Alison has described the trip but I wanted to make some notes about the planning.
We had originally wanted to do the trip from Holyhead to Liverpool as one cruise, stopping in Caernarfon and perhaps Beaumaris. In the end we stopped at Deganwy and I decided that in Robinetta we really need to do this trip at neaps.
The problem with a spring tide is that it happens around midnight and noon. The distance is around 40 nm so in a 3 knot boat you have to leave around midnight. I like night sailing and that's exactly what we did from Portaferry to the Isle of Man last autumn but a day time trip was more what we had in mind.
At neaps high water is around 8 am and 8 pm. This works well for Liverpool Marina which has a lock which operates HW± 2 hours and is manned between 5am and 10pm.
So at neaps it is possible to leave Deganwy or Conwy marina when the flap gate is open for the morning HW and arrive at Liverpool for the evening HW.
The earlier one leaves the more tide there is to fight out of the river and up the side of the Great Orme but one might get the last of the flood east once round. Leaving around HW helps at first but then its a slog against the ebb along the North Wales coast.
There are two other decisions to make. The main one is the choice between the Queen's Channel and the Rock Channel. The Rock Channel is considered difficult and not to be attempted without local knowledge by all the cruising guides and almanacs but the Liverpool Sailing Club provides excellent pilotage notes for it. Their observations indicate more water than the charted depths claim and that was our experience in 2017 too.
The Rock Channel permits a shorter passage and one which allows better views of the coast and avoids a long leg sharing the channel with shipping. I think it should be the default for recreational boats coming from Anglesey. Departure via the Rock Channel is more challenging as it is done on a falling tide but still a good option as it allows more hours of favourable tide heading west than the Queen's Channel would.
The other decision to make is whether to go inside or outside the wind farms. I planned the route outside as this seemed safer but in the end we had a little north in the east wind and we just couldn't make headway in that direction so we went inside.
My conclusion is that it doesn't matter. The guides talk about the wind farms 'closing off' the North Wales coast but it isn't true. You can pretty much ignore the wind farms. There is plenty of water on either side of them and gaps between each one if you want to hug the coast and then head out to the Queen's Channel.
There are really no ports of refuge on this coast. It is really to be avoided completely in strong northerly winds. We had easterly winds, starting strong but promised to die and that's what we got.
Rhyl has a marina of sorts but again, access is only around high water and any passage will likely be there near low water.
There are anchorages in the Dee at Mostyn and Hilbre Island. The channel to Mostyn must be entered near Rhyl so the decision must be made quite early. Most boats will be too fast to need it. By the time one gets near Hilbre Island one has the flood and Liverpool feels achievable.
Once past the Dee one joins the sailing directions for the Rock Channel at the Hilbre No. 1 buoy. The directions skirt the East Hoyle Bank and the Great Burbo Bank. But the directions are for leaving on a falling tide and one is entering on the flood after half tide so there is likely to be at least a fathom of water over the banks. We snuck over the edges of both banks and we saw as much water on the green patches on the chart plotter as we did on the blue!
The view on the sea is completely different from the chart. The banks are totally submerged and the coast of New Brighton appears unencumbered. However one navigates the Great Burbo it is essential to obey the instructions through the Rock Gut. It does get quite shallow. Edge too far north and one could hit the submerged training wall but the tide will push one south towards the perch on the end of the concrete spit. For us, heading straight for the Brazil buoy seemed to work well.
We called Mersey VTS in the Rock Channel before entering the Gut. They were friendly and helpful and said there was one big ship coming in behind us.
Once in the Mersey the tide takes one in and there are small boat buoys and the Mersey Ferry to avoid but its a fine sight and at neaps the tide is less than 2 knots. Just have fun.
We got to the marina in the gloaming. The lock has a red/green light array which is the best guide to finding it. We treated the river as a traffic separation zone and crossed at right angles.
The lock has plenty of space outside it and out of the current to wait for the gates to open so there is no need to wait to cross the river. Inside there are pontoons either side to tie up and wait for the inner gates.
The marina buildings and exit are between the Coberg and Brunswick docks so turn left out of the lock and carry on along the wall until you see them. Find a spare berth as close to the bar as you can!
