2024 May 10th days 43 to 45, To The Skerries and Ardglass.

Again no wind and chilly with sea fret but warm at times, the wind came up twice but then disappeared within 10 minutes of setting sail and it increased a third time a mile from the anchorage.

On the last three passages across the northern entrance to
Dublin Bay I have had to avoid this ferry.

The Skerries from the anchorage where there was a nice spot
well separated from the surrounding moorings.

45 miles in nine and a half hours

The trip up to Ardglass was rather better, warmer much of the time and I sailed half the time with a pleasant, but chilly wind of 9 - 12 knots from the ESE.

A very large seal in the middle of the harbour entrance.

The narrow channel into the marina, the white marker in the
picture of the seal is shown as a yellow pillar on the chart.
The snapshot was taken as I write with the wind F6 in the
shelter of the harbour. It is rather bumpy so I hope the
wind dies soon.

The narrow channel into the marina, between the red (port hand)
and green (starboard hand) lateral buoys,.

Approaching low tide.

Ardglass is a pleasant stop off point with decent showers, local
shops etc., but its a pity they can't keep the visitors pontoon
clean; the other pontoons and the long walkways in the pic above
are very clean.

Monday was forecast to be blustery and very wet, that was not wrong, as I write it has been raining since late morning and the wind is about F6, as forecast in the lunch time inshore forecast. Aware that this was likely I had the boat refuelled very early.

The wind should die out this evening, the rain may hang around through tomorrow morning but, unless things change, I will be off at about 07:00 for Browns Bay to hopefully get across the North Channel before the wind turns northerly late on Friday or Saturday, unfortunately I suspect there will be more motoring required to get there. Once across I will have a lot more flexibility to make relatively short hops under sail as anchorages with good shelter are relatively plentiful. 

Click for the leg to Browns Bay

2024 May 8th Days 40 - 42, One step forward, 2 back to Neyland and Sandy Haven Bay then Arklow.

This cruise is turning into a bit of a nightmare, fortunately this problem "only" caused me 13 hours of motoring, 2 days, one night in a marina and quite a lot of worry until things were sorted. 

It was foggy when I woke at 04:00 so I went back to my bunk to wait for daylight. Things had not improved much if at all, I could hear another boats anchor being hauled up but importantly I could not hear the fog signal from St Ann's Head; I have heard that from Dale Shelf and Sandy Haven Bay (which is further away) on quite a few occasions so I decided to leave on the assumption it was not foggy there.

A quite busy picture, I went out using the GPS map, Radar and
AIS, also the autopilot that gives more time to keep a lookout
and check the instrumentation. The radar is not quite aligned
with AIS and the real world here, corrected later by a couple of
degrees to make it spot on.

Typically the fog signal started up as I rounded Watwick point, not as dense as on previous occasions I have been through here with visibility about a cable (c 200 yards). 

Making up to 10 knots with 5 knots of tide helping. The red
shaded area is the radar collision guard zone.

Fog beginning to lift

Close to the spring tide I was making great progress towards Arklow, rather further on but 35 miles shorter than getting there via Carnsore Point but with the tide only a couple of hours longer than just going to Carnsore. 

Then the engine started producing way to much smoke from the exhaust. I stopped it to decide what to do, it was necessarily a quick decision as the tide was about to turn and if returning to Milford I wanted the strong tide to help. Also to let the engine cool if it was overheating.

I decided to turn back primarily so that if it was a serious problem such as a blown head gasket I preferred to be at Milford rather than in Ireland. Having started the engine I put it in gear and there was a metallic clunk but the smoke much reduced (as became clear later a lot of weed had clearly come off, I had also put it in reverse in case it was weed - a not uncommon issue), It was still more smoke than I was comfortable with but hopefully it was not something serious. 

The clunk turned out to be a red hearing, it happened again but worse at Arklow and after some head scratching I found that if one of the fuel cans was put in the locker with the filler aft and if it moved just so, it interfered with the back of the combined throttle and gear selector - I have been putting a can in there since I got the boat and this was the first time it had happened, something to guard against a repeat is now on the work list.

With some difficulty with the engine running I checked the oil, there was no sign of water so a cylinder head gasket problem was less likely and the favourite was weed or rope around the shaft or propeller causing the engine to be loaded and running inefficiently and not burning the fuel properly. I carried on at modest speed and carried the tide into the Haven and made my way to Neyland Marina which had a berth available in the fully tidal section. I preferred this to the slightly closer Milford Haven Marina as it is not locked and there are a number of serious marine engineering companies locally.

Neyland Marina

I got into a nice berth and as I hopped onto the pontoon a chap came to help, it turned out he had previously owned an Achilles 24 and a 9 meter, the current owner of the A9m turned up next day - there are lots of Achilles boats around the Haven, they were built not far away. 

73 miles in eleven and a quarter hours.

