Heading Back Down

 We spent a peaceful night on the Yorkhill pontoon. This is a council run pontoon, and needs to be booked ahead. 

We left the pontoon at 09:55, as soon as we saw that the bridge had swung open. We had meant to follow Waverley through it, but leaving before her meant we might be able to get to the Renfrew bridge and share the swing there too rather than needing our own.

We got a great view of the Glenlee as we motored towards the bridge. 

Waverley took a lot longer to get moving than we expected, and she did not come past us until we were passing Braehead. 

Her wake kicked up a in the narrow channel, reflecting back from the sides to toss us about quite a bit. I was glad we had not waited to follow her under the Govan-Partick bridge.

The tide was against us, so we had the engine on full revs to try not to fall too far behind Waverley as she headed for the Renfrew bridge. I was very aware that this was a road bridge. They had promised to keep it open for us until 11:30 if they needed to, but we made it by 11:00, and they closed it behind us immediately.

Once we were through the bridge I lowered the revs, and spent more time looking round. There was quite a bit of rubbish in the river, but the most immediately obvious was this sewage treatment? outflow. It smelt like laundry liquid, and foamed up like it too.

The river was very quiet until we passed Old Kirkpatrick. After this we saw a tug heading up stream, and a small cabin cruiser. Several yachts passed us as we got to the Tail of the Bank, heading upstream to the James Watt marina.

There was one large ship motoring down river after us, I first spotted her as we passed Dumbarton, but she kept the the speed limit, and we were clear of the channel before she reached Greenock.

What little wind there was was on the nose or close to it all the way down river, and even when we had space to raise the main sail it was too light to use. All the yachts we saw were motoring, and our engine stayed on and only our stay sail up all the way back to our mooring. We got there at high water, making for a much easier trip ashore in Worm. She had stayed tied peacefully to the buoy while we were away. This was one of the few trips that she did not join us on.

The Upper Clyde

I'm full of hair brained plans this year. I heard that today was 'Trail West Fest' in Glasgow. It was quite expensive and I wasn't sure if I wanted to see all the bands. But there was an official after party you could buy tickets for that was a cèilidh dance. It was only £20 but it was 10pm to 2am. So we couldn't use public transport.

But then I spotted it was only a short walk from the Riverside Museum and there is a free Council run pontoon there. So I bought tickets to the dance and filled in the pontoon booking.

They took my booking but said we would need bridge lifts.

The last time I looked into going up the Clyde to Glasgow, I wanted to use the Plantation Quay pontoon to visit the BBC offices at Pacific Quay. I couldn't do it because they broke the Millennium Bridge and they show no sign of getting it working to open again.

Since then, two new bridges have been built across the Clyde. They both replace ferries.

The Govan-Partick Bridge is a footbridge between Govan and the Riverside Museum. We used it recently to go to a concert in Govan, taking the train to Partick. 

The Renfrew Bridge is the first opening road bridge over the Clyde.

Neither bridge has a high enough air draft for Robinetta to sneak under.

The 'official' skippers guide to the Clyde, including the Upper Clyde, is published by Peel Ports. The most recent is the 5th edition and it's really hard to find. I eventually tracked down a working link to a PDF, hidden inside another PDF. It predates both bridges and the accession of King Charles III. The only email for Peel Ports bounces.

Peel Ports engagement with the leisure boating community is woeful. They were intending to levy £100 a year to all boaters in the whole of the Clyde Estuary. They were sent home with their tail between their legs by everyone from the Scottish Government to the RYA and the marina companies. I'm not holding my breath for a new guide.

But the bridge management staff don't work for Peel Ports and are wonderful. We coordinated our upstream journey and they arranged opening times with lots of extra time in case we were late. It turned out we would be coming back down on the Sunday about the same time as Waverley and a combined opening would work. I let them know we couldn't keep up with Waverley and they understood.

The tides were great for taking the flood up but not so good for the Rosneath end. We got Worm down to the beach about 8am. Low water springs. There was 100 yards of mussel bed exposed that we normally row over. Also, it's very flat, so getting afloat was tricky.

We got Worm near the water on the trolley. We usually carry her a much shorter distance.

I had to drag her across the shells in bare feet to get her deep enough to float. But we managed.

We usually row inside Carraig an Roin. But there was so little water we decided to outside. We got Robinetta ready to go and left Worm on the mooring. We got the main up passing Rhu Marina and had a nice broad reach towards the Cockle Bank. 

I had estimated we would have enough water by 11am to get through the channel between Cockle Bank and Pillar Bank.

Alison disagreed. She insisted we head to the No 2 red at the Tail o' the Bank. She was right. We clipped the western end of the Greenock Bank and there was far less water over it than the charts and tidal predictions suggested. We saw less than 1/2 m under the keel at one point.

Safe in the channel, we made our way up river. The wind was now right behind, and neither of us wanted to run up such a narrow channel. We stowed the main and pottered up under tick over with 3 knots of tide.

The river looks wide as far as the Erskine Bridge but the navigable channel is very narrow. It's a pretty and fascinating trip, once passed the industrial docks at Port Glasgow.

