Second time lucky

Further to my last post, it turned out that Andrew did leave Pendennis last Monday 4th November but because the weather forecast was bad, he picked up a mooring near the Greenbank hotel.

I got an email from his wife to say he was hoping to leave around midday on Monday 11th, so at 11.45 I legged it down to Greenbank pier with my camera. No sign of the sail covers being removed, so I hung around for a while, had a text from Alyson, his wife, and then thought I’d nip up and borrow Mr B’s telescope.

We watched out of his window for a while then I thought I’d better go home as I could just see the sail covers from my front window. Nearly two hours later, I looked out of the window – and the mainsail was being hoisted! I texted Mr B and ran down the hill once more with camera. Got to Greenbank Gardens and saw Andrew on board, making final preparations. I sent another text to Mr B saying, “We are watching history in the making.”

Then the jib was hoisted, and Elsi Arrub sped forwards. I was so excited, and so emotional by this time, clicking away at pictures as fast as I could, wishing we’d had some notice so we could have gone out in Echo to take better pictures and given him a good send off.

As it was, I jumped up and down and waved, shouting, “Good luck Andrew!”. He looked over, saw me and waved back. And then he was off, tacking towards the docks, and just then the sun came out and lit the sails like a blessing.

Andrew’s wife rang then so I told her he was off with a good enough wind to set him on his way (he has no engine so wind is crucial!) and headed back up to see Mr B. “I was emotional too,” he said, “and I haven’t even met the guy. That’s some undertaking.”

Andrew’s hoping to return to Falmouth next December and I’m determined to get out on the water to take some great pictures of his triumphant return.