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click here for feature from the shipshape magazine about the Matthews 2011 adventures

2011 voyages

May 11th back in Falmouth - quick headlines from the last two weeks -  a nice overnight sail around the Lizard took us into Mounts Bay where we anchored for a bit right by the Mount which is spectacular - then we sailed across to The Isles of Scilly for the World Gig Racing championships which are just something else - so many gigs and people packed onto a small island - just amazing. We were a spectacular backdrop to the whole thing anchored out in St Marys sound - good job as the wind was brisk the whole time and we needed around 80 metres of chain out to hold us to the bottom - our departure was delayed and eventually lumpy as some brisk S and SE gales swept across the Cornish Coast - yesterday the weather settled down and we had a lovely sail back across Mountds Bay from Penzance to Falmouth - 

Highlight for me was rounding the Lizard and tucking into Cadgwith Cove where I spent so many happy days learning about boats from the local fishermen as a youth. We picked up the big lifeboat mooring bouy and rowed ashore to the shingly beach - of course a visit to the Cadgwigth Cove Hotel was in order and we were just getting settled when a yellow booted gent appeared in the bar and enquired "anyone know whos that galleon is moored out there" I had to confess it was mine and he politely asked me to move it as the lifeboat needed it shortly. It was the closest thing Cadgwith has seen to a traffic jam for 500 years!!      

Late April 2011 - alongside in Newlyn - usual story the days just zip past -  we've just had an amazing few weeks doing various things in Falmouth including some lovely evening sails across to St Mawes and back - we've fortunately got these waters added to our passenger certificate plying limits so can take 36 or so people ou for a sail and we'll be back in Falmouth area in just over a weeks time -

In the meantime we are getting ready to welcome our guests for a nice sail across to the magical Isles of Scilly - The weather forecast is perfect for us and although we topped up our fuel tanks with diesel in Falmouth i'm not really expecting to use very much tomorrow as the East -  Nor Easters predicted should take us from Newlyn Harbour entrance right to the anchorage in St Marys where we expect to be for the first big gig race tomorrow evening...

Whilst pondering the sheer wonder of the universe, bobbing gently in the bay I promise I will flesh out the recent passages with more descriptive stuff of our sailing and life on board the ship -  we currently have 6 crew on board (people are always fascinated by the statistic and who these people are)

Rob Salvidge skipper

Thom Axxon (formerly Trinity House and Bristol Ferry Co Skipper)

Joff - pal of Thoms and a boatbuilder from Noth Cornwall

Larissa -  La La - who is a sometime bristol ferry crew person

Jackie - new volunteer and cook

Robin - grand old sea dog (he's been adding sex appeal to our stay alongside in Newlyn by sunbathing "topless" on board)

Anyway all is well with our ship and its summer adventures - France beckons soon and we have a nice meeting set up with potential clients in Brest in a few weeks, to discuss a full charter for the trip during the BREST festival 2012... so plenty going on

March 29th - sorry folks very difficult to keep up with our adventures -  its quite late on Tuesday evening and we had a really foggy passage back down the english channel - our radar has ben playing up too so we're now in Weymouth to rest for a few days and fix it -  the london gig was amazing and you can see some great pics on facebook - Ramsgate was a lovely friendly stop over port with a really nice working port atmosphere -  we eventually left there yesterday morning and had a great passage past the dover straits and down past dungeness with all sails - including our big purple narnia main sail set -

vis got worse and worse as we approached the solent and we took the decision to give it a miss and carry on to weymouth which was probably just as well as the vis was appalling -  we never saw the isle of wight - had a brief glimpse of a cliff mid afternoon and eventually picked out the weymouth harbour entrance lights about a mile off -  so its great to be here and i will write some more about the whole london adventure very soon . . . .      

March 22nd - what an incredible few days of amazing adventure for our little ship - we had a fantastic voyage up the river Thames - one of the great sea ways of the world - rarely however has it seen a stunning 80 foot long Dragon ship gliding along its interesting reaches. Passage through the Thames barrier was very exciting and then a rendezvous with guests off Greenwich - birthplace of modern time! - We had a big spring tide behind us, which coupled with good weather which encouraged tourist traffic on the river boats and ferries, meant the approach to tower bridge was busy and challenging, but we got nicely into St Katherines dock right next to the tower and had a fantastic fun day of activity hosting TV crews from all over the world who were keen to hear about the shop and the movie the Voyage of the Dawn Treader which we are here to promote... It was a sprakling warm sunny day and we raised the big Narnia purple sail -  you can see some great pictures of all of this on our facebook site -  Facebook - Matthew Replica Ship.

Just preparing to leave London now -  should be a lovely trip back down the Thames with very little wind forecast but maybe enough for a bit of sailing if we're lucky --- more when we get back to Kent and thereafter we're heading back down to our home west country waters..    

