Ups and Downs of being at sea

We haven't had as much time to update as possible so apologies for those of you following our progress. Here is a brief run down of the past 4 days which will be expanded on at the weekend.

Day 1 launch from Saltash: A fab run down the Tamar, we did that in just 40ish minutes! We nipped into Cawsand for lunch and then headed back out rounding Rame Head and into Whitsand Bay. Unfortunately, over halfway across a nasty chop set up and exhaustion crept into the picture. 6.9 miles off Looe the guys loaded myself and Lowen (the kayak!) into the rib and we headed for our mooring. All in all about 11 miles paddled so not too bad. Mixed conditions and I really appreciated how important the guys were to this project.

• Definition: The Guys Dan Webb and James "Call Me Jim" (or was it Jim "Call Me James?!!) Evans who very kindly gave up paid work to potter alongside a slow moving kayak with a sometimes grumpy paddler and pull said paddler out of the water when disaster/bad conditions/exhaustion hit. HEROES!!!

Day 2 Launch from Looe: What a morning run!! Dead flat calm and I averaged 4 knots for 2.5 hours until lunch stop at Fowey. Jim topped up his tan whilst Dan drove, and we all were a little red in the face come lunch, not just from sunburn but from all the cheeky one liners and dirty jokes that had been bantered around! Afternoon progress was slower, crossing St Austell bay the current and wind turned against us, meaning a lot of correcting strokes on my part. All this resulted in the guys pulling me into the boat 1.6 miles off our target of Mevagissey. It came down to carrying on and injuring myself, scuppering the whole project, or get into the boat and get it done. I got in the boat!

From here on in we were living in a VW camper, 1979 model, very well driven by Mum! She has been a legend, arranging moorings and getting us from place to place. Again, it makes me realise how without a good team with you, projects like this just don't work. Well Done Mum!!

Day 3: Blown out! The guys took the RIB around the Dodman to Falmouth whilst Mum and I drove the kayak topped van round. The winds were just too strong, and conditions too rough for kayaking. However, we had a lovely fun chillaxing afternoon in Falmouth, soaking and steaming our aching bodies at the local pool. We unfortunately said goodbye to Jim that evening as he headed back to work. Deserter!! (Not really, his efforts were greatly appreciated, as was the banter and the view!)

Day 4: Dan and I launched from Falmouth at 1:30pm and stormed round to Coverack in just 2.5 hours!! I was averaging about 3.5 knots and the conditions were great!! The paddle boarding in from the rib to beach from our mid-bay morring was hilarious!! Video to follow!!

So here we are having dinner just tapping into the restaurant wi-fi. More updates will follow at the weekend, or sooner if we can manage it. Wish I had a camera right now though, the proprietor's face when Dan asked for a Macchiato was priceless!! (Me and my fancy London ways!! - Dan)

An expanded version of these days will follow at some point, as will pictures and video. Keeping our fingers crossed, but tomorrow doesn't look good for The Liazard. Ah well, we'll see what we can do!

Sara x