Saturday, 6 May 2017
Fighting wind, tide, and a time table
After a week of watching the weather and hoping the wind on Saturday morning would drop from force 5-7 easterly to 4-5 south west we were out of luck. The tides dictated that we needed to leave Deganwy by 07:30 to have a hope of reaching Liverpool and getting in to the marina on the evening tide, so we had to cope with a top end four gusting 6 from the east, on the bow for most of the way. The only relief was the wind was supposed to drop away to nothing by 16:00.
We got away from the berth at 07:35. Julian got out the bowsprit and bent on the no 2 jib as we motored down river against the last two hours of the rising tide. Being neaps the current was not desperately strong against us, and once I got the staysail up Robinetta was making a comfortable 3 knots over the ground.
Wind against tide raised a swell in the channel, but nothing too uncomfortable until we reached the safe water mark and turned towards Great Orme Head.
Once we changed heading Robinetta started crashing through the waves, and rolling, but we were making decent progress. With the engine on full revs and the staysail we made 3 knots, and once we unrolled the jib that went up to 4. The extra sail area also helped steady Robinetta but unfortunately the wind was too gusty to raise the main. Julian went below and cooked breakfast, and we ate in shifts.
We could see a sail training ship anchored in the lee of Great Orme Head. Having seen Royalist's blue hull and distinctive white masts and spars recently at the tall ships parade in London we thought it might be her at first, but it turned out to be Lord Nelson. There were plenty of sea birds around; we saw sheerwaters ( I think), gulls, fulmars, gannets, and cormorants/shags. Definitely the middle of the breeding season.
Unfortunately we could not stay on the same heading unless we wanted to go to the Isle of Man. We had to turn to follow the coast if we wanted to reach Liverpool. Heading directly into the waves on just engine was never going to work. We had to sail across the waves or they would stop Robinetta in her tracks. As soon as we tacked round leeway and tide direction conspired against us; we were sailing across the waves, not straight in to them, but we made at most 1.5 knots on the making tack. Our chart plotter gives a very simplistic arrival time, based on current speed. It was depressing when it suggested we would take 24 hours to make it to Liverpool!
We crawled across Llandudno Bay, our tacks taking us closer to the pier than we had planned when Julian laid in the course. It was not the weather for photography, very grey with the mountains hidden on the clouds. The gusts were easing though and we raised the main, with two reefs. We were not done with the engine, keeping it on to let Robinetta point much closer to the wind than she could without it.
I spotted a dolphin's back in the distance just after we passed Rhyl then a minute later caught another glimpse of black back and fin crossing our wake. Both sightings were too far away to distinguish the species but the size looked more bottle nose than common. It did not come to play alongside!
By 15:00 the waves were gentle swells, the full main was up, and we were using the no 1 jib. These were conditions that the Tiller Pilot George could cope with and we set him to work. We were still on engine though as we had to keep our speed up to have any hope of making the marina lock before it closer at 22:00. The tide was with us and the Chart plotter said we might make it... I tried calling the marina to arrange a berth, but there was nothing but an answering machine that smugly told me to call in office hours, or leave a message. Only problem was that it WAS their office hours, and they did not return my call even though I left my number.
By 16:00 the jib was rolled away, and the main was down. Crashing through the waves had changed to motoring through smooth seas at 5 knots, with the tide helping the engine and an arrival time at the lock of 21:30.
Mary Gibbs, who is a member of the Liverpool Sailing Club, had made sure we had a copy of their sailing directions for the Rock Channel, and we followed them carefully. The CA almanac says the Rock Channel is not recommended for visitors, but we decided the LSC instructions counted as local knowledge, and encountered no problems, with more depth of water than our charts predicted.
The drab day gave way to evening, and we turned on our running lights, even though the chart plotter was still in day mode. It just felt dark enough to want them.
Neither the Anglesey Pilot, or the CA had the frequency for calling Mersey Radio, although both said we needed to do it before entering the river. Maybe both assumed people would know that they would use the normal VTS channel, 12. Julian looked it up on his phone, and it was indeed 12.
I called up Mersey Radio at 20:00, telling them we were about to enter the river through the Rock Channel, and they warned me to keep a good look out as there were freighters moving.