March 19th -  at Anchor off Margate .  left Ramsgate this morning -  north east wind and big incoming tide made sea conditions quite choppy for the first few miles till we got into teh Thames Estuary -  needed to pick our way along the coast with radar as the fog was swirling around - its sunny now, some chilled reggae is wafting across the dec, and we're enjoying sunshine -  tide turns around 6 this evening and we'll be whisked up the thames - probably going to anchor near a rubbish dump this evening -  the  its the final few miles to Tower Bridge tomorrow - 514 miles sailed so far since we left bristol 3 weeks ago...

March 17th - all dragonned up -  pictures of the dragon being dressed on facebook . .  we've had a good time in Ramsgate which is a proper working harbour, with nice chandlers and bric a brac shops tucked into the dramatic brick arches that chracterise the sea front of this quite elegant place -

March 14th - arived in Ramsgate harbour- excellent passage along the South Coast and past Dover in the early morning gloom - one or two crew dissapointed with the greyness of the white cliffs!! - it was 6 am!! - Ramsgate a delightful spot, very friendly harbour -  challenge is to wait for the fog and wind to die so we can get in the inner harbour and start work on de-rigging ready for the dragon dressing day on Thursday 

March 12th - alongside at Haslar Marina Gosport - Solent . .

we arrived late last night after a really excellent passage up from Cornwall - the wind was brisk as the sunset on Fowey, but eased nicely overnight and allowed us to set seven sails by the time Friday dawned - it was an interesting selection of rags, with four squares and three fore and aft sails set - It was a nice acheivement to sail all the way past the major tidal gate of Portland Bill and even as we came up the Needles channel picking up the mltitude of navigation lights that characterise the Solent, we kept our sails filled.

We passed close to the site of the wreck of Mary Rose -  a similar, but bigger ship to us, that sank a while back - and from our morring we can see the rigging of Nelsons flagship HMS Victory -  so its always interesting to rest a while in the Portsmouth area -  which is what we'll do today before setting off tonight for another 150 miles up the channel and through the Dover Straits to Ramsgate. More when we get there.   

March 9th Polruan - we're on the slipway at Toms Yard. Alan Toms and his family are legends in this part of the world and run an amazing boatyard that could hail from any time over the last 200 years. There are boats of all shapes and sizes squashed in everywhere and people beavering away in sheds, some of which resemble hobbit holes cut into the cliffs, doing all sorts of intriguing boaty things - some boats come here to die, some like us pass by quickly, others just rest awhile, some like a pretty yellow ex trawler moored out on a bouy are someones dream adventure - goodness knows where it'll end up, but the good thing is people here like in Bristol are in love with their boats and will do almost anything to keep them alive.

The plan now is to finish our slipway work in the next day and get back in the water.

There are nice westerly winds forecast for the next few days so we should be able to sail all the way up the English Channel to our next destination which is Ramsgate in Kent.

MARCH 7TH  *** Red letter day ***

Ship passed its annual MCA out of water survey. Surveyors, new to the ship as this one from Falmouth was, are always amazed by the mighty strength of the Matthews construction which is a great testimony to the Bristol shipwrights who built her 15/16 years ago. So theres just some cosmetic work to be done, a good blacking of the bottom and some buffing up of the shiny hull danish oil and we'll be off again under full sail. 

March - Falmouth -  well here we are and keep checking back for more musings -  the last few days have been an amazing mixture of exciting sailing, spectacular weather and just the sheer exhilaration of getting the ship out on a decent voyage again - We had some wonderful sailing in brisk crisp but lovely North Easterly Winds, perfect for a smooth enjoyable passage down the spectacular north Cornwall coast, past the tin mines and around lands End. I won't go on about it too much, but it was Matthew magic at its best and a good omen for trips later this year, which everyone should try and join us for -  a good night ashore in Newlyn - what a harbour, what histiory and what characters -  the only way to do it properly is to moor alongside a trawler and then join a crew in the Swordfish celebrating landing £57,000 worth of fish from an 8 day trip - don';t tell too many people but the start of this year has been amazing for the fishermen of newlyn and they deserve it - Now we're in Falmouth, tried to set off for Fowey this morning, but there was a nasty brisk Easterly bringing a biggish swell into the bay and around the Dodman so we're just waiting for the evening lull to set in and gthen we expect a quiet over night passage.

Tomorrow we're on the slipway for a week and hope we dont find anything wrong before a passage up to london .  check back here soon for more progress reports .   we're getting a facebook page sorted too so you can all join in with chit chat etc about the trip . .   

