Moonraker - Berry Head 

For anyone interested in a bit more detail on the sailing/anchoring side of things, here is a detailed account from Captain Bob himself! In the bay below the Moonraker stance It is sandy about 50 metres out, so I first dropped a plough anchor there, and dug it in by reversing and progressively increasing engine revs. You know when you have the anchor in, as two ‘transit’ sight marks on your beam stop moving relative to each other, once it has buried itself in the sand. There are rocks nearer the crag and anchor chain can wrap around these, so I left a tripping line and buoy at the anchor end, thus giving you the choice of two ends of chain to pull on if things become tangled (though we didn’t have to resort to this). However, we avoided grief in this area by backing up to the rockface, and sending Nick out on two boat’s ropes (old climbing ropes, of course) with a rack of old-style rigid friends. Whist hanging from one arm, he got a placement near sea level and attached an old crab and running rope back to the boat. Nick then traversed 15 metres to the right and repeated the operation, leaving Erin with a good long taught anchor chain and two friend placements - something I’ve never seen on Cloggy, or even Tremadog, for that matter. Anyhow, with that set-up in place, Sandy (a recent yacht owner himself, but born in Fort William, and with a few decades of ice climbing [and adrenalin experience] behind him), was able to work the boat back and forth on its three good points of contact, depending on the sea state and climber’s needs. The friends were considered as expendable, and at any time Sandy could have aborted, putted in the back ropes, pulled out to sea and retrieved the anchor, and beat it to the shelter of Brixham harbour. The day was clear, but the inland waters forecast had the wind increasing during the day, so I put several contingency plans in place, should Sandy have to abort the anchorage. On viewing the boat from the top of the climb, the sway looked alarming. Before abseiling, I said to Nick and Dave that I’d give a long blast on the ship’s horn if it was ok for them to come down, or two short ones to say ‘stay on top, retrieve your gear and help Emma up from her filming ledge, and we’ll meet you in Brixham. Fortunately arrival at the boat wasn’t so bad, due to Sandy’s deft use of a boat hook, so all three of us managed the abseil. It was too lumpy to pick up Emma as the sea was now quite spirited, but Sandy and I managed to drop Nick and Dave on the other side of the headland, with me circling in Erin, and him manning the dinghy. From their welcome return to dry land, they soon recovered their balance and were able to get back over to Emma and retrieve all gear. Sandy and I then had a cracking good sail back to the Exe Estuary, where Erin lives. All in all, a Grand Day Out! Bob Watson

Really enjoyed this - thanks for sharing :)

Incredible. And inspiring

Superb! Great tp see the best of our coastline.

Wonderful time out Dave...some really fantastic shots. Great to see the climb and scale. I enjoyed the moves. Fluid rhythms like swimming. Ha ha..strictly come climbing. Like it! All the best. Mark.

Excellent video. Great climbing, and very well put together!

Loving your videos David, amazing footage and beautifully produced!

Well done Bob!

brilliant filming, and climbing, the swell in the yacht must have been very uncomfortable for the crew left behind, well done guys you did it.

Well done Dave! Great to see Cap'n Bob looking so chuffed at the end. Pure magic : ) Took some gumption and fair weather to get the boat in there, was it anchored or just tethered to the rock? I'm intrigued about how you all stopped it smashing itself to bits with the swell.

A fantastic day doing something quite unusual.