Near Dumbarton, the Waverley passed us on her way to Dunoon and Tighnabruich. She gave us a happy toot on her whistle!

The tide was weaker from now on and we used the engine to arrive at the bridges on time.

Once under the Erskine Bridge it becomes a much narrower river and the channel is the full width. It becomes much more urban.

It's about three nm between each Bridge. The Renfrew Bridge opened as we got to it and closed behind us. Our timing was very good and I talked to them on the phone. They were really friendly.

It took the foot bridge people a long time to clear the pedestrians off the bridge. The people didn't seem to understand that the little boat they were watching couldn't get past them until they left the bridge.

We circled round until finally, they got the bridge open. It must be hard wanting the public to have a great experience of the bridge while trying to herd them off it!

We were on the pontoon at 3pm. Everything had gone to plan and the bridge staff had been super.

We relaxed until 5pm and then went for a light meal. Lovely. 

About 8pm, Waverley came in.

motoring home

 Julian got up at 1 a.m. to look for meteors, and did see two, but the sky was partially overcast, and there was more light pollution than we had hoped. However we spent a very peaceful night at anchor, with Robinetta and Worm hardly moving.

The overcast night meant there was no point getting up before dawn to have another look for meteors, but we were awake by 6, and the anchor was up by 06:30. This gave us a little helpful tide past Colintraive then slack water down the East Kyle. Julian got the main sail up after we passed the ferry, then went below and cooked porridge for breakfast. I was being spoilt, as there was nothing for me to do except keep on eye on "George" to make sure he was steering straight. 

Julian went below to get more sleep after breakfast, while I stayed on watch until we were nearly at Toward. There was finally enough wind to be worth trying to sail, so I called below to warn Julian, and he came up on deck. George went off duty, and Julian took over as the engine went off. Unfortunately the wind did not last. We managed to sail until just after the Toward Cardinal, and then the engine, (and George) took over again.

We saw only one yacht trying to sail in the Clyde, the other three yachts we saw were motoring. Waverly steamed past us again, then as we reached Cloche Point there were the ferries. I had hoped for a little sailing breeze at this point, but the air seemed still, and we lowered the main without going head to wind. We even took the jib down and stowed it to save time once we got back to our mooring.

We were back on our home mooring half an hour before high water, and rowing away just after, with a fully laden dinghy. Julian had been away for 6 weeks, and I had for 4. It felt good to be home again. 

Lazy Day

We rowed ashore this morning to take a look at Millport. I came here at least once as a child but I only remember the aquarium.

It's a pleasant spot but the view of the harbour is the best bit. The new protection wall doesn't spoil the view at all. The small islands are really pretty, and Little Cumbrae and Arran make a lovely backdrop.

The little museum is interesting. The story is unambiguously that the Cumbraes were part of Sudrey and that the name is Norse. The name probably means that the people spoke Cumbric, as opposed to the Gaelic of Argyll.

We rowed back towards Robinetta, saying good morning to Graham from Carrie as he passed us. The Wylo we had seen in Brodick Bay had turned up over night. It was Graunuaile, so we rowed over to say hello to Richard. He's been to the outer Hebrides and Man too, this summer.

Then we set off. The Perseid meteor shower should be good tonight and I wanted to be somewhere with dark skies. The Kyle's of Bute fit the bill. We decided to go up the west of Bute to get there. A good decision. It's really lovely. Just enough wind came up to let us sail at 1.5 to 2 knots for a couple of hours. We might have got a bit further but we had an OGA zoom meeting so we motored the last bit, but not before we were passed by the Waverley again.

No rush

We stayed three nights on the Brodick visitor moorings, going ashore in Worm in order to catch the bus and do some sightseeing. Arran is advertised as “Scotland in miniature” and even in the wet weather we had there was plenty to enjoy.

The weather promised to be dry on Monday, with light north westerly winds. We went ashore to buy bread and pies, then came back to Robinetta and got ready to leave. I turned the engine on to warm up, but we raised the main and stay sails on the mooring and Julian sailed Robinetta very slowly away at 09:00.

We were not in a hurry, and dawdling along at 2 knots gave us an opportunity to deploy the mackerel line. Four fish jumped onto it, so Julian put 2 of them back, leaving us one each for lunch.

By 10:40 the wind had died away to nothing, so we put the engine back on, set George to work helming, and admired the scenery. We were heading for Millport, the main town on Great Cumbrae, maybe just for a lunch stop, maybe overnight. It was lovely to have no agenda.

After an hour the wind got up enough to sail again, so we turned the engine off, but kept George at work, using our solar panel to power him. The sky was blue, the seas were flat, and the visibility was perfect. We could even see the Paps of Jura over the Kintyre peninsula. Waverly came out from between the Cumbraes, possibly heading for Brodick, and I could see 12 yachts under sail. A little more wind would not have hurt, but otherwise conditions were wonderful.