Early January - well the ship hasn't been very far so far this year, but Captain Rob has been spending a lot of time putting finishing touches to this years sailing programme. "its the 15th anniversary of our replica ships maiden voyage - so we're going to get out there and have some great sailing in 2011" says Rob - I've been down in Cornwall quite a lot chatting to old shipmates and meeting some really good new friends who are so excited that the ship is going to be down their way this summer. I'm particularly excited that we've just tied up the details of a May day Foray to the Isles of Scilly to support the local Bristol teams at the World Pilot Gig Championships - and i've had some good chats with our old friends in Brittany who we are going to be visiting in June. Before that we've some maintainence work and the annual MCA survey which this year we're going to do at the lovely traditional shipyard in Gloucester, run by Tommi Neilsen. I only sorted details out with Tommi this week and already I've got crew eager to help take the ship on what is always a pretty exciting voyage up the Severn and then the Sharpness to Gloucester Canal" Keep checking back here for more details of the voyages of "Matthew" 2011

2010 Voyages Blog

29th october

5 crewmen from Spirit of Antigua on way back to Uk this evening.

Skipper Ben Jones and Crewman Sacha Hall are remaining in France and will team up with a French skipper, divers and a rescue boat to attempt to salvage "Spirit of Antigua" and tow it back towards the safety of the french Coast.

Our thoughts here at base in Bristol are with everyone and the not incosiderable challenge of trying to rescue the boat -  everyones doing their best, adversity often brings out the best in team work.

28th October - Matthew skipper Ben Jones and 6 other crewmen are safe and well after being rescued from the upturned Catamaran Spirit of Antigua 140 miles out in the bay of biscay last night.

Falmouth Coastguard received a distress signal from the 100 foot long racing catamaran, which belongs to Tony Bullimore, at around 19.30 and by 21.00 rescue helicopters were on the scene as well as the Royal Navy ship HMS Ocean and a passing container ship.

The crew were flown to the french military base in Brest where they are now being cared for, by french officials and staff from the British Consul.

Plans are being put in place to attempt to salvage the vessel.

more news when we have it

26th oct - spirit of antigua left la carunna at 8 am this morning - weather forecast is brisk winds across biscay for the next week, but all from the south west so as long as the sails on this grand old lady hold out, they should get some downwind sailing at speeds in excess of 20 knots over the next few days

oct 24th crew man thom axxon reported that they were motoring into la carunna harbour -  this is a famous stopping place for voyages on the top left hand corner of spain -  a few days spent here should refresh the boys then they'll get some storming south westerlies behind them for the dash back to bristol next week.

oct 22nd

rather slow progress reported from on board - lots of motoring in light winds, north cornwall coast looking lovely in clear crisp autumnal air and longships passed at close quarters . .  at 16.30 this afternoon mathew crew man and releif skipper thom axxon reported that the isles of scilly and england were dissapearing from view as they headed on a course of 200 degrees, out towards biscay, but theres not much useful wind in the forecast till saturday, when it all becomes a bit messy, with bursts of wind from all directions across a 300 mile span of north atlantic/biscay sea

OCTOBER 20TH 2010 -

Skipper Ben Jones and other Matthew crew men set sail for Spain .

Weds 5 am . slipped mooring and headed for cumberlanmd basin

weds 9 am -  waiting to pass under avonmouth motorway bridge on falling tide

BACKGROUND

They're aboard one of the worlds fastest racing catamarans currently named "Spirit of Antigua" and this monster of the sea, sculpted in Carbon Fibre has a curious and long standing relationship with our litle wooden craft from a bygone age - The 110 foot long catamaran capable of 30 knots, is owned by Tony Bullimore and very strangely three of Matthews skippers have sailed on her.

David Allen-Williams who took Matthew across the Atlantic in 1997 previously raced the big cat when she was called ENZA and in fact set a non stop around the world record of 74days 22hours 17minutes in 1994.

Then in 2001, Matthew Captain Rob Salvidge joined Bullimore and his crew on an around the world race for multihulls and also saw the yacht off on another round the world adventure from Qatar in the Gulf in 2005 - We'll keep you up to date with latest progress . .

CLICK HERE FOR A YOU TUBE VIDEO OF THE BOAT UNDER SAIL. 

Click here for some amazing reports from Narnia compwetition winners about their journey on board Mathew in its guise as "Dawn Treader" promoting the new 20th century fox movie due to be released this Christmas

Here you will find musings on our sailing experiences during 2010.

midnight - The single white navigation light at the top of Matthews 60 foot high mast crept slowly under the Clifton Suspension Bridge -  after Englands dismal performance in the World Cup, the city seemed surprisingly quiet and just a few souls would have witnessed the return to her home port of this grand lady of the seas after another extremely action packed adventure. The lock through the Cumberland Basin -  where work is still continuing on the gates - was smooth and shortly before 01.00 am the ship was nicely tied up next to the SS Great Britain.