I tried calling the marina lock, and got no answer. There was always the possibility of picking up a mooring buoy at Rock Ferry if we could not get into the marina, so we ignore the vacant moorings we spotted at New Brighton and continued up river. George went of duty and we hand steered to avoid the mooring buoys.
Eventually Julian did manage to raise the Marina Lock, so the lock keeper knew we wanted in. I had questions for him, were there pontoons, which side too etc, but his reception was terrible and he could not hear me. Luckily Mary Ellen, a boat based in the marina who was also locking in, could hear much better, and answered all my questions in a very helpful way. I got the bowsprit in while Julian helmed.
Julian had plotted the end of our route right by the marina, but it still took me a little while to find the entrance in the long dark quay wall. I found the lights in the end, and as I watched they went from green to red. Had we been too slow? It was 21:25, we should be fine. I grabbed the radio and called, to be told he had lowered the bridge to let pedestrians across, and we would be clear to enter again almost immediately.
Mary Ellen was still waiting for the lock in to the marina when we arrived, we must have delayed them horribly, but they were still friendly, and advised us to follow them as there was a free berth right next to them. Having someone to follow took all the worry out of entering a strange marina in the dark and finding a berth.
We tied up on the pontoon at 21:35. just over 14 hours after leaving Deganwy. Our route was 41nm in thoery, but all the slow tacks around the Great Orme added significantly, and we were both shattered.
A lovely lady called Corrine called from Windfire to ask if we needed help. She lent us her marina access card so we could go for a shower and a well deserved drink in the bar and get back afterwards. It had been a long day, and not the best sailing with the engine on all the way, but we had got Robinetta to Liverpool, 80 years to the week since she was launched at the Enterprise Small Craft Company, only 1.5 nm away over the Mersey at Rock Ferry, Birkenhead.
We got away from the berth at 07:35. Julian got out the bowsprit and bent on the no 2 jib as we motored down river against the last two hours of the rising tide. Being neaps the current was not desperately strong against us, and once I got the staysail up Robinetta was making a comfortable 3 knots over the ground.
Wind against tide raised a swell in the channel, but nothing too uncomfortable until we reached the safe water mark and turned towards Great Orme Head.
Once we changed heading Robinetta started crashing through the waves, and rolling, but we were making decent progress. With the engine on full revs and the staysail we made 3 knots, and once we unrolled the jib that went up to 4. The extra sail area also helped steady Robinetta but unfortunately the wind was too gusty to raise the main. Julian went below and cooked breakfast, and we ate in shifts.
We could see a sail training ship anchored in the lee of Great Orme Head. Having seen Royalist's blue hull and distinctive white masts and spars recently at the tall ships parade in London we thought it might be her at first, but it turned out to be Lord Nelson. There were plenty of sea birds around; we saw sheerwaters ( I think), gulls, fulmars, gannets, and cormorants/shags. Definitely the middle of the breeding season.
Unfortunately we could not stay on the same heading unless we wanted to go to the Isle of Man. We had to turn to follow the coast if we wanted to reach Liverpool. Heading directly into the waves on just engine was never going to work. We had to sail across the waves or they would stop Robinetta in her tracks. As soon as we tacked round leeway and tide direction conspired against us; we were sailing across the waves, not straight in to them, but we made at most 1.5 knots on the making tack. Our chart plotter gives a very simplistic arrival time, based on current speed. It was depressing when it suggested we would take 24 hours to make it to Liverpool!
We crawled across Llandudno Bay, our tacks taking us closer to the pier than we had planned when Julian laid in the course. It was not the weather for photography, very grey with the mountains hidden on the clouds. The gusts were easing though and we raised the main, with two reefs. We were not done with the engine, keeping it on to let Robinetta point much closer to the wind than she could without it.
I spotted a dolphin's back in the distance just after we passed Rhyl then a minute later caught another glimpse of black back and fin crossing our wake. Both sightings were too far away to distinguish the species but the size looked more bottle nose than common. It did not come to play alongside!
By 15:00 the waves were gentle swells, the full main was up, and we were using the no 1 jib. These were conditions that the Tiller Pilot George could cope with and we set him to work. We were still on engine though as we had to keep our speed up to have any hope of making the marina lock before it closer at 22:00. The tide was with us and the Chart plotter said we might make it... I tried calling the marina to arrange a berth, but there was nothing but an answering machine that smugly told me to call in office hours, or leave a message. Only problem was that it WAS their office hours, and they did not return my call even though I left my number.
