Holyhead South, a varied day

Getting anywhere from Holyhead means working with the tides. The tidal gate round South Stack can be very complicated, but between HW Dover +4 and +5 we found a sweet spot, where the tide is with you, and there are no overfalls. At +4 there is even a helpful tide from Holyhead Harbour to South Stack. Today, to make this window, we needed to clear Holyhead harbour at 04:30.

I woke at 03:40, which gave me a relaxed doze until 04:00 when the alarm went . We were both on deck by 04:15, to find the night just about lit by the moon and the beginning of a brightening although overcast sky. and I put the engine on to warm up and launched Worm, which was hauled out on the pontoon, while Julian sorted Robinetta's lines. The wind was still from the north and felt strong, probably a top end 4, and was holding us off the pontoon. I got Julian to pull the bow in as I backed out, so he stepped on board via the foredeck.

The wind immediately pushed the bow out and turned us, but we were clear of the boat next to us, and we backed clear without problems.

Julian got the bowsprit out and bent on the no 2 jib as I motored along inside the breakwater. We had been thinking of the no 1, but the wind felt too strong for that. The nearly full moon gave enough light for me to see where I was going, but I suddenly realised that running lights would be a good idea, and Julian dashed below to turn them on and hook up the stern light. The new fitting meant it switched on without problems, and even looked brighter than before.

We raised the main with a couple of turns of reef left round the boom to balance the no 2 jib, then headed out past the end of the breakwater. We were immediately in large swells, but they were regular and spaced far enough apart not to feel threatening. We had a great motor sail along the outside of the breakwater heading for North Stack, and saw 2 ferries heading in past us. We were well away from their route and we caused each each other no problems.

Robinetta's foredeck had still been mucky from the mooring we picked up on Wednesday morning, but by the time we reached South Stack it had had a good wash. We were charging along at nearly 6 knots, but were not tempted to turn off the engine. The tide would turn against us soon, and we needed all the distance we could make.

We were clear of South Stack by 05:30, but had to pass through a narrow belt of overfalls trailing off it. They were very minor, and we got through without any bumping around. Only a cable south of the overfalls Robinetta felt as though she had entered a different sea. Low and gentle swell replaced the steep waves and on our new course due south the wind was from almost directly behind, so felt much lighter. We put George on the helm, and Julian shook out the reef, then I went forward to rig the preventer and change the jib up to the no 1.

Our next tidal gate lay in Bardsey Sound. Julian's course in the chart plotter that assumed we would not make it in time for slack water. The north wind was forecast to go south west, and if it turned before we reached the Sound we should not go through, even with the tide. Wind over a 7 knot tide is not something to take lightly.

We turned the engine off at 07:00 while we ate breakfast, but by the time we finished eating our porridge the tide was no longer with us, and Robinetta slowed noticeably. The engine went back on to keep us at 4 knots, but we soon settled down at just over 3, even with all sails flying and the engine on.

By 09:00 the tide was well against us and the wind being straight astern and light could not help the engine much. We slowed to a 2 knot crawl south. By noon the main was doing nothing, so we decided to lower it, at which point it caused us much grief. The sail refused to flake well (we were lowering the sail on the run, so this was not really a surprise) and we discovered just now much it had been steadying Robinetta against the swell. We had not noticed this with the sail up at all.

Once everything was lashed into place we had lunch. Speed over the ground was averaging over 3 knots again, and Bardsey Sound opened ahead of us. The tide began to set us towards it and it was time to decide if we should take the short cut. The wind had died to nothing and the tidal stream atlas in our “Cruising Anglesey and Adjoining Waters” pilot showed nothing nasty in the way of overfalls and whirlpools for the time, despite stating that the Sound should only by traversed at slack water. At 13:50 I took George off the helm and steered for the Sound.

Lleyn side of Bardsey Sound

The sea was a little confused, but far from being overfalls. For the first ten minutes Robinetta needed to ferry glide to stop her being carried towards Bardsey, but once I was certain we were past Maen Bugail, an outlying rock at the north end of the Island, I straightened up and pointed Robinetta straight through the centre of the Sound. Max speed was 7.2 knots and the seas here were smooth, with the occasional oily swirl of tidal rosts. It felt a little like being back in Orkney.

We saw a trip boat heading back from Bardsey. It came close to us, and when we waved the passengers waved back. The sun came out and we peeled off layers of clothes. Julian even went down to shorts and put on suncream. Three hours before we had been in full oilskins with fleeces beneath and now we were both in shirtsleeves. Ah, August in Wales!

George went back to work on the helm as soon as we were clear of Bardsey and we motored past Aberdaron and Porth Neigwl in the sunshine. The glittering sea shone grey, not blue, and clouds covered more of the sky than not, but all in all a lovely afternoon. Our short cut had saved us 2 hours, and we would be in Pwllheli in good time for dinner.

St Tudwal's Island

Then the day got even better. A light breeze came up, and we could see yachts with their sails up. One was about to sail into St Tudwal's Sound, and we decided to do the same. We sent George below, then up went the main sail, out went the jib, and we turned off the engine to sail slowly between the mainland and St Tudwal's Islands in the sunshine. We were running, but with a totally flat sea there was no real risk of an accidental gybe.

Abersoch Bay

As we cleared the sound we could see Abersoch ahead, and hardened up slightly to head in. We tried contacting the sailing club there to see if there was a mooring we could use, but could not reach anyone who could give us the okay. I turned Robinetta away towards Pwllheli, and the sailing was so lovely and gentle that I was glad to keep going. Any necessary gybes were done by just pulling the sail over rather than hauling in first, but we were still making 3 knots. The sea and sky were both blue, we were ringed by mountains on all sides (almost), the scenery was amazing... This was North Wales at its best.

Running toward Pwllheli

I gave Julian the helm as we got close to Pwllheli so he could share the helming joy, then called the marina on the VHF and asked for a berth. We sailed to the start of the entrance channel, then got the sails down and headed in. We were moored up at 19:10 after a wonderful end to a long day on the water.