Scilly isles

So the Scilly isles came into view as rob slept, it has always been a special sailing destination for me and hold many memories . Sailing was good 15 knots on the starboard beam heading straight at the entrance of Grimsby sound. I left rob sleep until we were half a mile off. The sails were dropped as we entered the entrance and we motored against the ebb tide to the first decent mooring bouy we could find. There was a big blow forecast and I wanted to be attached to something solid. I knew the buoys in old Grimsby were good because they had all been ripped out in a storm 2 year previously and upgraded with supper strong 200T blocks and chain. The first thing we needed to do for storm preparation was to go to the pub for a big tea and make sure they had enough beer. I had forgotten Tesco had turned into a time share haven. With cruise ships and even a supermarket that resembles John Lewis it has more wine than food for sale. Not all bad but the island no longer has the cool vibe it used to.
Beer now checked and wine and supplies from “John Lewis” now purchased we returned to the boat to prepare for the blow. Strangely we were parked next to the young french couple from peel.
Prep list double up the connection to the mooring. With chain
Tie down everything loose including straps on the solar panels
Open some Moore beers, put the heating on and wait for storm “Betty” to show up.
Our mooing wasn’t very protected but was rock solid so we were likely to see the full force Betty had to offer.
Betty turned up around 6 in the evening, and there lots of people on the decks of the boats doing last minute prep and watching the sea state etc. Even people trying to move anchorages, which seemed a bit foolish.
While Betty was in full flow we had winds steady around mid 60kts and even the flat water of the sound was whipped up into spray and foam. We had kept channel 16 open on the VHF and were monitoring the various emergency calls that were coming in. 2 of which were within 200 yards of us. Peoples who’s anchors were dragging and were heading towards the rocks. The mighty Diesel engine of the all weather lifeboat was heard weaving its way through the moorings towards the casualties. Women and children were plucked from the boats and the boat was then tied to the life boat and taken to safety. The beast that was the life boat was manoeuvred with great skill between all the storm bound yachts.
The next day was blue with fast moving white clouds. With the forcast for the wind to drop from 30 knots to almost nothing. It was time to move ourselves towards France before we ran out of wind.Read more