It was Steve and Barbara Harvey who suggested that we base this year’s West Country cruise at Loe Beach, near Foeck. This sheltered spot proved a perfect location for a weekend, dominated by northerly and north westerly winds.

Amongst its attractions is a very cosy beach café, easy launching and recovery and adequate, if rather puddly, hard standing for the dinghies. The small dinghy and yacht park is watched over by custodian yachties, who sleep aboard their boats in the park..

Whitsun Bank Holiday weekends in the Westcountry are sometimes wet. Well this one was very wet and extremely windy! All credit therefore to the 26 stalwart Wanderer sailors, not forgetting our ‘annual Drascombe participants’ – Janet and Anthony Byrde, who assembled on the beach on Saturday 26th May to discuss the day’s briefing.

We welcomed Niall and Sue Docherty, Melanie Summers and her fiancé, Andy, and Jeremy Kelly who were all participating in this cruise for the first time. The early morning forecast had been rather ominous, with increasing wind speeds as the day progressed A consensus was reached that we should sail up the Carrick Roads and into Flushing, where conditions could be reviewed and if necessary another sounding taken from the coastguard. Dinghies were launched and the dead- run up the channel was very pleasant, passing Mylor Yacht Harbour on the West bank and St Just Creek opposite. Thirty minutes later we reached around Trefusis Point and up towards the Town Quay. The leading boats of the 12 Wanderers determined the exact location for our lunch stop, on a sandy beach under the lee of the headland. The sun managed to drag itself from behind the dominant cloud cover for an hour whilst we relaxed with our sandwich boxes before considering our next move. There had been some suggestion that we should venture around Pendennis Point and make landfall on Swanpool Beach but the forecasters had cautioned against the worsening conditions and in the end there was little debate about our next destination.

The Rising Sun Hotel in the centre of St Mawes had been the most obliging during extensive negotiations to find a tearoom experience to match that of the Mt Edgecumbe’s Orangery on the Tamar, which in previous years had delivered the tea stop with the highest cholesterol rating in the South West. I had described this experience in great detail to many bemused Polish waitresses in the weeks leading up to the cruise. Only one had promised a matching performance. Robin Gabbitas decided that tea, so soon after lunch, was not in good taste and he abandoned us to return with Gill to Loe Beach. The remainder of the fleet made a beeline across the mouth of the estuary, passing under the round keep of St Mawes castle on the headland, built by Henry VIII, and into the Percuil River. Several helms including Tim Robertson and Mike Hamilton enjoyed a brief sortie around Polvarth Point, whilst the remainder headed straight towards the wide beach to the east of the Quay where land fall was made at the top of the tide. From there it was a short walk to the Rising Sun. Here indeed was a cream tea of global proportions, including toasted tea cakes, served in our own designated lounge, all for a knock down price of a fiver a head! Notwithstanding this gastronomic experience, the highlight of our day was still to come. A steady 10 – 12 knot wind which had veered around to the North West gave us a beat all the way up the Carrick Roads with a couple of tacks to take us across to Loe Beach. It was the one occasion during the weekend that we could watch eleven Wanderers in this open water making measured progress with helms sitting out and enjoying a perfect sail. This is the stuff of cruises.

Everyone convened at the Pandora Inn for the evening meal. Our hosts John and Hannah Calland had allocated their first floor restaurant to the Wanderer crews and their guests, overlooking Restronguet Creek. Whilst the food was on the pricey side – it was a very enjoyable end to the day. However, to ensure both our minds, as well as our bodies, were exercised, a quiz was held which challenged even the most athletic minds. Geoff and Marion Hall with Philip and Jill Meadowcroft were the overall winners, although Philip’s bribery of Hannah Calland to secure the correct answer to a vexing theological question, carried a deserved black mark. (Hannah’s Bible had to be extricated from her private flat, unbeknown to the remainder of the room, to elicit the correct answer!).

Sunday, as predicted, was very wet and windy. Four boats motored up river to a hostelry in Malpas whilst the rest of the fleet dispersed to local landlocked attractions including the Maritime Museum and Trelissick Gardens. The river trip was in a strange way, quite an adventure. Tim Robertson, with Niamh and Max aboard set the pace, and there was enough moored and anchored boats along the way to keep us amused, including the Windsor Castle. Moored above the King Harry Ferry, her namesake had carried Jill ‘Proctor’ out to South Africa in 1971 where we first met – so a nostalgic moment as Jill recalled some of the officers whose company she had enjoyed on board!!

Sunday evening saw us gathered once again, this time at the Chain Locker pub in Falmouth. Mike Rangecroft had kindly agreed to come and talk to us about the maritime activity in Falmouth. So after a very wholesome supper, we enjoyed a round-up of his experiences over thirty six years as a local resident sailor and an exponent of the G class sloops in Falmouth.

Monday morning brought with it bright sunshine but alas a strong wing which turned the Carrick Roads into white horses – clearly not a good day for exploring far afield. Some of the fleet went out for a brisk sail up to Restronguet but there were few takers for extending the sortie and we returned to the beach and café for lunch.

There ended a less than perfect sailing weekend, but my thanks to all who made the trip and ensured there was good company in the true Wanderer tradition off the water, as well as on it.

Anthony & Janet Byrde (Drascombe), Niall & Sue Doherty (W1447), Graham and Wendy Davis(W1527), Geoff & Marion Hall (W98), Philip and Jill Meadowcroft (W1024), Robin Gabbitas and Gill (W973), Tim Robertson, Nianh & Max(W1038), Vicky King (W1038), Mike and Alyson Hamilton (W992), Steve and Barbara Harvey (W571), Derek & Jane Summers with Melanie and Andy(W197), Jeremy Kelly (W127) with Andy Peter, David & Jill Davies (W318)

David Davies W318