We got the sails down before heading into the Cumbrae channel. We had never been into Cumbrae before, and our chart plotter did not show the breakwater that has been created between off lying rocks to give better shelter, so it seemed sensible to enter under engine although Julian did have up to date charts on his phone.

There are 14 visitor moorings at Millport, and every one of them was taken when we got there. We were wondering if we should go on, or anchor, when the yacht Scooby-Doo came past. We have seen her before at Holy Loch, and he called out that it was good to see Robinetta again. I shouted over that all the moorings were taken, to which he replied, “That’s what anchors are for.”

He was right. I set out 20m of chain, and we dropped anchor next to Scooby-Doo. Five minutes later there was a vacant mooring. In the next 30 minutes at least 5 moorings came free, but the yachts kept coming as well as leaving, and they were never available for long. Once of the yachts that arrived was Carrie, a Heard 23 we had seen at Peel and that lives in the Clyde. We invited her skipper over for a cup of tea, then settled down for a quiet evening.

An unpleasant Start

We woke a little early and started moving. Alison had remembered last thing yesterday that we needed to rearrange the rope on the ladder so both ends were above water at high tide. Whew. They were only one rung out of the water this morning.

Alison prepared the boat and I went up the ladder and dropped the power cable and the bow and stern lines down.

We were ready to go, except for the ladder line, by the time the engine had warmed up. I pulled the stern in and let go the ladder and Alison expertly manoeuvred us round the tight corner out of the inner harbour.

So far, so good.

The sea state didn't look any worse than the conditions in the outer harbour, so we carried on and I went to the fore deck to get the bowsprit out and the jib bent on.

We had meant to get the cover off the staysail before leaving, but had forgotten.

As we got into the narrow, rocky, entrance, Alison shouted that there was very little power coming from the engine. But we were committed now, with no room to turn around. We would have to get out if we wanted to get in again.

The sea state in the entrance wasn't what we expected. A short chop was coming straight in, making Robinetta pitch uncomfortably.

I got the bowsprit out, but Alison was desperate to have the staysail to give us a bit more speed. Getting the cover off was hard work. I was hanging on tight with my upper arms while the boat pitched and I tried to undo the clips and the zip. Even getting the halyard shackled on was fraught with the risk of dropping the pin.

I managed.

Alison got the sail up and it did pull. We got up from 1 1/2 to maybe 2 knots, and gradually got out of the entrance into safe water. But the sea was still pitching Robinetta violently.

I got the jib on eventually, and the staysail and jib covers dropped through the fore hatch. The port hinge is coming loose again.

I had two ropes and two fenders up at the bow. I managed to pass the fenders and one hanked rope back to the cockpit and tied the other rope around my waist and to the lines running across the cabin top and made my way back.

It had taken 1/2 an hour and it hadn't been easy.

The cockpit was crowded with ropes and fenders. Alison had been just as busy steering as I had been. I got the remaining ropes hanked and that helped a lot. Alison could now move over so I could get everything stowed.

We got on course. Now we were rolling, rather than pitching. The engine was working now. Perhaps the prop had caught some weed and it had slipped off.

OK. There was a decent wind. We got the main up, keeping the small reef in to balance the no 2 jib. It was a beam reach. Life was getting better. We turned the engine off. 

By 7am we were sailing nicely towards Corsewall Point.  I checked a few options. Arran still seemed nearest, apart from Girvan, which was now too close.

Lamlash came first, but the moorings at Brodick are free, and Brodick Bay is more sheltered from the southerly winds we expect.

Soon, we could see Ailsa Craig beyond the end of the headland. 

The wind was dropping and Alison had promised to switch jibs if we needed to. I thought we did. We changed jibs before shaking out the reef so I had the smaller main while we only had the staysail to balance the sail plan. 

Once past Corsewall Point, the wind backed and we were broad reaching. We could not point directly towards the east coast of Arran but we had plenty of time for long boards between gybes.

I spotted a dolphin in the far distance jumping vertically way out of the water three times. Later, we were visited by a small pod, but they didn't stay to play. 

The wind came and went, but it was often strong enough to want to put reefs back in, and then light enough to shake them out again. The seas were always lively. 

We gybed around Ailsa Craig and then towards the Pladda light.

We expected to gybe again, but we were able to just make it round Holy Isle. Maybe we got a little veer, maybe we were just trying really hard.

East of Holy Isle, the wind dropped completely and the sea went smooth. We shook out the reef and waited. Suddenly the wind came in from the west. Then it died again. We could see it on the water a few boat lengths away, so we knew when it was coming.

This was the fun bit of the day. We were only 4 miles from our destination. We had a little really nice beam to fine reaching for an hour.

The it was time to put the engine on, get the sails down, and pick up a mooring in Brodick Bay. We were under sail for 10  hours without the engine. It started a bit stressfully, but it has been a good day. 

Changing plans

Neither of us slept well as the mooring was not very sheltered. We were awake before the alarm, and Julian turned his phone on at 5 a..m. to check the weather. The strong winds that we had seen forecast yesterday evening, due to arrive East of the Isle of Man on Tuesday and pass through by Thursday morning, were now coming earlier, and staying longer. We could certainly get to Whitehaven today, but the winds after that would be too strong for Robinetta, and in the wrong direction. We would not be able to leave in time to get to the Sea Festival at Barrow.