By 16:00 the jib was rolled away, and the main was down. Crashing through the waves had changed to motoring through smooth seas at 5 knots, with the tide helping the engine and an arrival time at the lock of 21:30.
Mary Gibbs, who is a member of the Liverpool Sailing Club, had made sure we had a copy of their sailing directions for the Rock Channel, and we followed them carefully. The CA almanac says the Rock Channel is not recommended for visitors, but we decided the LSC instructions counted as local knowledge, and encountered no problems, with more depth of water than our charts predicted.
The drab day gave way to evening, and we turned on our running lights, even though the chart plotter was still in day mode. It just felt dark enough to want them.
Neither the Anglesey Pilot, or the CA had the frequency for calling Mersey Radio, although both said we needed to do it before entering the river. Maybe both assumed people would know that they would use the normal VTS channel, 12. Julian looked it up on his phone, and it was indeed 12.
I called up Mersey Radio at 20:00, telling them we were about to enter the river through the Rock Channel, and they warned me to keep a good look out as there were freighters moving.
I tried calling the marina lock, and got no answer. There was always the possibility of picking up a mooring buoy at Rock Ferry if we could not get into the marina, so we ignore the vacant moorings we spotted at New Brighton and continued up river. George went of duty and we hand steered to avoid the mooring buoys.
 |
| Liverpool from the Mersey |
Eventually Julian did manage to raise the Marina Lock, so the lock keeper knew we wanted in. I had questions for him, were there pontoons, which side too etc, but his reception was terrible and he could not hear me. Luckily Mary Ellen, a boat based in the marina who was also locking in, could hear much better, and answered all my questions in a very helpful way. I got the bowsprit in while Julian helmed.
Julian had plotted the end of our route right by the marina, but it still took me a little while to find the entrance in the long dark quay wall. I found the lights in the end, and as I watched they went from green to red. Had we been too slow? It was 21:25, we should be fine. I grabbed the radio and called, to be told he had lowered the bridge to let pedestrians across, and we would be clear to enter again almost immediately.
Mary Ellen was still waiting for the lock in to the marina when we arrived, we must have delayed them horribly, but they were still friendly, and advised us to follow them as there was a free berth right next to them. Having someone to follow took all the worry out of entering a strange marina in the dark and finding a berth.
We tied up on the pontoon at 21:35. just over 14 hours after leaving Deganwy. Our route was 41nm in thoery, but all the slow tacks around the Great Orme added significantly, and we were both shattered.
A lovely lady called Corrine called from Windfire to ask if we needed help. She lent us her marina access card so we could go for a shower and a well deserved drink in the bar and get back afterwards. It had been a long day, and not the best sailing with the engine on all the way, but we had got Robinetta to Liverpool, 80 years to the week since she was launched at the Enterprise Small Craft Company, only 1.5 nm away over the Mersey at Rock Ferry, Birkenhead.
Saturday, 15 April 2017
Homeward Bound
We spent a lazy morning in Deganwy chatting with Kevin from the 1913 Nobby Phyllis and getting Robinetta ready to leave her. A nice walk provided these pictures of Deganwy, Conwy and the entrance to the river.
 |
| Deganwy Marina |
 | |
| Sill at Deganwy |
 |
| Conwy Castle |
 |
| The Bar |
 |
| Deganwy |
 |
| Conwy Panorama |
Back at Holyhead we bumped into Pete and Sue Farrer in their camper van. They gave us tea and we chatted about their many trips through the straits. The RNLI were doing a fund-raising car wash so our car is now cleaner than usual!
The drive back was the best we have had - 70 mph through spaghetti junction! We were home by 9pm.
Friday, 14 April 2017
Going through the Swellies
We had originally planned the week as a possible anti-clockwise circumnavigation of Anglesey. We seem to be doing everything in the British Isles widdershins so why stop now?
Then I had the idea of going to Liverpool this week so Robinetta would be there for the 80th anniversary of her launching at Birkenhead. Last night Julian spent hours pouring over the tides and weather. Liverpool looked unlikely with strong north easterlies in the forecast and a tidal gate at the end but there was a chance the wind would go down, and if we anchored at Puffin Island we could leave any time to make the tides come right.
