Roger and Michele, Julian, Christine and Diana and Alan and Jan had rigged and tested the water by the time we (Bruce and Angela) arrived at 4pm on Saturday. We received the traditional Laser Cruising welcome from the Chairman “Which pub shall we go to tonight?” and after some debate, The Old Quay at Devoran had the vote and we all ate, drank and swapped stories before agreeing to meet at 10am on Sunday to do some sailing.

Sunday started with Christine having difficulty removing the wheel clamp on her trailer. It transpired that a rogue strap had become caught around the locking lug but once pulled clear, there were no problems. As there was little wind, we decided to head for St. Mawes, but call into St. Just if lunch was becoming a priority. This we did, anchoring out with a line ashore, but after a quick sandwich, decided to go on to St. Mawes in order to lie on the beach. We were joined by a Laser 2000 and compared boats. They were very impressed by the forward hatch of the 13 we were envious of their gennaker. After sufficient sun and in some cases ample pasties, we set off for Feock, although Bruce and Angela did a detour around Black Rock, where we found seals. Everyone else was jealous of the sighting and we resolved to go that way again the next day.

Dick and Meryl (late of Mexico and now in Belgium) duly arrived on Monday morning and the route chosen was Flushing for lunch then round the Black Rock seal hunting. The wind was light and so getting to Flushing took longer than we expected, although we were sitting having lunch by 1pm. With low tide beckoning (the time when we were most likely to see the seals) we went to Black Rock and were entertained by half a dozen seals, some on the rock itself, others swimming close by. The return home was a pleasant run back to Feock expertly avoiding the finish line for the International 14s just off Mylor Point. The après-cruise was at Pandora’s Inn, where the crab cakes were as good as we had remembered them to be

As the weather forecast for Wednesday was not good, we decided to start early on Tuesday and take the opportunity to go up river. Unfortunately, the wind was due West and consequently came over, round and through the trees making progress difficult and slow and in parts, wet. Avoiding the King Harry Ferry was challenging especially as the tide had now turned and when the wind dropped we found ourselves sailing backwards towards it again. After coffee at the Smuggler’s Inn, Julian, who had started after us, arrived and we decided to continue up river. At Malpas we were greeted with strong wind coming down from Truro and despite Dick having gallantly found somewhere to land, we decided to head back. We all admired Julian’s boat handling skills, having firstly got up river and then dealt with the strong wind, moored boats and the shallows single-handed. With the tide with us and the wind mainly on our stern, we reached Feock in about 20 minutes. For sometime now our Chairman has had a puncture in his trolley wheel and has diligently pumped up the tyre, or in some cases borrowed a spare from other members, in order to ease the strain of recovering the boat. Today was its last day and I am pleased to announce that a new wheel has been bought.

Wednesday’s forecast was accurate and we had no sailing! The Eden project was popular with some, whilst others went shopping.

Alan had suggested that we might see if we could reach Maenporth (half way to the Helford River), so on Thursday, we decided to see how far we could go. After a lunch and loo stop at St Mawes we headed SW. Unfortunately, once we got passed Pendennis Point the sea state became moderate, with a SE F4 and sailing was uncomfortable. We avoided the International 14s racing with spinnakers, trapezes, etc. and turned back for Feock.

On Friday, we headed to St. Just rather slowly in very little wind. After a pleasant lunch and a walk, we headed back but on the way the wind dropped even more as Bruce and Angela went a little way up Restronget Creek. We were against the tide and were going slower and slower. Having had an interesting discussion with a survey team sampling the water as we went slowly past them, we realised that we were then, just as slowly, going back towards them, so we turned round and slowly headed back towards Feock.

Saturday was make or break day. It was Maenporth or bust. Three boats set out on the intrepid journey although Christine and Diana only had time to come as far as Black Rock as they were returning home in the afternoon. Alan and Jan and Bruce and Angela headed out the Roads with a pleasant NW breeze towards Maenporth. A heading of 243° had been determined, but this took us straight through a moored tanker. We took the windward route and arrived at the lovely Maenporth beach where we had lunch before returning. Now, Laser Cruising is not about racing, but when 2 or more boats are gathered together… The wind had freshened, but was still NW, which meant a fast reach back to Black Rock and then a beat to Feock. Alan took the lead, which gave Bruce an opportunity to observe his style. As the boats were beating up the Carrick Roads in the chop, Bruce found it quite difficult to keep the boat flat, but Alan seemed to have no problems, his 16 powerfully ploughing through the waves superbly. I put it down to Jan’s excellent crewing. Eventually we arrived at Feock tired, but exhilarated after an excellent day’s sailing.

The week was over, but we had managed to sail on 6 out of the 7 days in a lovely area and in good company.