Some things are not meant to be. Maybe we will get to Barrow another year. The winds were perfect to get North today, so we decided to head for Portpatrick. We came off the mooring at 06:00, and Julian spent the next 40 minutes getting the foredeck and sails sorted. We had brought in the bowsprit while in Peel, so that had to go out, then he bent on the no.2. jib, and got the staysail ready.

The sea state was a bit rolly, but not too bad, and once I pulled up the staysail Robinetta steadied a bit. Then I began to get the main up, planning to put in a reef to balance the no 2 jib. It took two goes to get the reef in well, and Julian had to take over the hauling, but by 07:00 the engine was off, and we were sailing on a very broad reach straight for Portpatrick.

Once the sails were set we did not need to touch them again until we put the engine on again to take them down before entering Portpatrick. We had a lovely sail, through a couple of bits of interesting but unthreatening sea state just off the Mull of Galloway. We did not notice the 3.5 knots of tide that could have swept us towards the Solway Firth, and while adverse tide did take our speed down to about 3.5 knots for a couple of hours, for much of the time we were reaching along at 4.5-5 knots.

We entered Portpatrick at 16:15, and were able to moor up next to a ladder rather than needing to raft up. By 16:30 the engine was off and we were settled.

9 hours of sailing, with no engine needed. Bliss. We will probably be here until Thursday, unless the weather moderates on Wednesday. Time for some sight seeing!

 

Moving out of the harbour

Peel’s limited tidal access meant we had to either get up in the small hours of Monday morning, or leave on Sunday afternoon and go on to a waiting buoy in the harbour. We wanted to get fuel, which was available through a hose just beyond the flap gate and bridge, and we decided it would be easier to do this in daylight. There was no rush through, the flap gate did not close until 5pm, so we could stay and listen to music, have lunch, and watch the carnival procession before we left.

With the procession over, we headed back to Robinetta. We had already moved Worm so the motor boat moored beside us could get out as soon as the flap gate opened, so there was little to do. We called up the harbour master, who told us the next bridge lift was at 15:00. We had less than five minutes to warm up the engine, cast off, and head for the bridge.

We made it, only to be told that there was a yacht already on the fuel dock. This was not really a problem, as we just moored up ahead of him and waited for him to finish and move clear. Then Julian pulled us forward on ropes, and sent down the fuel hose.

I had had to guess how much fuel we would need, as the system worked with a pre-payment fob. We had motored for 40 hours since we last filled up, and after dipping the tanks I had through we had room for 13 litres in each tank, plus 15 into our spare cans, so I bought 40 litres. In reality I could only squeeze in 35 litres…

Julian took the fob back to the harbour master, then cast off our mooring ropes and rejoined me on Robinetta.

There were two free waiting buoys, with the 2 most sheltered already taken. Those yachts were lying inshore of the buoys, but the pick up lines were training off shore. We had to go the “wrong” side of the buoy so Julian could reach the line and bring it on board, then try and manoeuvre Robinetta to lie to the buoy the same way as the others. Words were exchanged.

We ate a light dinner on board, and planned our next day’s passage. We had hoped to anchor at Whithorn on Monday evening, explore it on Tuesday, then sail to Whitehaven on Wednesday, but the forecast winds to the east of the Isle of Man for Tuesday and Wednesday meant that we should head straight to Whitehaven. The best time to leave to get round the Point of Ayr before the overfalls began was 06:00. We set the alarm for 05:30, and turned in for an early night.

Peel Sea Fest

given the Nicky award by the Peel sailing and Cruising Club Commodore

Sea Fest only runs for 2 days, the Friday and Saturday. On Saturday evening we went to a 6 person performance of Macbeth at Peel Castle, before going to the sailing club. There we were awarded a prize for being the furthest travelled boat. We did not claim all our miles, but even from the Clyde to Peel via Port Dinorwic and Ireland, we had travelled over 200…

On Sunday morning we left our raft on the harbour wall, and took a pontoon finger berth at the far end of the harbour where we could have electricity and not have to clamber over other yachts when we wanted to go ashore. More civilised, but not in the heart of the action.

Not a nice beam reach

 We only had 33nm to go to reach Peel. Julian checked the flap gate/bridge opening times there and told me they opened at 17:15. This did not seem quite right as high water was at 20:21, and when he checked again the opening time was 18:52. He was not having a good day.

We left Ardglass at 09:05, giving ourselves plenty of time so we could sail, and raised the main sail as soon as we were clear of the coast. The swell was not too bad, and the wind was light as we set off on a broad reach. I was helming, and soon realised that this was not going to take us to Peel; we would end up south of the Calf of Man. Trying to sail our course to Peel brought us very close to the gybe, and the swell was rolling us uncomfortably. I checked on our newly installed wind vane, and the forecast south westerly was much closer to a pure westerly.