Everyone has stories to tell of making for Port in Poole under sail without engine -  yes of course thousands of ships would have done that in days of old but we take our iron donkey for granted too much in the 21st century -  and of recycling oil from a nasty engine leak using a chinese take away dish on approach to Plymouth.

Slightly more alarming is the tale of a near gale around Lands End tossing the poor little ship this way and that, the bilges filling nicely with water and sloshing around like an industrial scale washing machine and somewhere in the tempestuous mix an escaped chisel contorting at alarming speed towards those trying to effect repairs to pumps, jury rig pipes and generally calm things down a bit... this is all the stuff of a voyage and the raw material for stories that will grow in drama and proportion with the passage of time and beer.

Visitors to Watermouth in North Devon were correct in beleiving they witnessed a wooden pirate ship "raid" their tucked away bay yesterday dinner time - firing shots that reverberated around the Exmoor cliffs and creating a to do not seen since two German U boat crew made a secret landing in this quaint cove and wandered off with some plump apples from a shoreside orchard. 

Good to report that Calais was quite an experience -  a busy industrial port doing all it can to retain economic viability in the face of the channel tunnel, cheap flights, ash cloud, plague, pestilance and financial crisis. All you need at a time like this to make people feel better is a mix of interesting ships and their multinational crews, plus the unique french festival organising flair, which is well disguised often as chaos, but which resulted in a wonderful arrival by Henri 8th and his entourage and some robust canon firings from Matthews battery. The evening sailing cavalcades got later and later as the atmosphere built and were only made possible after good humoured batering between our captain and the festival admiral, involving cases of wine as currency - hussar and bon viveur!!!    

18th June . .  20.00 ship in Bristol channel passing Holms - on schedule for lock in at Midnight  

18th June  really good progress made .    ship off Ilfracombe just after lunch -  should now make Bristol by midnight and fortunately the lock gates should be operational for the ship to lock in and crew to have a good nights sleep before a busy weekend of trips in Bristol harbour.

18th June - message from Thom -  plan is to weigh anchor at 06.00 -  went ashore at Lundy and lifted the curse on the place ( a previous crew man had always hated Lundy as he beleived an ancient pirate curse laid many years ago by the infamous Mariscos  was the source of some of the bad weather, we'd experienced after stepping ashore!!! -  probably true) -  Thom goes on  the place is bloody lovely -  well lots of us know that from the holiday brochures - but I guess theres nothing quite like arriving on board a Tudor ship after an adventure and a half...

ship will be making its way up channel today -  good sighting spots, Minehead, Porlock, Exmoor generally  and might well anchor off Wales and wait for the morning tide...

17th June evening -  the most gorgeous day, an abundance of Dolphins and a big sense of releif to be heading up the "right" coast to be approacxhing Bristol.- Plan is to anchor off Lundy have a really good crew meal, step ashore on this mythical; Island and cruise back to Bristol on Friday  

17th June -  ship at sea - -   still a slight problem with 240 volt electrical power so calls from the ship via mobile phones will be limited -  any reports of sightings off cornwall or devon would be greatfully received

16th June PM - ship l;eft Plymouth -  heading for Bristol - due in Saturday morning - those crew who have already departed and returned to Bristol report an amazing experience for many good and a few unexpected reasons . . . 

16th June am -  a few bits and pieces, due to be delivered and then we should be ready to sail on the afternoon tide

NOTE$ FROM BASE - The mechanical issues we've had so far this trip are partly a result of the ship and its sytems not being given a good hard run for aropund 2 years -  there is an issue  here that whilst in the harbour, running for a few hours at tickover, more taxing problems never show themselves -  its important that Matthew is kept up as a fully operational working hard offshore sailing ship, but these things take time and money to resolve when they happen and unfortunately will disrupt our harbour cruise schedule in Bristol -  sincere appologise for this, but we'll have a good pow wow first thing in the morning and see what the next step needs to be. 

June 13th - shiop alongside in Mayflower Marina Plymouth - whilst not far from Salcombe a routine engine check discovered a small hole in the crank case of the engine, which is causing a loss of lubricating oil and needs to be fixed and also we have a problem with batteries - not in itself a massive issue, but we've been running systems a lot without shore power and they clearly need to be checked and probably changed. Bit of a shame, but as always better to discover these things when in a favourable position and near port and good engineering help.

June 12th -  grand sailing four sails set, all drawing well  boat speed 9.5 knots -  Fantatsic to be out sailing off the english coast in the sunshine after a few trials of late 

June 11th  -  09.00 departed from Poole, nice weather forecast, winds from the North North East which is a great direction for sailing down towards Portland Bill and out across Lyme Bay. 

