![Picking up fore and aft moorings](https://cdn.magzter.com/1387283225/1718868246/articles/XOgxFzDfe1718877103072/PICKING-UP-FORE-AND-AFT-MOORINGS.jpg)
Fancy going to Polperro next weekend?’ I asked my partner Chris on New Year’s Day. ‘We’ve finally got some high pressure coming in.’ I needed to visit Polperro as part of my research for the next edition of the Shell Channel Pilot, but the autumnal Atlantic batterings had been relentless.
‘Sure,’ he replied, ‘I need to try out my new winter sailing outfit.’ Having been instructed to visit the chandlery for his first set of foulies, Chris had, instead, been to the eclectic army surplus store in Plymouth, Bogey Knights, and returned with a two-piece flotation suit made from 3mm neoprene.
‘It only cost £70,’ he declared proudly. It wasn’t quite what I’d envisaged.
On a small-scale chart Polperro barely registers, it’s just a wrinkle in the coastline. The tiny fishing harbour lies at the mouth of the River Pol, its houses clinging limpet-like to the steep-sided valley. Many of the streets are too narrow for cars – tourists are obliged to park out of town and approach on foot. Arriving by boat isn’t much easier: it’s an unwelcoming rocky coastline which is totally exposed to onshore weather.
The inhospitable geography made it an excellent base for smuggling in the 18th and 19th centuries. Frustrated customs officers were forever pursuing casks of gin and crates of tea as they disappeared into the folds of the coast. Smuggling was so rife that the local schoolteacher, fed up with trying to teach maths to a bunch of reprobate sailors, started a bank to launder the villagers’ spoils instead. These days, visitors arriving by boat receive a much warmer welcome than the revenue officers once had, but the harbour is still a daunting place to enter. The imposing slab of Peak Rock, with its underwater extension, The Ranneys, guards the western side of the entrance, and there are rocky outcrops on the eastern side as well.
Denne historien er fra Summer 2024-utgaven av Yachting Monthly UK.
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Denne historien er fra Summer 2024-utgaven av Yachting Monthly UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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![Mile-long RNLI flotilla for 200th anniversary](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5164/1739376/-2v5LtgKL1718881145146/MILELONG-RNLI-FLOTILLA-FOR-200TH-ANNIVERSARY.jpg)
Mile-long RNLI flotilla for 200th anniversary
As the RNLI celebrates its 200th anniversary this year, more than 40 rescue vessels formed a flotilla more than a mile long in Poole in May.
![Ella Hibbert to sail to Norway and Russia in Arctic preparation](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5164/1739376/E3G0F2Fs51718881012756/ELLA-HIBBERT-TO-SAIL-TO-NORWAY-AND-RUSSIA-IN-ARCTIC-PREPARATION.jpg)
Ella Hibbert to sail to Norway and Russia in Arctic preparation
Intrepid 27-year-old sailor Ella Hibbert has made the difficult decision to delay her departure to sail solo around the Arctic circle until next year, but will instead depart this summer on a training expedition to Norway and Russia in preparation.
![Orcas sink a yacht in the Strait of Gibraltar](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5164/1739376/rLxDtZ4Hk1718880901966/ORCAS-SINK-A-YACHT-IN-THE-STRAIT-OF-GIBRALTAR.jpg)
Orcas sink a yacht in the Strait of Gibraltar
A pod of orcas attacked and sank a 15m yacht in Moroccan waters in the Strait of Gibraltar in May, the latest in a series of encounters in the area that have sunk five yachts in the past four years, the Spanish maritime authorities reported.
![Why Pip Hare needs you now](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5164/1739376/cnT7bg6Jj1718880702586/WHY-PIP-HARE-NEEDS-YOU-NOW.jpg)
Why Pip Hare needs you now
Sailing with Pip Hare last week reminded me of my father’s sailing mantra: ‘It’s all about drag.’
![ADVENTURE THE CALL OF THE SOUTH SEAS](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5164/1739376/zlhV7hPak1718879999815/ADVENTURE-THE-CALL-OF-THE-SOUTH-SEAS.jpg)
ADVENTURE THE CALL OF THE SOUTH SEAS
What is the call of the South Seas? The Hoiland family were curious to find out, so they set off west to explore. This is the story of their year sailing through the islands and atolls of French Polynesia
![HOW TO DODGE GALES IN THE ISLES OF SCILLY](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5164/1739376/3rzhbFBv01718877876066/HOW-TO-DODGE-GALES-IN-THE-ISLES-OF-SCILLY.jpg)
HOW TO DODGE GALES IN THE ISLES OF SCILLY
Ken Endean tries a two-anchorage strategy
![Picking up fore and aft moorings](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5164/1739376/XOgxFzDfe1718877103072/PICKING-UP-FORE-AND-AFT-MOORINGS.jpg)
Picking up fore and aft moorings
Mooring fore and aft can be a fiddly process, never more so than in Cornwall's Polperro. If you can do it here, says Rachael Sprot, then you can do it anywhere
![TECHNICAL PURCHASING POWER](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5164/1739376/qm03c0e5I1718876210132/TECHNICAL-PURCHASING-POWER.jpg)
TECHNICAL PURCHASING POWER
Sam Fortescue explains how to check you have the power needed to handle your running rigging safely - and how to fix it if you don't
![NEW GEAR](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5164/1739376/CBwfsgkkm1718875776429/NEW-GEAR.jpg)
NEW GEAR
Dennis O'Neill reviews the latest products designed to make sailing safer and easier
!['NEVER BEFORE HAVE I SAILED IN SUCH WILD WEATHER'](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5164/1739376/aU9GDliyz1718875329454/NEVER-BEFORE-HAVE-I-SAILED-IN-SUCH-WILD-WEATHER.jpg)
'NEVER BEFORE HAVE I SAILED IN SUCH WILD WEATHER'
When Jeremy Edwards and his sister were hit by a 'weather bomb' en route to Tonga it gave him a new-found respect for his sister's skippering ability