Julian got depressed. We hoped that once we cleared the land the wind might have more south in it, but this was not to be. It also went lighter. A light wind, dead astern, meant another day with the engine on. We could not even rig George because of the swell.

We gave up on trying to use the main sail at 13:30, and got it down. The wind strengthened slightly at 15:00, not enough to worry about raising the main, but we flew the jib and turned the engine off for a quiet half hour sailing at 2.5 knots.

The Isle of Man got closer, and colours began to appear. The overcast sky grew brighter, and we started to see blue. Julian’s mood improved, and get even better when the wind came in from the south. The main went up, and by 16:45 we were sailing on that longed for beam reach. Unfortunately we were less than 4 miles from Peel.

Finally sailing towards Peel

The main sail steadied Robinetta’s motion, and we were having a lovely sail. All the waiting buoys in Peel harbour were full, so we decided to continue sailing in the bay. Then we saw the pot markers. They filled the sheltered area of the bay north of the waiting buoys.

We gybed away, heading out past the breakwater again to get the main sail down in the bumpy water outside the bay.

One of the yachts waiting on the buoys was Wren, another gaffer we had seen in Port Dinorwic. They beckoned us over to moor alongside and share their buoy, which was a much simpler option that anchoring. I approached very slowly, worried about clashing bowsprits, but they did not touch, and we spent the next 50 minutes chatting to our fellow gaffers, and tidying up our sail stow.

I had phoned Peel soon after we left Ardglass, so they were expecting us, and now I phoned them again to say we were waiting. Peel harbour is controlled from Douglas after 17:00, and I was surprised to be told to approach the bridge at 18:45, when it was only due to open at 18:52, but I did as I was told. I would see the flap gate was still up, so turned away back into the bay.

All in all Robinetta approached the entrance to the harbour three times before we actually got a green light to proceed into the harbour. Once inside we found a nice big Norwegian flagged yacht with fenders all ready for rafting, so we went alongside and moored up. The engine went off again at 19:05. We had arrived.

We will be staying in Peel for over a week, first for the Sea Fest, and then for Yn Chruinnaght, the pan Celtic gathering.

Motoring North

A very uneventful day. I had a call between 10 and 11 to discuss funding for Gaelic in Helensburgh.

Beforehand, we walked into town and bought bread and smoked salmon and scallops and samfire. I don't remember every having a choice of three shops to buy scallops in, and not all the fishmongers were even open yet. The smoked salmon was smoked on the premises.

My call didn't last the full 40 minutes so we got away a little early. That meant some foul tide past Ireland's Eye but then we motored all day.

Ireland's Eye

 We dodged around the back of a yacht which was just managing to sail, more to be friendly than for safety.

Rockabill Lighthouse

Then pretty much nothing happened other than food until we were entering Ardglass harbour about midnight.

We had the locally smoked salmon with creamy goats cheese for lunch and I cooked the scallops with samfire and onions in lemon and white wine and served it over spaghetti. Lovely.

We edged in looking for the lit channel. Alison remembered there being a cardinal to look out for and spotted it just in time. 1 m clearance is ok at 1 knot.

The end of the visitor pontoon has no fingers so we could come alongside quite easily.

For once, we had a small whisky before turning in.

Hopefully, we will get a nice beam reach to Peel tomorrow. 

Shore Day

 The wind was due to be N F5 and falling today but dropping to nothing tomorrow morning. So we decided to stay in Howth today and have a long day motoring to Ardglass tomorrow.

In fact, it never dropped all day. It brought a lovely cool breeze into the town but there were white horses out in the bay. Robinetta would have had problems making progress north straight into it.

We had a late cooked breakfast of bacon and egg.

When we were in Howth in 2016, nearing the end of our circumnavigation of Ireland, we did the fine walk along the cliff. We never went to the touristy bit by the train station.

They told us in the marina office that there is a new Tesco just a bit further on, and we needed a few things so we went that way after a quick detour to check out the food outlets in the other direction as we thought it would be nice to eat out tonight.

That led to a delicious pomegranate sorbet for me and a latte for Alison. Her order got mixed up and she got an iced one by mistake. She enjoyed it.

The Tesco is a big one and, in common with every supermarket we have ever been to in Ireland, has some local produce. We bought a few staples and will come back tomorrow morning for bread.

Then we headed back past the station and turned left.

Between Tesco and the station there is a Blues Café and a pub with a seafood bar. Beyond the station is a quay with a really good chandlery and around a dozen seafood restaurants and half a dozen fishmongers.

I was in heaven.

We went into the first fishmonger, not knowing there would be others! We bought a Red Mullet and got it cleaned and scaled and left it there to collect later. We wouldn't be eating out tonight, I would be cooking.

They had sole and gilthead bream and lots of other fish.

The middle of the quay has a working commercial boatyard. There was a large ship lifted out for maintenance. It only occupies 30 m of the quay but goes back a long way.

The end of the quay has tourist boat trip places and an open area where you can look out over the bay to Ireland's Eye. A busker was playing the the trombone to a recorded accompaniment. It's a delightful spot.