The alternative was to go to Conwy or Deganwy. This would give us easy transport back to the car. We didn't need to decide that until we were through the Menai Strait. The strait is one of the iconic passages in British waters and there was no way we were going to leave the area without going through it.
Also it is where Robinetta spent the Second World War. She wintered at Gallows Point Beaumaris in 1938 and didn't leave again until the second owners picked her up from there in 1946. Julian was keen to see it, at least from the water.
The pilotage instructions make it look really complicated, because of the fierce currents and rocks between the two bridges. The area is known as 'The Swellies'. In fact, from Caernarfon Victoria Dock, if you leave when the flap gate opens you will be just fine. At least at springs.
Last night I had made stew in our new Mr D Thermal cooker. There was enough left for a soup today, so I heated it up again in the morning, and left it to stay hot in its vacuum shell.
This morning the forecast showed a little less wind. XC and the Met' Office disagreed quite a bit about how much (3s or 6s, quite a range!), but both contained north westerlies, not good for heading into the Mersey. We decided we were better off going to one of the Conwy marinas, rather than anchoring.
The sill gate was due to open at ten, and at 09:45 I had just started putting a course into the chart plotter when Felix announced “The lights have gone green!”
The engine went on immediately and Worm was put in the water. Julian cast us off and we backed away from our berth and headed for the harbour entrance only to go aground. The depth gauge said Robinetta had 0.5 m beneath the keel, but we were stuck. Luckily I was able to back off, and one of the local motorboat owners came out of his cabin and advised us that the deeper water ran close to the pontoon by the outer wall. I took Robinetta over to that side and we made it clear of the marina.
I turned Robinetta's bow as though we were going back the way we had come to fight the inrushing tide, and we ferry glided out into the Menai Straits. Even with the engine on full throttle we were swept east, but we managed to clear the cardinal marking the mud by the marina entrance. Once we were in the channel I aimed us straight down the Straits.
Julian had got the bowsprit out while I got us clear of the marina, and he hauled up the no 1 jib. We were doing 6 knots on the stay sail and engine at only half revs, but it seemed a shame to waste the wind, so Julian hoisted the main on the run. This works Ok in calm conditions, the only problems are that the battens tend to get caught on the topping lifts and the gaff falls off so it's difficult to tension.
Julian had a chat on the phone with Mary Gibbs, who has been keeping Molly Cobbler at Deganwy. We had discussed doing part of the trip in company but Molly is not quite ready yet, fitting out afloat (mostly aground) at Port Penrhyn. Mary persuaded us that Deganwy is better than Conwy. She also said that being early at the Swellies was not a problem.
The engine went off and we sailed east, with Felix on the helm, while Julian finished my abandoned job of plotting Robinetta's course. We gybed several times as the channel curved, but had to put the engine on to keep steerage way when the wind went light near Plas Newydd. This was just due to the high banks, and as soon as we were round the curve the wind came back.
We were dead running nearly all the time, and it did not feel very safe to be worrying about gybing as we headed beneath the Britania bridge and entered the area of the Swellies. The engine went back on and I centred the main.
We followed the recommended route, watching the depth gauge all the time, and keeping a wary eye on the swirling water. It was quite fun, but a bit nerve racking and I was glad when Robinetta was safely though beneath the Menai bridge.
Another yacht came through behind us, and we took pictures of each other as we passed by Saint George's pier.
I let the main out, and put the engine off, while Felix helmed, as we headed out of the straits. We needed to gybe several times, but Felix and I made a good team on the
helm and main, while Julian handled the jib. Having three in the
cockpit makes gybing much easier.
As we cleared Bangor Pier Julian entered the course to Deganwy on the chart plotter. The tide was against us now, not very strongly but our speed went down to three knots. That would not get us to Deganwy before the flap gate shut, so the engine went on to help the sails. We put a preventer on the boom as the water was no longer absolutely flat, which made unplanned gybing more likely.
The Gallows Point boat yard where Robinetta spent WW2 is still full of boats.