JUNE 9TH - Amazing reception from Poole and fantatsic offers of help with our mechanical problem. HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE HAVE PASSED BY THE SHIP TODAY MOORED AS IT IS IN A PROMINENT POSITION ON POOLES TOWN QUAY. Lots of people have commented on what a truly fantatsic ship Matthew is and many have thanked the crew for bringing the ship to Poole  even though it wasnt planned, and for keeping such an extraordinary project going and little ship sailing.

All the bits and pieces, we need to fix the raw water engine cooling pump have been ordered or are being made - in some shape or form all the necessary components are making their way to the ship -  its going to be a couple of days before the ship can leave -  which is no bad thing as theres a brisk burst of North Easterly wind coming in -  which woulkd make rounding Lands End rather unpleasant much before Sunday anyway.

More reflections and news from Poole tomorrow - and a big thank you to everyone whos offered help and support to the crew.  

MESSAGE FROM BASE -  Well done to Ben and his highly skilled crew, for taking good seamanlike decisions and sailing a sensible course to make a safe landfall in Poole harbour.

20.00 alongside at the town quay in Poole - journey made mostly under sail, in fact sail had to be shortened towards the end as the ship was sailing too fast to make the correct rendezvous time with two big ribs that were standing by to help Matthew to its Berth alongside.

Many phone calls made from base, and hopefully within 24 hours we should have sopurced all the right components to rebuild the troublesome cooling pump -  we can take this time to study the next few days weather in more detail to make sure we get it right going round Lands End, we can top up with diesel and food and hopefully have a good run back to Bristol -  albeit that we will be a few days late.

17.00 Decision made to sail into Poole -  engine can't be run but fortunately wind is mostly from South so sails set for a course to Poole harbour where repairs can be made. 

16.00 call from Ben on board to say that they were south of Portland and had sp[otted a potentially serious problem with the engine raw water cooling pump -  we had an issue with this pump last year but had substantially rebuilt it.

8th June 14.00 discussion with ship about where to stop to seek shelter from Northerlies which will hit SW coast within the next 48 hours and also we need to top up on diesel -  general consensus that Salcombe would be a good spot.

8th June message from lizzy on board - steering 255 degrees - wsw, the rain has stopped and we're getting some sails up!! ahoy -

(From base we're imagining they'll be somewhere off the isle of wight now with some decent wind behind them for the next couple of days - that turns into a brisk North Easterly by thne end of the week and not nice for 24 hours - fri /sat for going round Lands End, so hopefully they can have a good sail across Lyme Bay and the coast of devon and cornwall maybe hiding in Penzance ready for kinder weather to make the last 150 miles or so back home.)

7th june 20.19 message from thom on board - sad to lose Derek, hes been ledgendary on this trip - just outside Hastings now heading West

7th june 07.00  Matthew slipped moorings and motored out into the English Channel. Crew members Benedict and Derek are reluctantly returning via ferry, but reported later that they saw the Matthew bobbing into the distance from the deck of their ship. Plan is to cross briskly to English coast and hopefully pick up some favourable wind for sailing west

Monday 7th June - crew feeling a little bleary eyed after a fantatstic festival full of fun and colour and a certain amount of chaos - the french put on wonderful maritime festivals, unfettered by the uneccesary health and safety culture that stifles creativity and innovation at UK festivals these days! They seem to have a grand vision for things and of course a joie de vivre that is well worth the effort of sailing 1,000 miles to be part of. Well done Calais and thanks very much for inviting us.   

Saturday 7th June -  nice weather expected in Northern France as in the UK -  100,000 people expected at the festival -  got to keep our eyes on the weather for next week as theres a bit of an Atlantic Low brewing, doesn't look too bad for getting down the Channel, but theres a bit of briosk north Westerly promised for later in the week, which could just coincide - knowing our luck -  with the rounding of Lands End.  

Friday 4th June - First day of the festival, some other vessels went out with guests for some sailing, but Matthew stayed alongside and was visited by many admiring folk - Skipper Ben Jones has been tied up for some of the time, making sure that crewman Derek is OK -  he got taken to Hospital and is suffering a bit, but will be fine and we're in constant touch with the French medical authorities and will make a decision soon on whether hes fit enough to return with the ship or will need to be repatriated by another route (maybe he could come back on  Dunkirk little ship like the good soldier he is!)   

09.00 excited conversation with Lou, off to do her laundry -  she is known as, shall we say, an extrovert character and usually wins personality of the year award for her excellent charm skills with passengers on the Bristol Ferries.  She said she loved every minute of the journey over the france, especially the rough stuff around Hartland and Lands End. People respond in two ways to such a situation, they either become fearful for their lives or like Lou, they whoop with Joy at the sheer wonder and magnitude of the tumultuous and chaotic conditions tossing their little craft that way and this.  