We went back to Robinetta and Alison did laundry while I had a go at patching Worm. She has damage to the floor plank that weeps.

Mid afternoon, I felt like a little trip to get a seafood snack and a drink would be nice. If we weren't going to eat out for dinner, we could at least sample the experience.

We looked in every restaurant. They were all either full or not very interesting, or both. It was really busy, with local families and international tourists.

We ended up at The Bloody Stream. The pub with a seafood bar. It was a good choice. I had a Guinness and Alison had a Bulmers and we shared a starter portion of mussels. The Bloody Stream is a real stream which now runs under the pub but it is said that it ran red with blood during the 12th century Norman invasion of Ireland.

Later that evening I cooked the Red Mullet for dinner. Lovely. 

Cruising under sail is not just about sailing.

I wish Scotland had somewhere with fish like this.

Another Long Day

It was busy at Pilot's Cove, about 6 yachts there when we arrived. We found a little hill to anchor on.

Nice views of Snowdonia but otherwise no prettier than many other places. But we are spoilt.

No view this morning. Misty and overcast.

Northerly winds mean a direct passage to the IoM is not a good idea. So we headed for Howth.

We did the cross tide planning as we had between the IoM and Be weaumaris. Keeping a record of the cross track error helps a lot.

One hour watches are working for us this year. The sea was calm enough for George to steer so it wasn't too tiring.

Holyhead/Dublin ferries passed us every few hours.

Got a small pod of common dolphins for company in the middle.

The wind was useful but we never turned the engine off.

Mid afternoon Alison noticed that the bilge pump hadn't gone on and there was a lot of water in the bilges. The float switch didn't seem to be working. Manual use of the electric pump was fine.

I replaced the 12 V feed to the float switch and that seemed to fix the problem.

From about 7pm the sea state got worse we changed to hand steering. The wind came and went.

From about 9pm it was much windier and bouncy. We reefed down to the first hoop and got the jib in. 

Reefing and shaking out reefs is working really well. Getting the jib in was difficult. We had to head downwind to get the jib in the lee of the mainsail.

Those last 2 hours were a bit lively.

We gott to Howth at low water and it was getting dark. We found the buoyed entrance to the marina. The channel is really narrow between the hammerheads and the mud.

We spotted a space on a hammerhead and got ropes and fenders ready, planning to turn around and go in port side to.

But there was no space to turn around without ploughing the mud. It took a long time to get the bow around but I managed eventually. 

The dashed line heading north in the photo is just the GPS finding itself. But you can see I had a few goes turning round. The least depth under the keel was -0.8m

We tied up on the hammerhead about 23:00.

I am very pleased with my cross-tide navigation. Both IoM to Menai and Pilots Cove to here.

Setting off again

With the Sea Fest over it was time to head out. Many of the other participants left yesterday, while the Dublin OGA contingent were planning to go to Conwy, so left as soon as the lock began operating to take the tide through the Swellies.

Our plan was to head for Howth, via an overnight anchorage at Llanddwyn Island just past the Caernarvon Bar. This meant leaving the Marina at about 15:00, on free flow. I called up on Channel 80 to ask for a bridge lift at 14:30 as we wanted to fill up with diesel and water while in the lock.

The timing worked perfectly, and we were motoring out of the lock dead on 15:00, with full tanks and cans. The tide was running quite strongly in the direction we wanted to go, so we only needed the engine on low revs. We got the main sail up, and motor sailed when we could, but the buoyed channel twisted and turned across the apparently wide open water, so turning off the engine was never a possibility.

Sailing past Caernarvon Castle

The shape of the Caernarvon Bar changes every year, making the charts things to treated with caution. Only the sequence of buoys stays the same, their positions must be followed in reality, not on paper. The colours faded to black in the bright sunshine, but the shapes made their type obvious. The fact that the direction of buoyage changes just off Caernarvon itself also needs to be taken into account.

Despite all the potential problems we safely navigated our way out from between the sandbanks, and turned towards the anchorage. There were over 10 yachts already there, and we had to go slightly out of the most sheltered area but there was enough space. We anchored in 3m beneath the keel with 20m of chain, at 17:30 after a slightly nerve wracking passage from Port Dinorwic.

Llanddwyn anchorage

Up the mast

We moved Robinetta to the work area this morning and I got my things together and got into to cage to be lifted up by the fork lift truck.

Replacing the broken strop was reasonably straightforward. I decided a bow shaped shackle would work better than the straight one I had brought and the retaining piece was missing a screw. Alison sent me up the extra bits using the spare halyard.

But we got a bit tangled with the halyard and Alison decided the block on the gaff span was too worn and wanted to replace it, which meant rethreading most of the peak halyard. That done, it was looking good. I moved some of the other strops a little to reduce chafe.

I got the cage raised a bit more to work on the VHF antenna. I fitted a rubber duck for the AIS in Ullapool. It was completely broken and rusted so I just removed it. I took the cable off the main antenna and it didn't look great either. So hopefully the new antenna and cable will restore the radio performance.

The new antenna has a windex. I was worried it might not fit but it was high enough up to clear the top of the mast.

