Map so far

I made a new map for our 2017 cruising. We still hope to get to Cardiff or Bristol for the winter but this is what we've done so far.

Pwllgwaelod to Neyland

Dawn at Pwllgwaelod

I rarely sleep very well at anchor, and this was no exception. The anchorage suffered from occasional sets of rollers coming in. Nothing big, but enough to set Robinetta in motion from side to side. The pump also went at least three times. I had tied Worm alongside as soon as we came back from the pub, so she did not bump Robinetta, but as the waves rolled us Worm would snatch at her forward line so it creaked.

Julian suggested putting the kettle on at 06:20, and since we wanted to be away from the bay by 07:30 it felt like a sensible idea.

By 07:05 we were ready to go, so I switched the engine on to warm up while Julian hauled up the anchor chain. We had put out about 40m, expecting to be anchored in 10m at the top of the tide, and it certainly held us securely. The anchor came up easily, and was clean. Julian did sluice the foredeck down but that was to get rid of rust from the chain rather than muck off the anchor. He left the anchor on the foredeck rather than lashed to the bulwalks, as the forecast for today was “smooth to slight”; nothing to roll the anchor round on the foredeck.

We motored across Fishguard Bay in flat calm, with almost total overcast. The clouds were high, but in marked contrast to the clear sky when we went to bed. It did feel as though there was a little wind, and we got the main sail up before I went below to cook porridge. The sail just about filled, but that was all.

Strumble Head from the north

 Strumble head light operates 24 hours a day, and we could see it flashing as we approached. We also saw porpoises in hunting mode, and a couple of seals in the water. We went close in to avoid any overfalls off it: not that there were any! There were some swirls where overfalls could develop in a higher sea state than we had though.

Just past the headland there is a narrow passage that leads to an anchorage in the shelter of the lighthouse. Julian wanted to have a look, and had laid our course between Strumble Head and the island beyond. The channel was supposed to be 10m deep on the contours, but we quickly got down to five beneath Robinetta's keel, so I turned away and we carried on outside the island towards St David's head. That was when the adverse tide hit us, hard.

We had to fight our way south west at 1 knot for about 45 minutes (it felt longer), then we were back at about 2.5 knots. The tide runs against us for 9 out or 12 hours along this stretch, and there was nothing we could do but endure it. There were a few compensations. The porpoises were very actively fishing south of Strumble Head, and although they ignored us (porpoises are not interested in humans, unlike dolphins) we saw quite a lot of them. There were also flocks of gulls sitting on the silky water, obviously digesting their breakfast.

Common Dolphin off Porthgain

Three hours after rounding Strumble Head we were still only abreast of Porthgain, with two hours to go before we reached St David's Head. A small pod of common dolphins came and played round us for five minutes, which lightened the monotony a bit. George was on the helm, and although the main sail was up it was hardly drawing, with the wind virtually on the nose. Julian unfurled the jib whenever a breath of wind appeared, then had to roll it away almost as soon as the breeze died.

Entrance to Porthgain, marked by pillers

Our slow progress along the south end of Cardigan Bay finally finished at 13:40, when we rounded St David's Head and pointed towards Ramsey Island. The wind shifted with us, making it clear that we had been generating our own head wind, but there were ripples on the water, promising a breeze, and finally we could see blue sky on the bow, not grey. It looked as though we were sailing into summer.

Approaching Ramsey Sound from the north

We enjoyed Robinetta's passage through Ramsey sound. We had read up on the route carefully, and Julian had entered it into the chart plotter, and we had chosen our timing with care. The tide was virtually slack as we entered; Robinetta started to accelerate, then slowed back to engine speed as she outpaced the tidal push. Once we changed course to clear The Bitches the wind actually came just forward of the beam, and we were able to put the engine in neutral and sail at 4 knots. That was lovely while it lasted, but the wind soon went light again.

LIfeboat station in Ramsey Sound

Leaving Ramsey sound we found that overfalls were beginning to form. They are marked on the chart, but we were surprised to see them, given the tide had only just begun to turn in our favour. They made us reconsider our decision to head through Jack Sound, which is noted for much worse overfalls! Instead we headed for the west end of Skomer, to use Broad Sound.

Ships at anchor in St Bride's Bay

St Bride's bay felt much bigger than it looked on the charts, due to its deep indentation, and Jack Sound looked huge. The scale was distorted by three large ships at anchor on the north side of Skomer, which were closer to us than we realised as we cleared Ramsey Sound.

With the wind very light, and back on the nose, we lowered the main sail again to save it from the sun which was now shining out of a clear blue sky. A family group of common dolphins came by, with a mother keen to show her baby off, and another adolescent tagging along too. Almost impossible to photograph but great to see. As I went below to phone Neyland marina to book a berth the gentle swell began to build, and by the time we reached the western end of Skomer, this became overfalls.