05,00 Thursday morning - ship has arrived in Calais and is moored up in the B assin Carnot. The English Channel was surprisingly quiet of ships until the last few hours approaching Calais when ships appeared from everywhere as the sun rose. The Bassin where the festival is is a bit like a long thin version of our Cumberland Basin in Bristol, fairly industrial, but this festival is part of a massive 10 year regeneration programme for the centre area of Calais and a reconnection with the towns fascinating maritime past is what its all about.

Wednesday morning - early approaching Dungeness - good boat speed, wind on the nose as it has been for the en tire trip!, but the sea state is good and we should make it across to catch the tidal window which will get us to Calais around 5 am high tide Thursday morning.

tuesday morning shipping forecast is giving easterly winds as the ship approaches the dover straits, which is not ideal -  and also annoyingly another south westerly blow is heading our way for the return journey from france next week -  hopefully we can get a good start away from france and get ahead of it a bit and maybe catch the tail to whisk us back across the channel and around lands end back towards bristol -  but thats getting a bit premature, lets get there first and enjoy this weekends festival

01.00 am tuesday 2nd june report from skipper ben jones on board ship -

currently due south of the isle of wight, making 8.5 knots speed over the ground, will kn ow in next 12 hours whether we will arrive in calais thursday morning or afternoon -  good progress today

08.55 Matthew passing Start point -  an important passage headland off south Devon -  The forecast is pretty good with gentle winds from many directions forecast, and a calm sea state, the only fly in the ointment might be a bit of brisker easterly wind as the ship heads for the narrows between dover and calais in around 40 hours time - it wouldnt be a proper matthew trip without a bit of dud weather just before arriving in port!!

0.700 1st June  -  Matthew slipped moorings from Mayflower Marina in Plymouth - crew rested and a few essential repairs carried out including to a bilge pump and a fuel line which was causing a bit of consternation and a nasty smell.

Considering the ship had such a bouncy time round Lands End, these were small prices to pay, plus of course a bit of mal de mere, but thats all sorted thanks to the superb showers and luxury baths at Mayflower. 

04.55 From Ben Jones -  skipper on board - cruised past Plymouth Breakwater as a beautiful sunrise unfolded in front of us -  safely moored up at Mayflower Marina -  spirits very high.

(Note from Rob back at base - well done to the crew who did this part of the trip, the weather always looked a bit iffy and theres nothing more tiring than the numerous capes and headlands you have to pass going round the far end of England, if the sea is a bit tempestuous -  I remember many years ago taking 2 days to beat past Lands end in a winter gale aboard a very leaky 72 ft Ketch, Many on board didn't care whether they lived or died at certain points of the voyage, but as we headed home up the BristoI Channel spirits soared and the bonding experience of such a trip is hard to put into words) -  more log entries and details of departure from Plymouth shortly . . 

17.00  sun 30th May

quick chat from ben on the ship -  sea much calmer, crew up on deck resting and those who suffered during the night are taking some food -  decision is to carry on across mounts bay, catch the last of the tide past the famous Lizard Point and head on for Plymouth. A deciding issue is the improving weather and the fact that all the moorings in the River Fal and Falmouth Marinas seem to be full -  this is probably because most sensisble people have seen the bank holiday weather forecast and decided not to venture out to sea!!

14.00 Ship passing Cape Cornwall, not far from Lands end, wind has dropped but roughish and confused seas, making the final course change to run along the English Channel a tricky one.  A few minor mechanical problems need sorting out with a pump and also to identify the source of a strong diesel smell -  stops being considered in Falmouth, Fowey or Plymouth

11.00 Sun 30th May a tough night and challenging conditions down the Cornish Coast reported from on board

08.45 Sun 30th May From Sacha Hall

The sun rose over our stern and Trevose Head ( near Padstow) slips past 8 miles or so to Port -  our watch has bounced back to three

midnight -  shipping forecast still got a fair bit of breeze in it - Sacha hall reports from on board that the ship is 10 miles south west of Hartland Point and making slow progress into a SW wind - his watch is down to 2 standing - (its impolite to ask which members of his watch are "resting")

17.50 Sat 29th May

Ben Jones reports that the ship has left its mooring in Clovelly and is now making passage for Plymouth via Lands End -  with a decent prospect of some Northerly winds which could mean good sailing down the rugged  Cornish Coast and past the famous Westerly landmark-

Sacha Hall reports that winds are gusting to 25 knots approaching Hartland Point - the forecast still contains a bit of brisk wind, but its gradually easing and so hopefully Matthew will catch the first wafts of gentler more helpful breeze over the coming few days to speed progress to France

23.30 Fri 28th May -  ship safely moored

From Sacha Hall on board 22.30 Fri 28th May

"as the sun went down a large school, of porpoises gave us a nice welcome into Bideford Bay and onwards to Clovelly -  the twinkling lights of the Red Lion in this spectacular cliff side village beckon and we hear there is a beer festival on this weekend - -  now theres a thing!" 