So we could use the same bracket. I got the antenna fitted and got the windex no-go zone arms roughly even port and starboard and tightened their screw.

Then it was time to run the cable down, taping the anchor light cable to the VHF cable and putting both in the trunking that goes past the hounds.

I made sure the cable attachment to the antenna was sealed with self amalgamating tape.

Running the cables is pretty simple now, the trunking makes things much easier.

I had brought black and white tape up with me. I used white everywhere except the antenna bracket and put some extra white over the anchor light fitting so the white at the top of the mast goes all the way up now.

I had to get the cage lowered a metre at a time to get the old cable cut off and the new one into the trunking and then taped down the shrouds.

Then it was taping the bottom by the bulwarks and threading the new cable through the deck fitting.

Alison ran the new cable in the cabin and got rid of the old ones.

Now we just need to fit the new plug!

By then it was time for most of the boats to leave. We were staying another night but most wanted to leave on the tide, either through the Swellies, or out to Carnarvon Bay. We walked down to say farewell and take pictures.

After that I was tired and hungry and thirsty. We had a light lunch and then just chilled until it was time for Mary to go home. I helped her get her luggage to the bus stop and made a short trip to the shop.

At 4pm it was time for the last music of the weekend. A male voice choir / group singing mostly in Welsh with some standards in English. Very sweet sounding.

After that we went up to the Chinese takeaway and brought dinner back and listened to the Proms.

Port Dinorwic

 

A lovely restful day chatting with old friends and making new ones.

Destination for the weekend reached

We needed to head down the Menai Straights to reach Port Dinorwic, which meant going through the Swellies between the bridges. This would not be possible until 12:15, at slack water. That meant a much appreciated lazy morning. We had anchored in 3m beneath the keel, but with a rise of tide of 7m we had let out 30m of chain. Hauling that up and plotting our course between the Menai Strait bridges were the only outstanding tasks before 11:00 when we left.

The weather was lovely, blue sky with a light northerly breeze. With the main sail out of action we never even thought about raising the staysail, and just motored through without any drama, encountering 5 yachts coming the other way.

Neither of us had been to Port Dinorwic Marina, and Julian could not find it on the chartplotter, just the tidal basin with pontoons just past it. He had set this as the destination. Having read the pilot I knew we were looking for the Vaynol Dock entrance, but the two were too close together to matter when setting the course. Julian had just realised that where he was heading was full of motor boats and no masts when I spotted the masts we were looking for. We were slightly past the Vaynol entrance at this point and turning back showed we had quite a lot of tide in our favour.

We made it in, and tied up between the lock gates for half an hour while the marina staff decided the best place to put us. Mary found us there, and came aboard for the last few metres of the journey under the road bridge between the two halves of the marina. This was very slow to raise!

We were moored alongside Laura with the engine off at 13:55. Our long trip south had been successfully completed.

North Wales at last

 We have been heading to North Wales for an Old Gaffers muster since Saturday. 300 nm in 6 days is crazy but I wanted to try it.

We left at 6 am. The tides in this part of the Irish Sea run mostly east-west, so we would have to let them push us one way and then back again and follow a compass course. Our normal "just keep along the line on the chart plotter" would be a much longer journey.

Alison was keen to meet the North Wales folks at the anchorage by Llanddwyn on the west of Anglesey. That was over 60 nm, but achievable, we thought.

The course was 180 and off we went.

The problem was that we only looked at the Irish Sea tidal stream atlas, not the Anglesey specific one. Alison looked at that when we had been going for an hour. It told us we would arrive when there were bad overfalls and strong adverse tides. On the other hand, we could go down the east side of Anglesey and then through the Swellies tomorrow and it would be much easier.

So we changed course to 150.

After a while the wind came in and we were able to motor-sail and then just sail.

We kept an hourly record of the cross track error but didn't change course until mid afternoon. It looked like we were getting pushed west more strongly than we had been pushed east, and I didn't want to get into the fast tides across the top of Anglesey so we altered course.

Suddenly, when Alison was in the cockpit and I was below, there was a bang. Alison called me up.

The gaff was swinging wildly. One of the strops on the mast supporting the peak halyard had failed.

We managed to get the sail down and stowed. We will have to get help with replacing the strop.

Not having the mainsail slowed us down but not too much.

Soon after, we hit strong foul tides. They lasted a couple of hours and then we had favourable ones all the way into the Menai Strait and to our chosen anchorage in the pool opposite Beaumaris.

Only 7 nm to go.

Sunset over Beaumaris

 

Fuel is essential

Checking fuel levels after anchoring is absolutely the wrong time. If we had checked as we crossed Belfast Lough we would have gone straight to Bangor Marina to fill up. We had to have full fuel tanks to cross the Irish Sea with the expected light winds, and they were only a third full. There was only one thing for it, we would have to up anchor early (4 a.m.) and head for Bangor.

