The early Return

Oh dear, we never finished the story – rather overtaken by events.

 

So, last Tuesday, 21 June, we went to Salcombe as planned, early morning to get the favourable tide around Start Point. Unfortunately the lighter easterlies were too light and dead behind (which doesn’t suit Sirena IV), so it was motor-sailing. So often in our cruising life there is either too much wind or too little or the wrong direction. It’s quite a surprise when we can sail a leg, as did happen a couple of times earlier in this cruise.

 

It was pleasant when met by the harbour dory on entering Salcombe to say with confidence “yes, we’ve been before, we’d like to go on the pontoon in The Bag” and have the man tell us there should be space on the inside. Lesley put her gently alongside. Before long the dory came round for his £22. High tide was at 12:30, meaning slack water and L was keen for a swim. N was ambivalent, feeling a bit tired and achy (blaming it on the boat and early start) but decided he’d better make the effort. We went off the end of the pontoon, down the ladder covered with slippery seaweed. It was very refreshing, we didn’t go far for fear of passing boats, and got some looks from neighbouring boats as we climbed dripping back onto the pontoon. We couldn’t quite tell if the looks were admiring or pitying. N felt refreshed for a while but then felt a bit off again, and recalled a sore throat earlier in the day. At 17:00 N did an LFT which was strongly positive – this was a surprise, and rather bad news. Would he be worse tomorrow, possibly not even able to crew? Would L get it too? Being trapped on the pontoon at Salcombe is not a good prospect; would Sainsburys deliver?! A swift decision was made to run for home right then. We cast off at 18:00 into a dying wind that became no wind all evening. Luckily we had a fair tide all the way. The biggest difficulty was spotting pot buoys while looking straight into the setting sun. Beyond that it was sit and watch as the engine and the autohelm did the work. As is so often the case, we were soon the only boat in sight. N stood his watches (1 hour) and said he felt better for it. In our off watches we packed.

 

The sun set as we crossed the Sound and we were tied up at 21:50 – probably a record time from Salcombe. By 22:30 we had snugged the boat down in case we can’t come back for a few days, offloaded all our clothes and food and got back to the house. Home two days early, having missed our planned nights at Salcombe and the Yealm, but feeling we’d done the right thing. End of Cruise.

 

Postscript: it’s taken until the following Sunday to provide this final blog (with no pictures). N is still living in isolation within the house, still testing positive but with only mild symptoms so far. Remarkably, L is still testing negative, and is providing the room service in the same way that N did when L had Covid a few months ago. It could have been a lot worse in so many ways, so we feel lucky … although N is very cross with himself for catching Covid, and mystified as to where it happened. Our best guess is to blame a waiter – the only people who came close while we were unmasked.