First day afloat

"Are you ready?", he asked, an hour before our launch slot. Luckily we were, and so began our adventures on Molly of Mylor. I had been spending the winter months getting to know our new-to-us Cornish Crabber 26 and learning to carry out the winter maintenance tasks while ashore in the yard at Penryn in Falmouth. We had loaded our gear the previous day, before her cradle was moved from her winter store location to a spot near the slipway. Molly was quickly and efficiently lifted off the cradle and trundled down to the water; I had to remind myself that although this was a first for us, it was very much a routine task for the crew at the yard.

The whole process was reassuringly uneventful and we warped her onto a pontoon and started the engine for the first time. Niki and I were joined by long-time boating friend and fellow Cornish Crabber owner, Russell. He was coming along to help us get used to manoeuvring Molly under engine, our previous boat being much smaller and lighter with an outboard.

The location we chose for our greenhorn boat handling were the pontoons up the Fal river past Turnaware Point. Conditions were ideal with little wind, warm sun and neap tides; it was a most enjoyable introduction to Molly. We soon reached the pontoons and both Niki and I practiced bringing Molly alongside up and down-wind. I was very pleasantly surprised with how well the Crabber 26 handles under engine both forward and astern.

It was now the time to try out the sails and we set full main, staysail and jib in the very light winds prevailing. Motor-sailing downriver, we were passed by Cornish Crabber's owner Peter Thomas, aboard another '26 - he took some photos of us and I was able to thank him for delivering a replacement luff spar onto the boat.

The next item to try out was the anchor, so we put into St Mawes and dropped anchor in the harbour opposite the town to munch our pasties. Not much of a test of anchor holding, but good practice deploying and retrieving the tackle.

By this time, the wind had died to nothing and our attempts to sail in the bay achieved little, so we motored in to Falmouth, took a berth in the yacht haven and retired to town for a well-earned celebratory curry.