As the seasons come to change.....

At anchor in the Shiants, our most Northerly spot of 2021 and potentially one of the favourites.

On Thursday evening, just after I had gotten out of the shower, and just before we were about to head out for dinner, an enormous, towering cumulus came looming over the town. Within 5 minutes neither Mungo nor I could stand up on deck and all the boats out on their moorings suddenly tore at their chains and lines.

Eda pulled sideways on all of her dock lines and lurched away from the pontoon, and as we scrambled for more lines, thicker lines, any lines, I turned and saw the whole harbour turn white with whipped up spray.

Winter, had arrived.

Luckily no one was injured and I don’t believe there was much damage to the other boats in the harbour. But the message was clear. Summer was over.

Which leads me to the fact that we are now firmly lodged in our winter berth in Penryn, deep in the mud where we will stay until the springtime whilst we sand, paint and varnish Eda from top to bottom ready for next summer, which I might add is already looking busier than ever.

As ever our winter jobs list grows daily, but the topmast, bowsprit and gaff are already stripped of rigging and laying on the deck. The sails have all gone off to the sailmaker for washing and repairs and the stripping and sanding of varnish has begun because the sooner you start these jobs the sooner you will finish them! The process of “wintering” a boat can seem at times like a tedious one, particularly when you are going to put it all back together again quite so soon. But without it, Eda really couldn’t do what she does, and anyway, what else are we going to do?!

Our first season on Eda has truly been a wonderful one. We were blessed with ridiculously good weather (once we got to Scotland) And really couldn’t have asked for a better bunch to have aboard for our first summer of sailing. As we joked with many of you, our saving grace may have been that having worked onboard superyachts for so many years, we are just constantly surprised and thrilled when people are nice to us and say “please” and “thank you” that really anything more than that is just a bonus! All jokes aside though. We really couldn’t do-what-we-do, without you!

Falmouth Classics, a welcome break from isolation after all those months!

Midsummer looking at Samson. Photo by Nic Beck onboard Amelie Rose

Now I was prepared for Scotland’s West Coast to be quite nice…but in reality, it was humbling in its majesty. The way the light hits the tops of mountains in shards, or the clouds back-lit by a monstrous yellow moon. The islands rising from far beneath the surface to stand over you, tall and haughty, while sometimes only their sloping heads break through the water, hummocks in an endless road.

The most extraordinary thing about sailing there all Summer? Each time we returned to our favourite anchorages each one was completely different, no two days were ever the same. A slight shift in the weather, temperature or time of year meant that our tiny universe was in a constant state of flux.

From the endless daylight of Midsummer in the Irish Sea, to when the stars finally returned to the sky in September and phosphorescent dolphins reigned supreme.

There was never a dull moment.

Eda at anchor in Muck, photo by Tom Garside 2021

So this winter will see A LOT of sanding and varnishing, a fair bit of work to the running rigging, some adjustments to the galley. And of course, planning 2023!

If you sailed with us this summer, we hope you enjoyed your escape from reality, because for us, getting people outdoors in the fresh air and interacting with nature is what it is really all about.

If you would like to leave us a review of your time onboard, please follow the link below.