One of Nine.

New blog and gallery series – the tidal rivers of south west England.

First post – the Helford river.

As we slipped past the Lizard peninsular up to windward of us I was feeling the effects of having been awake and at sea for 25 hours. It had been an easy channel crossing in that it had been a steady broad reach over a moderate swell – my only problem had been the sheer volume of shipping in the second separation zone when at one point I was able to count the lights of some thirteen ships. Now though the wind was going from a light south westerly to an increasing westerly and there was a hard grey edge to the clouds so I was well glad to be have the Lizard to windward and to be closing the land.

The little Liberty heeled a bit more as I brought the wind forward, having passed the manacles reef to windward and could now set course for the Nare point just off Gillan creek and then harden up for the entrance to the Helford river currently hidden beyond the headland at St Anthony’s. As we cleared that headland the wind increased again as the westerly was now blowing straight down the river so I quickly pulled in the first reef and came hard on the wind to beat up the river and ease the crash and bang as the lightweight boat bounced over the fast flowing flood.

The first long board took us almost across to Durgan on the northern side of the river but it made sense to make short tacks in deeper water to carry the tide and with no headsail to tend I made shorter and shorter boards up through the moorings in Helford passage before it made better sense to drop the mainsail completely and motor up the last half mile using the mizzen to steer the boat upwind while I stowed sail. Soon , we were passing Frenchman’s creek to port and coming into the point where the river divides and narrows.

There’s a slight bend in the main river just there with a boathouse on the southern side and soon after that Tremayne quay appears almost hidden by trees in this steep sided and thickly wooded river. Soon we were up level with Tremayne quay about 50 yards south of us so I called it good, turned into the tide and anchored right there, just outside the main channel. I was so dog tired now my head was fuzzy and I did most of my jobs on autopilot as I wound down from the channel crossing, did one more check topside, thought to hoist my black ball and went below……and that was all she wrote.

When asked I say that my home cruising ground stretches from just inside the Lizard peninsular to the west and extends to the river Exe in the east. Before that, to the west of the Lizard I don’t often go because an Atlantic swell often makes for harder conditions for a small sailboat and at the eastern end of my range Lyme bay presents the problem of getting around the Bill of Portland in the right tidal conditions. Between the Lizard and the Exe I count the nine majortidal rivers, their estuaries, tributaries, offshoots and many creeks as being the best cruising ground and anchorages in the whole of the UK.

In this series i’m going to feature one river each month and in each river I hope to feature at least one interesting boat and one story about that river…..mostly though i’m going to let the photographs do the heavy lifting so welcome to perhaps the prettiest of all the west country rivers ; the Helford. One of the main visual features of nearly all of the west country rivers is that they are formed from deep wooded valleys, have multiple side creeks and tend to open out onto bold deep water ; once you get beyond the deep water yacht anchorages going inland they all tend to feel a lot more natural and wild.

The head of navigation of the Helford river is at the small village of Gweek which has a boatyard and this quirky little spot just down-creek a few yards where there is a motley collection of older boats being lived on and worked on ; best of the lot in my opinion is the pretty little houseboat…..and I apologize about the Westerly but even in this series you can’t always get what you want.

For me, the most useful part of the river, in terms of shelter and anchoring lies between a point a couple of hundred yards west of Tremayne quay and stretching east to Frenchman’s creek…..made famous by the Daphne Du Maurier novel and the only viable shelter for a small boat when it’s blowing hard from the east. In those conditions the main yacht anchorage is highly uncomfortable but Frenchman’s creek is good for any boat that can take the bottom – I had to shelter from a two day easterly gale there once. Off Tremayne quay itself is the first, or last place that a reasonably shallow draft boat can anchor and stay afloat – once again though I usually keep out of the channel there and usually just about dry out depending on the tidal range and my exact spot.

It’s possible to land at Tremayne quay and iv’e often seen people camped there, one time using the sail from a lugger as an improvised shelter over an A frame made from two pieces of tree and the yard from the boat. In a strong easterly it can still be uncomfortable there even that far upriver.

Tremayne quay, one of my favorite anchorages in the south west.

The worst aspect of the Helford river is in the peak of summer when the main moorings area in Helfor passage is rammed to the gills with big cruising yachts on all of the visitor moorings and often more than one per mooring. Then, it’s full of obnoxious loud teenagers buzzing about in their tenders and the big boats running generators at all hours. As you can tell i’m much more for the ‘Maurice Griffiths’ kind of approach and a quiet anchorage can be had by either moving down towards the river mouth and anchoring off one of the small beaches/bays on the southern side or west of Frenchman’s creek where , usually, the big deep keeled yachts can’t get to……or can’t be bothered to even try.

Near Bosahan cove in our Frances 26.

Worth a mention is that just outside the Helford river to the north is Gillan creek – there is a useful anchorage just outside the narrows before the creek proper which can be waded on a spring low water and which forms an interesting section of the south west coastal path just there.

Anyway, that’ about all iv’e got to say about that…..for now.