From Ben Jones on board 21.25 Fri 28th May

Ship just passing Baggy Point (Big headland a bit west of Ilfracombe) 10 miles to go to the shelter of Clovelly - ship speed 7.5 knots, can see the weather front which is predicted to contain gale force winds on the horizon - timing just perfect, we'll be moored up on a big bouy very soon and can wait for the weather front to pass and hopefully make Lands End on Sunday 

From Sacha Hall on board ship - 16.22 Friday afternoon -

just off Foreland Point -  not bad, no sea, down to 1.5 knots, tide turns in 2 hours, touch and go if we can make Padstow before the predicted blow comes through -

(another update expected as ship approaches Hartland Point) 

From Rob Salvidge.

Midday 28^th May

Ship is past the Holms and making good progress, although the Westerly winds are already brisk and a stopover in Padstow is maybe looking optimistic – however the sun is shining and lots of little jobs are being done to keep the ship tidy, including a good wash out of the bilges with nice clean Bristol Channel seawater!!!! – Very good for things after a winter of sitting in the harbour.

08.00 am 28^th May

Matthew locked out of Bristol at high water this morning in company with a motor cruiser and the rather splendid Looe Lugger White Heather.

Matthew is bound for a Maritime Festival in Calais and the plan is to try and get there by next Wednesday, but there’s a bit of a gale force south Westerly expected to brush the tip of Cornwall over the next 24 hours, so Skipper Ben Jones will probably have to seek shelter in either Padstow, or maybe further up the Devon Coast in Clovelly.

Ben has a stout crew of 7 on board – Sacha Hall is number 2 and is an extremely seasoned west country sailor having for many years been the sailing master on board the west Country Trading Schooner Kathleen and May. Lou is a veteran of a few brisk Matthew trips, across to France and up to London, whilst Colin (cross eyed) Coombes is a stalwart Matthew Volunteer who’s constantly checking things and making sure nothings banging around. Derek is a veteran sailor who’s done several offshore trips on board Matthew and has his own boat based in Plymouth – Lizzie is a little terrier around the place, Andrea is new to the ship, but everyone likes her and she comes highly recommended from a stint on board the replica frigate “Grand Turk” – Benedict joined us for a nice sunny cruise down the channel last weekend and is really getting into things, so they should all have a good time and hopefully won’t have to enjoy Cornish hospitality for too long before heading out across the channel for the Moule Frites and Burgundy!! 

Check back here for daily log updates…

EARLY SEASON NEWS

By the end of April, lots of Bristol sailors are getting a bit frustrated because not only has the weather been dreadful with a mixture of freezing, wet and windy conditions to try us through the winter, but also the necessary lock gate works at Cumberland Basin seem to have been dragging on for evert. We had to cancell a proposed shakedown just before Easter as a vicious North Westerly Gale whopped the West Country -  so we took a brief window on 16th and 17th to get out of the harbour and sail the Bristol Channel. In all honesty it was more of a drift as the massive high pressure which has been keep the volcanic ash cloud drifting above us, also means lightish flukey winds for the moment. No matter it gave us a wonderful opportunity to set lots of sails, play with them, work out any rigging lines that have ended up in the wrong place after the winter refit and generally enjoy each others company in glorious weather on board our wonderful ship. So for the those who saw us passing Clevedon piere and were wondering about the sail configuration - we set -  a Sprit sail; a course without bonnets on the fore mast;  A main course without bonnets and a top sail on the main mast; a Trysail between the main and the mizzen; and the Lateen sail on the mizzen.

So six sails and at the height of the afternoon breeze we managed to coax just over 2 knots of boat speed! Doesn't sound very impressive, however taking advantage of the tide too, we were able to virtually circumnavigate Steep Holm under sail - in fact some of our number went ashore in the dinghy as we were sailing so close and gracefully past ,  and that would have been a respectable performance in such conditions during Cabots time. On such a day hundreds of years ago, a merchant ship might have left King Road on the morning ebb and made it as far as the safe anchorages in Bridgwater bay before continuing their passage west over the next few days. In fact even with such sedate boat speed and making good use of our strong tides, a passage to Southern Ireland could be acheived in maybe 4 days, which was quite satisfactory.

So we had a marvellous day, checking out also all our safety equipment, drills and routines and switching on the engine to head for home off Weston as the Volcano ash induced ruby red sunset started to form.

There was hardly any moon so as it got dark and we entered the River Avon, this wonderful winding route took on its most mysterious mantle - the lights of the Suspension Bridge drew the usual admiring remarks from those on board who were River Avon at night Virgins and the orange glow of  Bristol harbour came into view.

