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.
This story is from the Summer 2024 edition of Yachting Monthly UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the Summer 2024 edition of Yachting Monthly UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Midsummer on Hanö
This wonderful little island in the south-east of Sweden is a real gem off the beaten track
ADVENTURE SAILING TO HAITI
After spending two months in the Dominican Republic, Andy Brown sails west to Haïti bringing medical and school supplies to the town of Mole Saint Nicholas
In celebration of bad sailing
New owner Monty Halls tests his sailing skills with his family aboard their Colvic 34 ketch, Sobek. A recently qualified Day Skipper, Monty faces a few unexpected challenges...
Winter brings excitement and opportunity
Oddity’s double glazing, insulation and heating create a warm, homely environment as I bash out this column.
ADVENTURE MAISIE GOES TO GOES
To depart or not to depart? That is the question. Is it safer to stay, or suffer the wind and weather of a rough North Sea?
'MAYDAY, GRANDAD OVERBOARD!'
When David Richards and his grandson Henry went out racing from lowey, they didn't expect their sail to end with a lifeboat rescue
VERTUE
For a 25-footer, the Vertue has a huge reputation and has conquered every ocean. So what makes this little boat quite such an enduring success? Nic Compton finds out
Sailing siblings
Mabel Stock, her brother Ralph, a friend Steve and an unnamed paying passenger passed through the Panama Canal in December 1919 on the sturdy Norwegian cutter Ogre. They were towed to a quiet anchorage in Balboa away from the boat traffic but within rowing distance of the shore.
TECHNICAL MAINSAIL MODIFICATIONS
Safety and performance improved hugely when Mike Reynolds reduced the size of his mainsail and re-configured the systems controlling it
PILOTAGE DONE PROPERLY
Chartplotters are an amazing aid, but can detract from your real-world pilotage if not used with caution, says Justin Morton