It was early evening but I took some hand held pictures with my waterproof compact camera without lighting in the very murky water, the waterproof  pole mountable GoPro's battery being flat. The picture was very blurry, the propeller was clearly OK but there appeared to be either weed or weedy rope around the shaft. I attacked it with the boat hook and then went for a shower and fish and chips feeling rather better although if I had not got it off I might have a very unpleasant swim in the morning, even with the wet suit, mask etc. Or if it was some random weed in the marina I would be back to square one.

GoPro and waterproof light on the boat hook used the next morning .

Screen grabs from the video, all clear. But 7 weeks
after a scrub and a coat of anti-foul there is an ominous amount
of weed on the "P" Bracket.

A screen shot of my second attempt at getting to Arklow when
I was monitoring 3 dangerous AIS targets two heading north
and projected to be very close and another coming south, also.
close. The heavy dashed line ahead of me is the track from the
first attempt.

With the shaft clear it just remained to test it, but first there was two trips to the COOP, a twenty minute walk mainly uphill and two shorter walks to collect fuel, all with trips up steep, long access bridges to pontoons- the tide having a 7 metre range. I left late afternoon, the sea trial was successful and I went to Sandy Haven Bay for the night, a rather lengthy trip as I was battling a spring flood tide.

To Sandy Haven Bay

My second attempt was more successful although the wind never went above 5 knots so I had to motor all of the way. 

Approaching Arklow (right) where I anchored for the night at dusk.

 85 nautical miles in just under 15 hours.

Click here for The Skerries and Ardglass.

2024 May 6th Days 38 and 39, To Beggars Reach and Dale Shelf.

Up the River

With northerly winds forecast there are no sensible anchorages available in Ireland short of Sorento Bay, Dublin and Fishguard is exposed to the North, I will not be leaving until Wednesday, rather than stay at anchor all that time I headed up the the river for a night, leaving at lunch time to make use of the flood tide.

Nayland marina, together with the surrounding anchorage a
hot spot for Achilles boats - they were made not far away at
Gowerton near Swansea

Claddau Bridge the "Air draft" is 33 metres
at high water, why does it look so close to the
top of my c 12 metre mast when near low water?

I had intended to anchor off Williamston Pill as recommended in the Pilot but space between the moorings was very limited, there was a spot just north of them but with possible issues with shallow water so I pressed on and found a good spot near the bottom of Beggars Reach at a turn in the river, I would also get some shelter from the occasionally brisk wind. The down side was the strong flood tide running across the wind. 

Having anchored the wind backed and was coming straight down the reach and fighting with the tide for control of the boat but things remained quite comfortable. The tide turned, very quickly, at 18:00 and I was then pointing directly into wind and tide. Not a place to anchor in a storm or with poor ground tackle and insufficient rode to cope with almost 7 meters rise in the tide.

Beggars Reach looking north.

12 miles in 3.5 hours.

To Dale Shelf

As usual when on the boat with no curtains over the windows, I was awake early with the wind noticeably increasing from very little overnight. The tide was about to turn so rather than struggle to get the anchor up with no one to drive the boat up to the anchor against the wind and tide I decided to leave as the tide turned, a very narrow window as I had seen the night before but even if I missed the turn I would have half an hour or so with relatively slack water so I got up and made the boat ready to move. 

I was lucky and just as the kettle boiled the flood tide stopped, as expected some minutes after published HW which it 8 miles down the river.By the time I had made the coffee and started the engine the boat was half way between the positions with the full flood and ebb and almost over the anchor so I was way just after 06:00 on a chilly overcast morning - despite the domestic weather forecast, it did not start to warm up until after lunch.

Going down river, Claddau Bridge in the distance.

The wind was rather fickle, ranging from almost nothing to F3 and from NW to NE in direction so the engine was on and off for the trip to the Dale Shelf anchorage that has reasonable protect from winds from all likely directions and is a good start point when leaving.

Up and back.

The plan is to leave Wednesday morning around 07:00 but I can leave earlier with a fair tide once out of the Haven if awake earlier as is likely. Winds are likely to be light and variable but with a southerly and westerly component so I may have a choice of anchorages and destinations in Ireland, I will be heading for Carnsore point that I have plenty of time to get too but if I have to use the engine more than I would like there are a couple of places further north that I might divert to. Then there should be several warm days to gentle sailing in light winds, or if there is no wind a dash up the coast under engine, with reasonable start times with north going tides starting around 07:00.

12 miles in 3.5 hours.

Click here for the two attempts to get to Ireland.

2024 May 3rd Days 35 - 37. To Milford Haven and rest.

Finally some progress and, except for the cold wind and a lumpy sea to finish, an exceptionally good sail.

I woke up half an hour before the alarm but got up and did a couple of small jobs and had some coffee before leaving on schedule at 03:30 - I did not want to be early and find a foul tide off Lands End which can be uncomfortable. With the south westerly wind I motored for two hours to the “Runnel Stone” arriving 10 minutes ahead of schedule.

The Long Ships light at dawn.

As soon as I passed the Runnel Stone the sails went up and,
passing close to the Long Ships I was able to sail all the way to
the Milford Haven Offing.

