Sailing Photo Essay place to spend the night with a short trip ashore in the tender and supper in the Castle Hotel’s Galleon Bar a welcome prospect. In the morning, after checking the tides and the weather, we set off for Salcombe. The first time we turned right out of Dartmouth towards Salcombe it was a daunting prospect and we still treat the trip around the Skerries and past Start Point and Prawle Point with considerable respect. Today we have a really good sail towards Salcombe with our speed touching 7 knots (assisted by the tide) and soon we see the beautiful headland of Bolt Tail come into view. Salcombe has a sand bar to be crossed that was made famous in Tennyson’s ‘Crossing of the Bar.’ This is not a problem for us as we have a shallow draft of 1 metre, so having dropped the sails we head straight in and find our favourite mooring close to the town and its lovely beaches. A good evening with supper at the Ferry Inn sets us up for the night. We were planning to spend two nights in Salcombe but poor weather is forecast so after a bacon sandwich at Captain Morgan’s we head for home. A great three-day trip, we arrive back feeling completely relaxed. There is a range of good sailing schools on the English Riviera where you can learn to sail and join some sailing trips to see if life on the ocean wave might be for you. One thing is certain, sailing along the South Devon coast from the English Riviera is a wonderful thing to experience at least once. o
englishrivieramagazine.co.uk
June/July 2014
23