Waking up and hauling up the anchor just before dawn is no real hardship. The light was lovely, with tinge of pink to the sky and we could see well even though the chart plotter still thought it was night. The tide was with us out of Donaghadee sound, but against us in Belfast Lough, so it took a couple of hours to get to Bangor Marina, but fuelling was very efficient. After calling the Marina we went straight to the fuel dock. This is self service, pay with card at the dispenser just like a petrol station, and like a petrol station they have white diesel at road traffic prices. We took 48litres to fill the tanks and cans, and 12 minutes after arriving we were away again.

We got the main sail up just outside the marina and motor sailed back towards our anchorage in half the time of our outbound journey. This time we headed out through Dronaghadee Sound rather than back to the anchorage, with the tide now strongly in our favour. We had to ferry glide between the buoys, but there were no bumpy seas in the Sound, or useful wind either!

Once we were clear we set our course for the south end of the Isle of Man. The sea state was a bit rough for George, so we ended up hand steering, hour and hour about. The wind did not come back, and the main sail started slatting about, so we took it down. Then some usable wind came in and we put it up again, then the wind died and the sail started slatting again. This is bad for the rig, so I called Julian up from his off watch.

We were joined at this point by a group of athletic dolphins, who wanted to show off their jumps and tail slaps. Unfortunately we were too busy getting the sail down to give their display the attention it deserved. No pictures!

The Isle of Man was visible but hazy when I went off watch. I dug out our Isle of Man pilot book to have a look at the local tides, and made an interesting discovery. We had been aiming at Chicken Rock to go south of the Calf of Man, but the overfalls could be bad at our estimated arrival time. However the tide would be perfect o go through Calf Sound. This could cut 10 miles off our route (given a suggested 5 mile offing for the Chicken Rock overfalls) and would be well worth doing just to have done it. I pointed out the opportunity to Julian and he was all for it.

Chicken Rock Lighthouse

A small sport fishing boat came through towards us when we were about half a mile off, showing no evidense of bad sea state in the Sound, which was reassuring. Calf Sound has a terrible reputation and even in our benign conditions it was possible to see why. 

Entrance to Calf Sound

The western entrance is very narrow, and the tidal stream means you are not going where you are pointing when navigating that entrance. Our speed shot up to 7 kn at the narrowest part, but this is very short and steering soon returned to normal. We stayed in smooth water all the way as we headed for the headland on the south east side, but over towards the Calf side there were short steep waves with breaking crests. These were very small, but the line of them extended half way across the Sound.

Overfalls even in quiet weather

Calf Sound is an interesting place, but as the pilot book says “only attempt in quiet weather”.

Within an hour we were at Port Saint Mary, with a choice of 2 big yellow visitors bouys. These were in flat water at the open end of the harbour wall. When we were last here, in 2016 the moorings in my memory were further out into the bay, and very subject to swell, but =both of the current ones seemed sheltered. We picked up the one without a resident cormorant on it.

We had had a very early start, and the sea state had been too much for George, and tiring for us. However the fact that our plans had worked, and we had come through Calf Sound made it a good day on the water, even though the engine was on continuously. We could not have made the Isle of Man without our side trip to Bangor.

Glenarm

 The tides can be fierce along this coast. The last time we did it we made 11 knots with a lovely broad reach. So we were waiting for the south bound flood today. We decided it should be slack by 4pm and we would go then.

So today was something of a rest day.

We had shopping to do, showers to have, and hopefully get some diesel.

The shop in Glenarm sells a lot. But it's marching season in Northern Ireland and yesterday was a bank holiday for the Battle of the Boyne.

Because of the holiday, the bread hadn't come at all yesterday and was expected ‘’later” today, as was the delivery from the butcher.

We stocked up on basics and I went to see the harbour master and paid but there is no fuel at Glenarm. There used to be 10 years ago but there was a bad fuel spill and they don't any longer. It's a bus ride to the nearest petrol station. Bangor would be our next good option.

Alison decided the weather was perfect for finally getting some oil on the cap rails and cabin sides. Something she had hoped to do in Lochboisdale but it was too wet.

But first, breakfast. We had a really good fry up with bacon, tomato, eggs and local black pudding. While I was cooking it a couple came to look at Robinetta. Alison told them about her while I cooked.

We didn't need lunch after that.

I popped up to the shop again at noon and the bread was in but no loaves, the had probably already gone. I got some soda bread and a fruit breac.

When Alison had finished her oiling, we went for a walk in the forest with local ice cream from the shop.

It really felt like a holiday.

At 4pm we left and had a decent motor down towards Belfast. We didn't get the strong tides. I think we were a bit early and a bit too near the coast.

Alison decided she preferred to anchor at Copeland Island, rather than going into Bangor.

Getting into the anchorage was interesting. The tide was breaking strongly on the Rid Rock and we had to ferry glide round it. But it all worked. There was a French yacht already anchored but quite far out in deep water. We went in close with plenty of room.

We had some dinner and then, belatedly, put the dip stick into the diesel tanks. They were ⅔ empty and we had nothing in the cans and there was very little wind in the forecast.

We would have to go back to Bangor to get fuel.

We could go now, or in the morning. We decided to go at 4am.