Bessie Ellen

04/09/2026

Volunteers say they need to find funding for repairs to the Kathleen and May by Christmas.

01/09/2026

On Monday the 31st of August Bessie Ellen flew out of Fowey to meet Pellew at our rendezvous of Dodman point, as we rounded the headland we caught a glimpse of our rivals for the first time since we left Penzance.

Tensions were running high as we knew now was our opportunity to put an end to the summer long rivalry.

As we met at the start line sharp words were exchanged and Our team mascot Bracken made sure they knew what he thought he thought of them.

Then we were off, in a pretty orderly fashion… Unfortunately the good ship Bessie Ellen fell to leeward pretty quickly handing Pellew the windward advantage, we had to put in a couple of unplanned tacks to make our way to the arranged finish line of St Mawes harbour.

However do not fear Bessie Ellen and her voyage crew had one more trick up their salty sleeves.

The ‘unbiased’ race officer (Bessie Ellen’s skipper) has since decided that the race was unusually - well unusual to those of you on board Pellew - a first boat to anchor sort of arrangement.
And given our rivals were planning on coming alongside us in St Mawes...we won.

Dropping anchor to allow our rivals and the losers to come alongside, Pellew received a DNF and their finish time remains outstanding as they are out sailing today and probably won’t anchor until this evening.

Luke let us know when you drop your hook!

We would like to stress that this is an unbiased and objective account to the days proceedings.

19/08/2026

19/08/2026

The Isles of Scilly regatta has happened once a week for the past three weeks, to entertain both guests and crew we have been racing Pellew @ Working Sail Ltd out of Penzance and along the coast out into the waters between Cornwall and scilly. This week was particularly exciting with strong winds in our favour Bessie’s top speed was 10 knots 💨

The first week of the race Pellew took the win sailing past us in light winds, Pellew had a significant advantage.

Week two was rather less dignified. With barely a breath of wind, we chose to retire from the race in favour of our engine, choosing the practical and deeply unromantic option of arriving in Scilly in time for supper.

Week three was the real show down, with the wind finally behaving itself, both boats remained neck and neck for much of the race, dancing around each other it really was quite a spectacle.

After an exciting battle we are delighted to announce that Bessie came out on top, beating Pellew to our anchorage on St Agnes

After three weeks, the score stands at one win apiece… with week two officially classified as an engine-assisted tactical withdrawal. The rivalry continues.

12/08/2026