2023 June 13th, Day 61 Sorrento Bay to Aberdaron Bay, Wales.

Facebook Post 13th June:

The anchor came up at 03:35 and I was underway under engine with less than 3 knots of wind, more worrying was a Thunderstorm heading my way and for half an hour I was keeping radar and AIS watch from below with the odd peak out, especially as I passed close to an anchored merchant ship.

At 04:40 the engine went off and the Cruising Chute went up. The rest of the day I was alternating between sailing in 6 - 9 knot winds and motoring to make the tidal gate at Bardsey Sound, at the end of the day it was 50:50 sailing and motoring but that was not too bad as it was sensible to motor though Bardsey Sound and into the anchorage.

As in 2022 I went out through the off lying banks south of Codling Bank before being taken way south by the tide.

Drilling rig SE of Codling Bank.

This Mayday call from a fishing boat could have had a very nasty end, fire on a small boat is incredibly dangerous to the crew and boat, the Irish coast guard put out an all ships with more than one boat close at hand responding, but iirc the RNLI got there first to find the crew had put the fire out.

17:00 and Bardsey Island is visible on the horizon centre right, the
north going tide now requiring me (or rather the autopilot) to steer
107 degrees to make 85 degrees.

Two hours later and about to enter Bardsey Sound motor sailing.

Aberdaron Bay anchorage at 21:22

Unusually again with a tripping line, left on because I anticipated
at least one more anchorage potentially foul, and it is useful to be
able to see where the anchor is, especially when setting the
anchor alarm - providing you get the length of the line right so
it reasonably close to the anchor without being sunk.

Sorento Bay Dublin to Aberdaron Bay.

66 miles in 17 hours

Click here for Fishguard

2022 St Kilda Day 71 Sorrento Bay to Aberdaron Bay.

The anchor was up at 03:15 and apart from wanting to head for the Welsh coast to get away from the lee shores of Ireland with strong easterly winds forecast, I had no clear idea where I was heading for, it could have been the south coast of Anglesey, The north side of Cardigan Bay or Milford Haven, it would depend on the wind, or as it turned out, the lack of it.

The first decision was where to pass through the offlaying banks, For Anglesey it would be best to go out north of Kish Bank but this required a move north away from preferable destinations further south and was also up tide so I headed south for the next gap between Codling and India Banks, with a calm sea and probably light winds the often turbulent water east of there was not going to be a problem and it left all options open. The wind was variable but I made good progress for 6 or 7 miles when the land breeze died to three knots and on went the engine, for a long time as the wind did not get any stronger.

04:07 south of Dublin, still sailing.

Passing the South Codling Cardinal buoy at 06:00 I had to make a decision, I did not have updated weather maps but did have the shipping forecast which was not encouraging showing light and variable winds, so I decided to head towards Bardsey Sound at the north west corner of Cardigan Bay. There seemed no point in heading for Anglesey when Bardsey was a similar distance, I would like to explore that area, but force 7 winds were forecast and Milford Haven beckoned. On the other hand it was a long way to Milford and I did not want to motor all that way when there might be some wind the next day.

Absolutely no wind at 09:30 as I crossed the bows of a freighter
 southbound outside of the banks.

I made Bardsey sound just as the tide turned favourable so had a smooth ride through – the tide here can run at 6 knots and in windy conditions can be extremely dangerous. 

Approaching Bardsey Sound, Bardsey Island to Starboard.
Note the right-hand instrument, with no wind and under engine
rather than a graphical display of the wind it is showing the wind
speed and direction plus fuel level, currently 50%, about 30 litres
with another 10 litres in a can.

Anchored in Aberdaron Bay, just east of the sound

62 miles in eleven and a quarter hours.

To Milford Haven.