The wind was almost unbelievably consistant at 10 - 14 knots all the way although, annoyingly, it did back from WSW to SW which slowed me down and I had to take down the Spinnaker off of Cape Cornwall. It was also sunny, but not that warm with the chill wind.

Approaching “Turbot Bank”off Milford the current, even on a neap tide, can create a confused choppy sea and so it was and I got the sails off about 2 miles short so that I could see where I was going (the Genoa being in the way) and concentrate on navigation as the boat rolled nastily until I was into the Haven.

The offending vessel, now corrected after I mentioned
it to a fellow Achillies owner who happens to work for
Milford VTS who had a chat with them.

 Coming in I got rather confused, I was trying to get the big picture - gps is all very well feature hoping or tracking but not always good for situational awareness with all the lights. A cable layer / survey vessel [actually a trawler i subsequently found acting as a guard ship] was showing on AIS (claiming to be under sail to a cable site, so I was a bit dubious of everything it said) east of the east channel but I was convinced I could see a larger ship c 20 degrees off the ais contact or was it the same and it was a really big ship, contrary to a suspect AIS profile. There was nothing on radar or ais from a 2nd ship, then I twigged it was 2 random shore lights on the N side of the haven looking like mast lights of a ship going right to left plus a fixed red nav beacon pretending to be a port nav light 🤔.

With an expected easterly wind I went to Sandy Haven Bay which, unlike Dale Shelf, has good shelter from the east and some from the SE.

Sadler 34 "Domina" at anchor in Sandy Haven Bay. We were
rafted up at Newlyn all the time I was there. Chris being
hardier (and younger) than me headed off for Ireland on
Sunday expecting another overnight passage after another
early start. I'm not sure if he anticipated the rain.

It looks like I’ll be here till Wednesday, I could get to a safe anchorage (in a northerly wind) in Ireland (Dunmore East?) on Sunday and probably on Monday but I would then be stuck there till Wednesday because of Northerly wind, so I would be N of Carnsore Pt late Wednesday. But I could be at the same place from here on Wednesday with a more sensible start time.  Also I am tired and rain is forecast for Sunday [I should have remembered that on Sunday as I write this, I put out some damp towels to dry and they are now wet ☹️]

Update: that was a good decision, cold light rain much of the day, I even had the heater on, it would have been pretty grim if it extends towards Ireland as is likely.

There after the winds are favourable but light with temperatures in the 60s for a slow sail or quick motor to N. Ireland. 

Hopefully the weather will be good enough to have a short yacht around the Haven on Monday and Tuesday whilst I wait. 

118 miles in 25 hours.

Click here for my trip up the river and back and plans for the ext few days.

2024 May 2nd Day 34. Back to Newlyn.

It was still looking good for a Friday departure to Milford so I left St Mawes at 07:30 with zero wind, 10 minutes later there was a fresh northwesterly so up went the sails and I made good progress until past Coverack when the wind went light and I switched on the engine to get past the Lizard overfalls close in at slack water. The wind then filled in again but right on the nose and with a foul tide, even a day before neaps it would have taken a very long time to get to Newlyn so I continued under engine arriving at 14:30 to anchor off, now tenable with the offshore wind despite some left over waves from the SE wind that quickly dies away.

As I posted on Facebook: Lots of boats turning up at Newlyn after all the bad weather. I suspect the pontoons are full (there is reduced availability as there are still fishing boats from mousehole in). It could be quite busy at 03:30 / 04:00 tomorrow with boats heading west and north.

I was right, it was busy, I subsequently found that next morning 3 boats wanted to leave and were ready at 04:00 but boats were so crammed in that it took quite a awhile to extricate themselves having to move boats out of the way - which probably did not please the occupants.

For the 2nd evening on the trot I was able to sit out, this time for quite
 a while, one could get used to this 😀 Looking towards Penzance.

This large yacht went into the harbour but then came out to anchor
Probably not wanting to raft on a fishing boat or lie against a wall.
A good move as next morning we were the only ones to get away easily.

Another close in passage - only do this in very benign conditions
There is no “inshore route”

Caught rounding the Lizard in a very long range shot posted
To marinetraffic.com, copyright as shown.

32 miles in 7 hours.

Click here for Milford Haven.

2024 May 1st Day 33, back to St Mawes, Milford Haven on Saturday / Sunday?

Possibly some good news, the models are suggesting a window to get to Milford leaving Newlyn at 04:00 (for the tide) on Friday. Less good news is I wanted to get out of the harbour to save the berthing fees and hopefully to get some better sleep - with a bigger boat rafting on me the mooring lines make a lot of noise and it’s a busy fishing port with boats operating 24 hours a day; but the sea is still quite choppy and the wind is expected to change direction by 180 degrees overnight so the local anchorages are likely to be uncomfortable or untenable. Having nothing better to do I therefore stuck to my plan and went to St Mawes having established on route that Coverack was also going to be “iffy”.

With a stronger wind and at mid tide I kept off The Lizard.

The revised plan is to return to Newlyn tomorrow, anchoring off.

38 miles in a little over 8 hours.

Click here for back to Newlyn