sense of unresolved, is plymouth such a
horrible place or if, say, you tore it down to ground zero and rebuilt
it like the waterfront in Barcelona you'd manage to think "i've seen
worse'? For thirty quid a night Mayflower marina must be one of the
worst in the country, the pontoons float at odd angles, semi-sunk, the
power cables lie in full sight, unless it's dead calm, you have to tie
your moring lines to old tires to absorbe the shocks of the boat
rocking. The personnel took particular note of my presence, an italian
on a boat called british beagle has got to be suspicious, they were so
worried i'd leave without paying that i thought they'd clamp my boat,
well... If, and only if, you think i'm being harsh then a little visit
to the only chandler will suffice to give you the red mist, overpriced
and understocked are just about the friendliest terms i can recall.
The truth is that plymouth is not and never was a turist place so i'm
not so sure why after being spoilt with cruising through the best
harbours on the south coast i'm surprised at my feelings, Jerry had
warned me with suble hints "you will never make it out of plymouth
alive!!! death awaits you!".

Anyhow, let's get back to the reason we're here as otherwise you'll
think i'm trying to write a new Bill Bryson guide to Plymouth. I set off
this morning at about 6 am, just after refuelling. The guy at the marina
asked me where i was off to, I said west for one week and then i'll come
back. He didnt even blink his eyes, he seemed to suggest that most
people just committ suicide down there so my plan was somehow
reasonable, a ray of hope. he just wished me luck.

Saturday I stocked the boat with provisions and installed the new AIS
transponder. I had the usual problems that come with these things, the
AIS came with the wrong connectors, the chandler didnt have them, the
techie guy wasnt gonna be back till wednesday. Well, in the end i
cannibalised a few pieces from the emergency VHF antenna and with a bit
of imagination i got everything to work, screwed back the control panel
just to find that the VHF radio was dead (it had power as it was
emitting a slight hissing cobra-like noise but without actually turning
on). I thought despair, waiting another day in plymouth just to get a
new radio was not a pleasant prospect... after much cursing i went for a
walk to calm down. When i came back it was working again and after a
little debate we agreed on a dont ask dont tell policy to the incident.

So everything is working. Well, almost, the email via sat phone isnt,
which is a pain in the neck as it'll mean i wont be able to send the
blogs but most crucially of all i wont be able to get new grib files and
weather info apart from through Navtex, which is way less specific.

The weather so far has not exactly been ostar weather... i'm running in
15 knots of easterlies heading for south of bishop rock, and i'm not
complaining, tomorrow there should be plenty of wind first from the
south then south west so even if i stray a little further south i'll
just have nice running or reaching conditions for at least the first two
days, which will mean good progress and less time spent in the channel
in the commercial traffic.

My waypoint is 50N 15W, some 450 miles from Plymouth, there is no bigger
plan for now, just getting there, according to how much it takes me i'll
decide whether to add a few miles with a detour on the way back. My
friend is not due to come and meet me in Plymouth till the 10th of
August so for the time being the plan is to go back to Falmouth around
the 8th, rest, then go pick up my friend.

50`65N
004`35W
11:48am

Marco
British Beagle