It took us about ten minutes to reach calm water again, but once we were in Broad Sound the sea was flat, with the slightest of ripples. As soon as Julian noticed the possibility of wind he unrolled the jib, which filled, so up went the main again. Robinetta was only making 2.5 to 3 knots over the ground ( a lot of it from the tide) but we could not get over the cill into Nelyand's upper basin (cheaper than the all tide one) until about 20:00, so speed was not an issue. We had steerage way, so the engine went off. Glorious silence! Wonderful scenery and weather. The dull and slow morning was forgotten as we enjoyed the afternoon.

We saw a couple of of yachts coming through Jack Sound. There was no sign of excess motion of their masts, so it looked as though we had avoided the passage unnecessarily, but did not regret our routing. We were getting good views of both Skomer and Skokholm as we sailed between them.

A series of speed boats went past, their wake disrupting the smooth sea, but everything else was peaceful, and we decided on an early dinner. Julian went below to cook, while I stayed on watch, with George doing the helming. The occasional whine of George's extending arm became more frequent, and as we cleared the end of Skokholm I realised we had lost steerage way. Once the engine went back on the idyllic hour was over. The wind died totally, so I rolled the jib away, and the blazing sun made me ask Julian if he agreed that the sail should come down.

Heading for Skomer

Without Skokholm's shelter and the steadying effect of the sail we discovered Robinetta was rolling in swell, and every motor boat that came past caused wild gyrations. Julian put the stove up on its gimbals, which only helped a little, and he brought the dinner up in a grumpy frame of mind. The sun was too hot now the wind had gone, and he could feel it burning the back of his neck. The dinner (new potatoes, buttered cabbage, and tinned stew) was excellent.

We rounded St Ann's Head at 18:00, and were in Milford Haven and flat water. We motored gently up towards Neyland, looking at the port facilities and scenery as we passed, and reached the entrance to the marina at 20:10. I phoned the office and checked the water depth over the cill. There was 6', which would give us 18” under the keel, so we headed towards the upper basin.

We could not tell which berth was P5 initially, and went into P6. This was not a problem as there was plenty of space, and we quickly decided it would be fun to back into the correct berth instead of going in forward. I pulled Worm up onto the pontoon, then stayed ashore while Julian manoeuvred Robinetta round and reversed in perfectly.

We were securely tied up, with the engine off at 20:30, just as the light was going.

For a perfect sailing weekend we would have liked more wind, but we added 80 nautical miles to our progress round Britain, and saw some beautiful coast line.

Aberystwyth to Fishguard Bay

It was a bright sunny morning when we woke on the boat after an uneventful train journey the previous evening.

We had fish & chips for lunch yesterday so dinner had been a little supermarket sushi and fruit on the train. I was now starving. It’s nice to get something done before breakfast so we got Worm off the foredeck and into the water and got Robinetta mostly ready to leave.

Then we went into town for breakfast and had a pleasant one in a cafe. We paid our berthing fees and left as planned about 9:30. There was never less than 1m of water under the keel leaving the harbour. Alison helmed and I got the bowsprit out as we went through the narrow gap between the Oceanlord on the town quay and the marina’s fuel dock.

The plan for the weekend was to get to Milford Haven - the next place along the coast with a Marina where we could leave Robinetta. The half-way point is Fishguard. The old harbour at Lower Town dries and the recommendation is to anchor near the ferry pier but the pilot says the ferry wash can be uncomfortable and also mentions a nice anchorage at the east end of Fishguard bay called Pwllgwaelod. You can row ashore to the pub. This sounded better!

Robinetta was last in Fishguard Bay in May 1946. She had sailed from Caernarfon Bay in one go and then got weather-bound in Lower Town for four days. Tomorrow we would join her south-bound track at Strumble head.

As expected there was no wind. We bent on the No. 1 jib just in case and had the staysail up as usual but helming was delegated to George and we watched the pretty coast go by in the sunshine.

The day was truly a beautiful one. It didn’t look quite so nice over Snowdonia but for us it was lovely. The 3G signal was strong too so I could look up the places we passed. It felt a bit like a trip on the Waverley steamer.

There were a few other yachts passage making and a good few fishing boats lifting pots. One of them was a Northumbrian coble. The coast here is quite similar to the north east and we had seen a few moored in Aberystwyth. They are such practical and pretty boats.

In the morning, in turn we passed Llan-non which looks like it should be the mouth of the Istwyth, Llanrhystud, Aberaeron, and New Quay.

Clouds over Llanrhystud

Llanrhystud is a tiny village invisible from the sea. Where it’s river reaches the coast are two caravan parks, one on either side. Both have launching slips and there were ribs and kayaks having fun or fishing around.

