Planning for the Isles of Scilly

On the 11th August, we are planning to set sail to the Isle of Scilly for our summer break. There I've said it publicly, no going back now!

I've always been fascinated by these islands, not just with the romantic scenery but also the challenges presented in getting there. We stayed near Mousehole and Penzance last year on a camping holiday, and seeing the pretty boats in harbour and the Scillonian ferry leaving is where the idea for this years trip came from.

It will be a bit of a challenge, both in terms of planning, pilotage and navigation, but also in sailing, handling and anchoring. This is perhaps the longest voyage Shoestring has undertook for a while, and also the longest voyage I would have undertook as skipper.

I'll be using this site both for planning and recording of the voyage, so please keep checking back for details.

In preparation for the trip I've acquired a few extra pieces of equipment for Shoestring: a Second Anchor and rode, handheld VHF in case of emergencies and of course charts, pilot guides and other books.

Planning
The route currently looks like this:

• Day 1 - Neyland to Dale anchorage
• Day 2 - Dale to Lundy Island ( I may decided to skip this depending on weather)
• Day 3 - Lundy to Padstow
• Day 4 - Padstow to St Ives
• (Possibly collecting a friend for the trip)
• Day 5 - St Ives to Scilly (Hugh Town)
• Day 6 to 10 - Exploring Scilly
• Day 11 - Scilly to St Ives
  
• Day 12 - St Ives to Dale (optimistic distance maybe)
• Day 13 - Dale to Neyland

I'm also looking at Penzance and Mousehole as a bolt-hole in case the weather for the Scilly trip is not in our favour.

Pilot guides and charts:
Full reviews of these will follow on later entires on this site.

• Imray C7, C58 and C60
• A closer detailed Admiralty chart. (Still looking into this)
  
• West country pilot, 2008, £24.99 (Amazon £17.95)
• A sailors guide to the Isle of Scilly, Sent via the author direct in Scilly (thank you!)