Lowen
Early on in this balmy Cornish summer we set sail on Lowen, our 1978 Westerly Centaur, navigating in the direction of the Helford river. The crew for this voyage being my family and our Staffy Sally who proudly boasted her life jacket barking at passers-by from the bow.We sailed away from Mylor, passing Falmouth Town, Black Rock and Pendennis Castle before changing tack leaving St. Mawes to our stern and Swanpool beach off to Starboard as we gently sailed towards the Lizard peninsula.
We anchored in a small cove amongst a handful of other boats and bathed on deck in the sun, explored the cove and sat sipping G&T’s and frosty Coronas with fresh lime. The other boats had only stayed for lunch and soon we could barely make out their sails as they disappeared around the corner.
We lit the BBQ and watched lazily as the coals caramelised our chicken kebabs to the sounds of the sea and trees near by. As the sun set there was a splashing sound as hundreds of mackerel shoaled around us before heading upstream, I cast over the shoal and watched my son land his first Mackerel which actually turned out to be three.
The wind dropped, the stars came out and we chatted late into the night before being rocked to sleep on the ebb and flow of the tide.
Lowen is Cornish for happy, these are happy days.
Words by Chef Hylton Espey