Aberaeron

Aberaeron is a nice little town where an aunt of mine once lived. It has a proper harbour and a yacht passed us and went in there. The wonders of 3G let me know that today was the town “Mackerel Fiesta”. Tempting, but we did want to get to Milford Haven by Sunday night. VisitmyHarbour says the harbour offers surprisingly little protection and as we passed one could see why. The walls run parallel to the quays and the whole thing is completely open to the west. They need some kind of breakwater running north/south outside.

The chart shows an inner harbour on the north side of the river. It’s very small and I don’t know if it operates.

Newquay

Nesting on the north side of the headland beyond is New Quay. It is mentioned
In the CA cruising almanac but I knew nothing about it. Wikipedia tells us that it was created in the 1840s by act of Parliament to provide a ‘new quay’ for Cardigan. It soon became a major ship building town building smacks, schooners and transatlantic traders. The ship building only lasted about 50 years but ‘New Quay Men’ became renowned as ships captains. Today it has a population of only around 1,000 but it looks nice from the sea and quite ‘yachty’.

yachts racing at Newquay

Lunch was bread and cheese - the last of the Teifi cheese we had bought in Aberystwyth two weeks ago. Lovely stuff.

The next headland took us into the bay where the Teifi comes out - very appropriate! A narrow sound separates the headland from Cardigan Island, or Ynys Aberteifi. We went through the sound sort-of sailing and hopefully looked nice to the holidaymakers standing at the viewpoint over the sound. The sound, the island and the bay looked gorgeous.

Cardigan Sound from North

I want to call this bay Aberteifi bay but the language is really confusing. Aberteifi, Cardigan and Ceredigion seem to be completely interchangeable terms and since the whole outer bay between the Lleyn peninsula and St Davids head is called Cardigan Bay it’s hard to know what to call the little bay the Teifi flows in to.

Cardigan Sound, mainland side

The next river along is called the Nyfer and the bay it flows into is called Newport Bay. Newport is quite in-land and there is no harbour to be seen. The southern end of Newport bay is marked by Ynys Dinas. The ‘sound’ between Ynys Dinas and the mainland is a valley you can walk along. Sea level rise might turn it back into a proper island at some point. Both ends of the valley have sandy coves which make good anchorages. I had picked the southern one at the east end of Fishguard bay for us to spend the night.

We got there with good light and dropped the hook with about 5m under the keel. 40 m of chain went out to allow for the 4 m rise of tide expected. We took and checked bearings and then rowed ashore to the pub.

The Old Sailor is a noted and popular sea food restaurant. We expected it to be fully booked and we were right. It looked like we would have had a great meal there. CAMRA says it had a well kept real ale when they checked but the closest thing was a Brains ‘American style IPA’ and the house ‘Cream Flow’ ale. Nothing on a hand pump.

I had a half.

Alison was luckier with the cider. They had two Thatchers ciders on draught - Big Apple which she had enjoyed earlier this year and Haze. They also had Welsh craft cider in bottles. She chose the latter and enjoyed it. We sat in the beer garden looking out over the bay with Robinetta rocking in the swell in front of us.

Robinetta at anchor, Pwllgwaelod

The sun was going down as we rowed back and cooked and I had an Islay beer - the last beer on the boat!

Relaxing in a friendly place

Sunday's weather seemed glorious, especially after the Friday and Saturday, with bright warm sunshine and cloudless skies. Unfortunately there was also no wind, so our vague plans of a day sail towards Aberdovey came to nothing.

However Aberystwyth is a lovely place to be on a summer Sunday. We wandered along to the pier and visited the "Sea to Shore" food festival on the northern promenade. Disappointing for Julian, who expected to see lots of fish given the name of the festival, but with a good set of craft food and drink stalls.

Back at the marina we were given some lovely mackerel by the motor boat next to us, who had gone out for the four available hours on the tidal gate. Apparently it was a very good day for mackerel. It felt like every boat on the pontoon had owners aboard, and they were all friendly and interested in Robinetta. Many of yachts were Westerlys, but there was also a Holman 26 that we exchanged wood care and long keeler manoeuvring tips with.

I went up the mast to tape the electrics back to the shrouds, then we had a walk along to the harbour mouth. Basically we had a lazy day sorting out the boat ready to leave her.

Worm seems to have developed a leak. Julian fixed on some extra skids over the winter, using cascamite and nails. These have both come off, leaving nail holes to let in water. Julian filled them with linseed putty, which hopefully will harden up and stop the leaks by the time we get back.

This morning we caught the 09:30 train to head home. We bought returns (only £1 over the cost of the single, making the tickets seem much cheaper) ready to come back the first weekend with good weather to move Robinetta south.

