Looking for the perfect 50-footer? A 27ft motor boat and a 23ft sailboat might just be the thing!
Boating began for me with sailboats and I've never been able to kick the habit. As a result, I have a 23ft Newbridge Venturer sailboat called Jacob, as well as a 27ft Beneteau Antares 8 motor cruiser called Greyfin. And that makes sense because I have two very different boating options on my doorstep – the rugged (some would say inhospitable) Atlantic coast of north Cornwall and the gentler Channel coast of south Cornwall.
I keep Jacob on a swinging mooring just off Padstow Harbour on the Camel Estuary in the north, and Greyfin on a mooring at Mylor on the Fal estuary in the south. I can be on one within ten minutes of leaving home and on the other within the hour. But my decision as to which to use is not only influenced by proximity to home or the tides but also by the weather. With Cornwall's microclimate, conditions can vary significantly from coast to coast, so with both bases covered, I stand a much better chance of being able to get out.
The two estuaries are also vastly different. Although its famous for its turquoise water, fringed with golden beaches and rolling fields, the Camel Estuary is also fiercely tidal with strong currents of up to 7 knots and an 8m range on springs. It’s also a drying estuary with shifting sandbanks and winding channels. And if you throw in the fact that Jacob is only a small sailing boat, barely capable of 6 knots off Niagara Falls with a following wind, then the estuary really is a challenge. I'm not selling it to you I know, but this is what I love about it. Man and boat against the elements, where you have to be in tune with your environment. I am constantly checking the depth sounder and observing the elements in order to reach my destination without mishap.
BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
The Fal Estuary on the other hand is a much gentler affair. It’s a deep estuary with 22m under t
