May Sailing – Wildlife rich and crowds free

Home Waters – Let a local skipper show you the secret spots

A time for most vessels to showcase their home sailing grounds, before they set off for summer festivals or long distance cruising. Pilot Cutter Tallulah has the Western Approaches as her stomping ground and Pilgrim can show you South Devon from a historic Brixham Trawlers perspective. Provident is already well into her Scottish season.

Eye of the Wind is based in the Baltic. Santa Maria Manuela can show you her locals view of Portugal, Spain, Azores and Mediterranean.

The Roving Boats set off their favourite sailing grounds

Grayhound and Trinovante are straight into their roving ways and setting watches to distant destinations. Trinovante often heads straight from her East Coast home port to Orkney or Shetland

Tecla loves Scotland, Iceland and Greenland so she is already making her way North again – in stages – towards a North West Passage, when the Arctic sea melts late summer. She loves Ullapool in the far NW of Scotland as one of her many ‘second homes’

Scotland – Early Season

Provident is based in Scotland so she is the first off the blocks for sailing in the Hebrides. She has heating below decks and a sheltered doghouse at deck level with windows if you need a warm up.

Early Summer in the Mediterranean

Santa Maria Manuela is based in Portugal, The Azores, Madeira and Canaries are her home sailing ground but she also dips into the Mediterranean in Springtime to early summer.

Soak up the culture, the buzz of being alongside in waterfront ports and enjoy the island anchorages before the summer tourists descend. Southern Spain, Portugal, The Balearic islands of Mallorca, Ibiza and Minorca, or sometimes Corsica and Sardinia by tall ship.

You really don’t want to be below decks on a yacht in the peak summer in the Mediterranean, unless you want to burn diesel to run the air conditioning. That’s our climate saving view anyway…

Wildlife in May – lots of breeding going on

Our top tips for best voyages for Wildlife in May would be – An open boat wild camping adventure on Outdoor Girl in Cornwall. The seas are crystal clear as the plankton has not yet bloomed but the seabirds are breeding. Sail and row deep into Cornwall’s drowned river valleys and salt marsh on an open boat that only draws 60cm. Sail past sea cliffs in Devon on Pilgrim or beach clean and wildlife spot in Cornwall on Tallulah. See June sailing for peak wildlife opportunities in Scotland, including puffins.

Pilot Cutter Review and other festivals in May

On of the earliest festivals of the year where pilot cutters gather in Fowey and race to St Mawes for some close quarters sailing in Falmouth Bay. Its a great scene for budding marine photographers, artists and lovers of wooden boats.