That wasn't the weather we were promised

That wasn’t in the forecast.

After yesterday’s strong winds it went very still in the evening as we walked to Weatherspoons for pudding.

When I opened the companionway hatch this morning it looked fine but by the time we went for our showers it was raining. That wasn’t in the forecast last night.

We checked XC and it still said it would be a sunny day with a nice constant 14 knot wind with almost no gusts.

I mended the staysail track ends so the car wouldn’t get stuck – it had failed yesterday.

Then we tried to fill the water tanks but couldn’t reach the tap so we went to the fuel dock and got fuel and water there.

We got the sails up in the harbour on the way out. We were followed by another gaffer called Saskia – probably a Tamarisk 29. She headed off towards Abersoch or Bardsey.

Instead of bright sunshine and a steady light F4 we had a slate black sky with more wind.

I wanted to sail close to the Snowdonia coast so we set a course for the entrance to the eastern channel inside St Patrick’s Bridge. We went over another St Patricks Bridge outside Kilmore Quay in Ireland – I must check if there is a legend that connects them.

Holding the course was uncomfortably close to a run so we gybed onto a course east along the Lleyn coast towards Criccieth.

We saw rain building on the coast and decided it was time for another gybe back onto the course. Alison spotted that the VHF antenna cable was flapping at the top of the mast. It runs up the port forward shroud and then is taped to the mast. The tape must have broken. I hoped it wouldn’t pull out before we could get up the mast to fix it.

Then she noticed the starboard lazy jack had unclipped itself from the end of the boom. We tied it off. I have no idea how a snap shackle can un-snap itself. Things weren’t going well.

The wind built and built. We had full main and no 1 jib – the right configuration for broad reaching in 14 knots but it was getting hard work. I kept hoping we would get out from under the cloud and it would calm down but …

Eventually I faced reality and we reefed down and furled the jib and I went forward to change to the number 2. The seas were bouncy so I was really careful to make sure everything stayed tied on, including me! I got the No 1 bagged and the No 2 hoisted and went back to the cockpit. The No 2 had come out a bit and we tried to fully furl it and spotted that I’d got the furling line caught under the drum.

I went forward again. The only way to fix it was to undo the foot from the drum. It got away from me and went flying. Alison went head to wind to bring it back on-board and then she realised we were getting lee-shored on St Patricks Bridge. She banged the engine on and motored back north to safety while I sorted the jib. Finally I got it right.

We debated going back to Pwllheli. Alison called Aberystwyth several times, and finally got through. They were certain it would be safe to get into the harbour this evening and we were welcome to leave Robinetta there. We decided to go for it but the seas were getting scary to go through the eastern channel so we reset the course to go outside St Patrick’s Bridge. An extra nine miles! The strong winds were pushing us quickly, even reefed down, so the short cut would have got us to Aberystwyth hours before we could get into harbour. The weather wasn’t good enough to get good views of the mountains so we were content with the extra distance.

We had cheese & tomato rolls for lunch.

It was a bouncy nine miles to windward and the leak in the bow was getting worse under the strain. We were pumping too frequently for comfort but not frighteningly.

Once round the western end of St Patrick’s Bridge we were back on a run again. We took long gybes to stay on a broad reach, allowing the cross track error to get to between 0.5 and 1.5 nm.

As the afternoon drew on the weather improved as promised. The wind gradually eased and we got some blue sky and some reasonable views of the southern Snowdonia Mountains. The waves were still 2m high at times so it wasn’t comfortable at all. 

By 18:00 we were getting hungry again and I got the stove onto its gimbals and cooked some potatoes and tomatoes and heated a tin of jerk chicken.

After that it really did settle down. It was pretty flat by the time the sun went down. 4 miles off Aberystwyth Alison noticed dolphin fins. They were larger than common dolphins and probably bottlenose, although we only saw their backs. They seemed to be guiding us to the Main Channel towards the harbour

After that we got into the harbour without incident and found the fuel dock and tied up.

The next day we got the sun to see the mountains.

 But there was no wind so we stayed in Aberystwyth.

Pwellheli

Pwllhelli Marina is a long walk but a short row from the town. Plas Heli - the Welsh Waterspots Academy is nearby with a bar and 'restaurant' but like almost everywhere in Pwllheli it majors in burger and chips.

Our first night we walked to a place called 'The Pontoon' which looked interesting and was - it was heaving and fully booked. We ended up in the yachtsman's refuge - at least that's what Weatherspoons seems to be - they serve food until 23:00 and its always OK and value for money.

Next day we tried to book for the Pontoon but it was already fully booked by the time they opened at noon. So we cooked on board and then went to Weatherspoons for pudding.

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.