Julian was helming by the time we turned into Penmaen Swatch. All at once the worry about gybing stopped as we went onto a lovely broad reach. Our speed went up with the change from running to reaching, so we could put the engine off. The waves were gentle, and from behind us, making for a perfect sail, then just to cap the moment off we saw a small pod of bottle nosed dolphins. They came up and swam alongside for a moment, amazing Felix who had not seen them before. Unfortunately they were soon gone.
We got the sails down by the Conwy safe water mark, then followed the well bouyed channel towards Conwy. Where we had to cross the waves we realised that the swell was quite nasty, and yachts coming out of Conwy looked very uncomfortable crashing through the waves. Robinetta rolled quite a bit, but Felix had no problems with sea sickness today.
Entering the river the tide slowed us to less than 2 knots. I had been thinking about asking Julian to get the bowsprit in, but instead he set the jib again, and with both foresails setting goose winged and the engine on full revs we made progress against the tide and reached Deganwy Marina with an hour to spare before the flap gate went up and sealed the marina.
It was beginning to spit with rain as we tied up, and by the time we had everything tidied away the drops were bouncing off the walkways. Julian dashed up to the marina office, and got a card for the electric so we could hook up the heater and dry out a bit.
By now Julian had decided that the only way to get to Liverpool with a tidal gate at both ends was at neaps so we decided that Deganwy was as far as we were going. The marina was happy to have us stay, so next day we packed up and headed back to Holyhead by train to collect the car.
Then I had the idea of going to Liverpool this week so Robinetta would be there for the 80th anniversary of her launching at Birkenhead. Last night Julian spent hours pouring over the tides and weather. Liverpool looked unlikely with strong north easterlies in the forecast and a tidal gate at the end but there was a chance the wind would go down, and if we anchored at Puffin Island we could leave any time to make the tides come right.
The alternative was to go to Conwy or Deganwy. This would give us easy transport back to the car. We didn't need to decide that until we were through the Menai Strait. The strait is one of the iconic passages in British waters and there was no way we were going to leave the area without going through it.
Also it is where Robinetta spent the Second World War. She wintered at Gallows Point Beaumaris in 1938 and didn't leave again until the second owners picked her up from there in 1946. Julian was keen to see it, at least from the water.
The pilotage instructions make it look really complicated, because of the fierce currents and rocks between the two bridges. The area is known as 'The Swellies'. In fact, from Caernarfon Victoria Dock, if you leave when the flap gate opens you will be just fine. At least at springs.
Last night I had made stew in our new Mr D Thermal cooker. There was enough left for a soup today, so I heated it up again in the morning, and left it to stay hot in its vacuum shell.
This morning the forecast showed a little less wind. XC and the Met' Office disagreed quite a bit about how much (3s or 6s, quite a range!), but both contained north westerlies, not good for heading into the Mersey. We decided we were better off going to one of the Conwy marinas, rather than anchoring.
The sill gate was due to open at ten, and at 09:45 I had just started putting a course into the chart plotter when Felix announced “The lights have gone green!”
The engine went on immediately and Worm was put in the water. Julian cast us off and we backed away from our berth and headed for the harbour entrance only to go aground. The depth gauge said Robinetta had 0.5 m beneath the keel, but we were stuck. Luckily I was able to back off, and one of the local motorboat owners came out of his cabin and advised us that the deeper water ran close to the pontoon by the outer wall. I took Robinetta over to that side and we made it clear of the marina.
I turned Robinetta's bow as though we were going back the way we had come to fight the inrushing tide, and we ferry glided out into the Menai Straits. Even with the engine on full throttle we were swept east, but we managed to clear the cardinal marking the mud by the marina entrance. Once we were in the channel I aimed us straight down the Straits.
Julian had got the bowsprit out while I got us clear of the marina, and he hauled up the no 1 jib. We were doing 6 knots on the stay sail and engine at only half revs, but it seemed a shame to waste the wind, so Julian hoisted the main on the run. This works Ok in calm conditions, the only problems are that the battens tend to get caught on the topping lifts and the gaff falls off so it's difficult to tension.
