An English Summer 45

 

Sails slat lazily, in a whisper of Sunday morning sea breeze. Watercraft sizzle in the sun. Their owners ashore, cooling in the shade of the trees.

I am on Porthmellon beach, just beyond St Mary's harbour.

A narrow path clambers, behind the eaves of the lifeboat station, to reach it.

Today, hard working Scillonians, tending to the needs of we summer visitors, are at play.

The path winds on, between luxuriant hedgerows, from which treasure flowers strive to outshine the sun.

It emerges beside the sheds of the Porthloo boatyard. Where shallow draft craft of all persuasions, catamarans, centreboarders and RIB's, one hailing from Whitstable, on the north Kent coast, lounge indolently among the sand dunes.

On the beach below, paddle boarders rest, from their labours, amid the rock pools.

A life ring hangs above the door, to the largest shed. On it, emblazoned a name, which I recognise,  thanks to Ade (see comments to post forty two): Andrew Hicks. This where Pettifox, the last boat to be constructed and registered in the Isles of Scilly, was built, in 1992.

Pettifox is the Camaret langoustier, with that distinctive Breton sheer and high (by British pilot cutter standards) freeboard, whose picture headlines posts forty one and forty two. Ade recognised and put a name to her; the Pettifox website  filled in the details of her design history. Now I have seen where her keel was laid.

The winds are light, from the east, and the seas calm. Although Stargazer's barometer has slipped a little, it was unusually high to start with. It looks as if the low, forecast to bring strong winds from the south, in its wake, may have changed track to avoid us. Opening up a wider range of choices, for our next island anchorage.