An event preview has been written by Paul Scullion from Restronguet Sailing Club:

We sail in the waters of the Carrick Roads and in Falmouth Bay. Falmouth is one of the deepest natural harbours in the world (30m+ in the channel); the waterway itself is approximately 1 mile across at its narrowest point so there’s a lot of water available! We use 3 main race areas:

  • Bay – proper sea sailing… swell, clear winds and little tidal influence.
  • Estuary – glorious location but conditions are very dependent on the wind direction! If it’s from the South expect constant winds, swell and plenty of tide to think about. From the North expect oscillations, a flatter sea state and still lots of tide. There’s convergence, wind sheer, tidal wind bend: you name it, we’ve got it.
  • Basin – home to our normal club racing. This is more like a lake: clear winds from the North or South, shifty from the East and West and choppy depending on the tide. There’s less tidal influence than the estuary.

We will probably, and again depending on conditions, be using a trapezoid course. The current plan is to have an inner loop for race 1, an outer loop for race 2 and a windward-leeward for race 3. The advantage of this is that we get 3 different races with each being successively shorter… nice for tiring legs. Full details of the racing will be available in the SIs.

Water and some food will be available between races. See the food section below!

Club

Restronguet is one of the premier sailing clubs in the country and is home to countless pastchampions, not least of which Ben Ainslie who learned his trade with us.

We have plenty of boat parking, wash down facilities, good sized changing rooms, hot showers, a decent bar, training area and excellent catering (thanks to the lovely Lisa). I’m not sure what more you could want.

Boats

Our D-Zero sailors are a pretty keen bunch so unfortunately there will not be many charter boats available unless you can persuade Rodney to provide any! One or two of our guys are not around, though, so you might be lucky… that said, I hear there are some big names who are keen to join in. I
think one is reserved already.

Logistics – travel, accommodation, food

Travel

Here’s the downside: I’m not going to try and persuade anyone that it’s a short trip down to paradise. The sailing club postcode is TR11 5UF – it’ll get you there.

Brief directions are:
• From Exeter you take the A30 all the way down to the Carland Cross Roundabout.
• Take the A39 signposted to Truro.
• Drive through Truro and follow the A39 to Falmouth.
• You’ll go straight across two roundabouts with a Shell garage on the left between them, a roundabout with a Premier Inn hidden away on the right and then head down a long hill to another roundabout next to a river. Once you’ve passed this look out for the Norway Inn pub on
the right hand side.
• Take the second left after the Norway, signposted to Mylor Yacht Harbour.
• Follow the road into Mylor Bridge. Turn left at the end, right in the village and then left at the little roundabout by the park.
• Drive all the way up the hill, turn left at the top and then follow the road back down again to Mylor harbour.
• Once you’re at the harbour drive along the seafront past Castaway restaurant, along in front of the houses and then veer right towards Windsport. We’ll be waiting there to welcome you.

Alternatively, if you can sort out getting your boat down here you can fly to Newquay and pick up a cheap hire car… super easy!

Accommodation

There’s plenty of accommodation available in and around Mylor. Falmouth isn’t too far away (10 minutes) if you feel like something different.
Camping is available at Windsport but only for a minimum of 10 pitches. If you’re interested please let me know, I’ll collect numbers and speak with Brian.

Mylor yacht harbour has some lovely holiday cottages that are very convenient for the club:

https://www.mylor.com/holidays/home/

Food

The galley will be open at the club on Saturday afternoon and Sunday. Dinner will be at the club on Saturday evening subject to numbers. I’ll circulate details separately on this. Outside galley opening hours, there is a restaurant and a truly excellent café in the yacht harbour:

https://cafemylor.com/

We will be providing pasties, water and maybe even a beer on the water on Saturday direct from Patrick’s Perfect Pasties in St Mawes and with a little help from our friends at St Austell Brewery.

Support crews

Clearly some of you will be bringing a support team with you. Dependent on weather (and we’ll make this clear when you arrive on Saturday) the best place to watch on that day will be at Pendennis Castle in Falmouth. The advantage of this is that there’s an ice cream van in the car park
and some truly astounding views.

Alternatively, a trip across the river on the King Harry Ferry will get them over to St Mawes, a beautiful one-time fishing village and now home of the wealthy, where St Mawes Castle will also afford a good viewpoint.

Sunday’s racing will be watchable from the club.

If you’re being accompanied by children or significant others who think sailing is a total waste of time there’s plenty to do… we’ll be happy to advise you.

We’re looking forward to seeing you!