Julian had a chat on the phone with Mary Gibbs, who has been keeping Molly Cobbler at Deganwy. We had discussed doing part of the trip in company but Molly is not quite ready yet, fitting out afloat (mostly aground) at Port Penrhyn. Mary persuaded us that Deganwy is better than Conwy. She also said that being early at the Swellies was not a problem.
 |
| Approaching Britannia Bridge |
 |
| Under the Britannia Bridge |
 |
| Swellies Beacon |
 |
| Menai Bridge ahead |
 |
| through the Menai Bridge |
As we cleared Bangor Pier Julian entered the course to Deganwy on the chart plotter. The tide was against us now, not very strongly but our speed went down to three knots. That would not get us to Deganwy before the flap gate shut, so the engine went on to help the sails. We put a preventer on the boom as the water was no longer absolutely flat, which made unplanned gybing more likely.
 |
| Gallows Point boat yard |
 |
| Past Bangor Pier |
We got the sails down by the Conwy safe water mark, then followed the well bouyed channel towards Conwy. Where we had to cross the waves we realised that the swell was quite nasty, and yachts coming out of Conwy looked very uncomfortable crashing through the waves. Robinetta rolled quite a bit, but Felix had no problems with sea sickness today.
Entering the river the tide slowed us to less than 2 knots. I had been thinking about asking Julian to get the bowsprit in, but instead he set the jib again, and with both foresails setting goose winged and the engine on full revs we made progress against the tide and reached Deganwy Marina with an hour to spare before the flap gate went up and sealed the marina.
It was beginning to spit with rain as we tied up, and by the time we had everything tidied away the drops were bouncing off the walkways. Julian dashed up to the marina office, and got a card for the electric so we could hook up the heater and dry out a bit.
By now Julian had decided that the only way to get to Liverpool with a tidal gate at both ends was at neaps so we decided that Deganwy was as far as we were going. The marina was happy to have us stay, so next day we packed up and headed back to Holyhead by train to collect the car.
Thursday, 13 April 2017
Getting to Caernarvon
Felix joined us on
Wednesday night. He wanted to try small yacht sailing, having learned
in a dinghy, and only sailed much larger yachts than Robinetta. He got in touch with us via the Cruising Association.
We should have got an early night, but what with eating and showing
him the boat we did not manage to get to bed until 23:00.
The alarm went at
03:35, and we managed to get off the berth by 04:05. There was good
moonlight, but picking our way past the moorings, and putting up sail
in the dark took longer than expected, and we did not managed to get
out of the harbour, with the no 2 jib and a reefed main until 04:50.
The waves outside
the sheltered harbour came as a bit of a shock, and we had to tack
towards South Stack. Julian's planning had made him want to reach
South Stack by 05:00, which was obviously not going to happen, but
apparently 06:00 was still good, although later would not be! We kept
the engine on and motor sailed to keep the speed up and let Robinetta
sail closer to the wind.
We had heard a ferry
announce its presence at South Stack to the Holyhead coastguard, so
we were not surprised to see one. I tacked to avoid it (I thought)
and got five hoots for my trouble. It was much closer than I thought!
I quickly went back on my previous course and we stayed well clear.
We were passed South
Stack by 06:00 as required, and met none of the dreaded overfalls. We
had daylight, and switched off the running lights, but kept the
engine on. The sky had clouded over as the sun rose, but it stayed
dry from above, although a rather large wave did manage to splash
into the cockpit and make the pump run as well as drenching Julian on
the helm. Luckily he was wearing full oilies against the cold!
 |
| Broad reaching down the west coast of Anglesey |
We were now on a
very broad reach, with the waves rolling in from behind. The motion
was a bit too much for Felix, who was sick a couple of times and he
had to go below for a while. Once he felt a little better I made
porridge, and he managed to keep a couple of mouthfuls down, but was
still fragile.
We reached the
Caernarvon Bar safe water mark at 10:20, pretty near perfect timing,
and then picked our way along the channel across the bar. Holyhead
marina had printed out a chartlet with the new channel marker
positions and given it to us, which made our eyeball navigation a lot
less fraught than it might have been. We were an hour and a half
before high water Caernarvon, and never had less than 4.4m beneath
the keel.
The engine went off
for ten minutes after we got through the narrows, and soon we were at
Caernarvon itself.