The only down side to the whole adventure was a close encounter with a submerged lock gate top as we passed through the into the Cumberland Basin on the level, as we call it (tidal height 9.6 metres, so no need for an actual locking in process)

For reasons yet to be fully understood, only one leaf of the lock gates was opened for us and there was a strong outward flow of tidal water, which forced us to collide with the lock gate - the damage is confined to two of the clamps - or exterior frames -  which are a distinguishing feature of the Matthew -  not really designed for negotiating modern marinas and docks with lots of sticky out low down pontoons, sills and bollards etc - 

we've raided the piggy bank, bought some nice new oak and the damage will be repaired on the slipway in Bristol this coming week.

Still waiting for final confirmation, but this week we also expect to tie up our summer sailing programme which should include a trip to France in a few weeks -  check back here often for more of the captain and crew musings.

2009 VOYAGES - These were mostly local to the Bristol channel but were nevertheless very exciting. Ben Jones said it was "very exciting" to skipper the ship to Sharpness, meaning that it was a bit blinking scarey to be swept up the River Severn on one of the highest tides of the year with the current swirling along at up to 8 knots! He did actually say it was a "bit blinking scarey" later on in the year when he was at the helm as the Matthew got hit by lightning whilst crusing around Cardiff Bay during her sojurn in South Wales. Less dramatic in some ways was the trip down towards Lundy with a small crew on board to rendezvous with a BBC film crew who joined us in Ilfracombe. Star presenter Dan Snow was among them and we had a very pleasant day under sail as he told stories of Drake and Frobisher for a new documentary series about the great "Masters of the Sea". The highlight of the day was the hour or so we were joined by a helicopter from Castle Air which buzzed around and by all accounts got some really spectacular shots of the ship. Ben Jones and our on board medic/rib skipper let their hair down on the return journey by indulging in a spot of waterskiing, the only let down of the whole trip was drifting into Lynmouth Bay for a possible overnight anchor stop but discovering that the Fish and Chip shop was closed!

Rob Salvidge took the helm for the voyage to Cardiff for their August Bank Holiday festival - it was a long old slog as the weather on the Friday preeceeding the bank holiday weekend was alarming and biblical. Great clashings of thunder and lightining, huge black squall clouds a confusion of wind and waves and that was just in the harbour in Bristol. It was a tentative crew that set out at midnight and ghosted down the River Avon hoping that the dramatic drop in wind speed would continue acropss the channel and not too much of a battering would be experienced. As it happened we took our time and the crossing was fine, we were just all exhausted even before the festival started but we had such a huge and excited crowd of people on board that it was well worth the effort. By all reports the following weekends festival in Barry was also a warm and wonderful affair and we've still got a few days out sailing ahead of us for another BBC thing. This time the presenter is the ledgendary traditional sailor author Tom Cunliffe. Even if you've never been to many of the ports on either side of the English Channel a leisurley browse through his seminal Pilot book takes you past every awkward rock and tricky navigation beacon and into ther teeniest of French quayside bars or tucked away taverns this side of La Manche. 

2008 Sailing Programme - Matthew had plenty of good sailing during summer 2008 and fortunately managed to dodge the worst of the unseasonal gales. We had a storming cruise along the Cornish Coast past Lands End and the Lizard during the early part of of the season - sailing into Salcombe in the dark was fun and dodging Royal Navy ships on excercise going into Plyumouth was also interesting. But the highlight of our summer was the trip to Brest where we experienced close quarters manouvering during the night time parades of sail that was quite extraordinary. Hundreds of sailing vessels out on the water in the pitch black and all trying to enter the harbour to thrill thousands of spectators at the same time -  or so it seemed.

We entertained thousands of people on board and had some wonderful sailing to and from the lovely port of Douarnanez.

Isles of Scily on the way back was wonderful too and we did the polite thing and stopped at many other pretty places on the way back like St Ives and Ifracombe.

Bristol has been a bit blowy during the later part of the year, but we had a good trip up the Severn to Gloucester and also a nice run across to Cardiff for the Bank Holiday festival at which we are always made very welcome.

2008 Sailing Programme - Click here for a write up about our latest adventures

2001 Channel Voyages - This year the Matthew ventures forth once more, taking paying passengers for the first time as she makes her way towards Portsmouth for the Festival of the Sea

1998 Return Voyage - In 1998 the Matthew crossed the Atlantic again to return home to Bristol via France

1997 North America - After the trans-Atlantic trip, the Matthew toured Newfoundland and down the coast to Boston before wintering in Toronto

1997 Atlantic Voyage - The voyage for which the Matthew was built, the recreation of John Cabot's discovery of North America

1996 Sea Trials - The maiden voyage to London and back and trips to Ireland and France