We lowered sail to go into the Victoria Dock at
dead on high water. We were moored up by 11:55, ready to spend a lazy
afternoon ashore, after 8 hours sailing (or motor sailing if you
prefer).
 |
| Approaching Caernarfon |
 |
| Caernarfon Castle |
Wednesday, 12 April 2017
Waiting for the weather
 |
| Half done Tiller Pilot fitting |
The lines creaked as we were blown off all night, and we could feel the frequent gusts. At one point I realised that we had not tied Worm on to the pontoon she was resting on... Julian told me in the morning he had worried about it too, but neither of us wanted to go out into the cold to check on her.
Wednesday morning the wind was so strong and gusty we decided against sailing. Instead we worked on the Tiller pilot fixing which broke last year. Mid afternoon, when the new set up was ready to install Julian looked out and saw it was raining, so we holed up in the cabin until it stopped.
After the tiller pilot mount was in place we realised that the wind had dropped, and the clouds had gone. We actually had sunshine, and going for a little sail round the harbour to check out the sails and rigging after the winter ashore felt like something we wanted to do.
We were only out for an hour, but had a lovely little sail. Everything worked as expected, and we got Robinetta back to her berth in a relaxed state of mind.
Tuesday, 11 April 2017
in the water
We couldn't do much this morning- it was mostly waiting for the yard to be ready. We checked the raw water pump and found a new gasket and impeller had been fitted. I did notice that the tiller pilot connection to the tiller was something we had completely forgotten about. I've done temporary fix after temporary fix. It really needs the tiller removed and a new mount for the pin attached.
Getting the hoist to her was tricky for the yard chaps. By the time it was in place you couldn't slide a feeler gauge between the hoist and the boats either side of us.
They moved her without scratching any other boat and we clambered aboard and were driven down the slip. Robinetta swung gently in the slings. The water took her weight and Alison tried the engine. The battery wasn't up to it. I changed to the other side and Alison gave it some throttle and eventually the trusty 1GM10 sprang to life. We backed out of the sling and after some moving around we were clear in about 0.9m of depth under the keel. The echo sounder worked with no fuss.
Alison backed into deeper water and then motored forward to B pontoon. I set warps and fenders. That was when we realised we had left the new warps in the car. We had enough on board.
The wind had backed so instead of blowing off the berth it was blowing onto the port sides of the finger. Alison expertly manoeuvred so the wind pushed us gently against one and I tied us up.
We left the engine in neutral charging both batteries and went to the car and loaded a trolley, and another. I swapped the warps for the new ones and ran out the bowsprit to get its lines sorted while Alison stowed the luggage.
We turned off the engine and checked both batteries. Each started the engine easily now. Lunchtime.
Lunch was a cooked breakfast in the Marina café. We walked it off with a trip in to town and then got Worm to the pontoon.
Alison wanted shore power and our lead didn't quite reach so we warped Robinetta across to the other finger. It was better anyway as we were now blown off.
I set the no 2 jib so I could get the furling line wound onto the drum the right way round and then put the jib away again and we bent on the mainsail.
It feels like we are ready,
 |
| A narrow gap, for a big hoist |
They moved her without scratching any other boat and we clambered aboard and were driven down the slip. Robinetta swung gently in the slings. The water took her weight and Alison tried the engine. The battery wasn't up to it. I changed to the other side and Alison gave it some throttle and eventually the trusty 1GM10 sprang to life. We backed out of the sling and after some moving around we were clear in about 0.9m of depth under the keel. The echo sounder worked with no fuss.
Alison backed into deeper water and then motored forward to B pontoon. I set warps and fenders. That was when we realised we had left the new warps in the car. We had enough on board.
The wind had backed so instead of blowing off the berth it was blowing onto the port sides of the finger. Alison expertly manoeuvred so the wind pushed us gently against one and I tied us up.
We left the engine in neutral charging both batteries and went to the car and loaded a trolley, and another. I swapped the warps for the new ones and ran out the bowsprit to get its lines sorted while Alison stowed the luggage.
We turned off the engine and checked both batteries. Each started the engine easily now. Lunchtime.
Lunch was a cooked breakfast in the Marina café. We walked it off with a trip in to town and then got Worm to the pontoon.
Alison wanted shore power and our lead didn't quite reach so we warped Robinetta across to the other finger. It was better anyway as we were now blown off.
I set the no 2 jib so I could get the furling line wound onto the drum the right way round and then put the jib away again and we bent on the mainsail.
It feels like we are ready,
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
