Wander Lost

Month: April 2022

  • Milford, Lundy, Padstow… and back

    We left Milford Haven and had a great sail with good winds and moderate seas to Lundy and then on to Padstow. That’s the good news… the bad news is that Ffion was seasick the whole time and when we arrived in Padstow the anchorage near the lifeboat station was very bumpy. Things got worse when the wind shifted to North Easterly and the waves in the anchorage got worse.

    There was no way we could stay there overnight, especially with Ffion so unwell and there were no local safe harbours accessible at low tide, especially in that swell. There was no choice, we had to move and as we had decided Ffion would go home, Milford was the best option .

    To make things worse, the anchor snagged, I shredded the skin on my thumb trying to free it and the anchor bent in the process; It’s still usable though (anchor and thumb). While raising the sails in the now 20 knot winds, the genoa (the front sail) was flogging in the wind for a while and that has shown weaknesses in its sacrificial strip (also known as a UV strip because it is exposes to sunlight when the sail is furled) it has shredded in a few places.

    As it was 9pm and it was a 24 hour sail against a North East wind back to Milford, we sailed North West into the Celtic Sea away from land during the night and tacked back North East the next day. It took 26 hours in the end so we were exhausted and more or less went straight to sleep.

    This morning I had a good look at the genoa and it looks sound except the sacrificial strip which has done its job by absorbing uv sunrays and become brittle. I have spoken to a sailmaker in nearby Neyland who has given a rough price of £350 to replace this strip so tomorrow I hope to get a taxi over with the sail. He may not be able to work on it till later next week so I will be here at least a week.

    Ffion will stay here with me, at least for a few days and will then go home, alas she is not a good sailor due to seasickness. I will then cross the Bristol Channel (again) and continue in to Southmpton arriving a little later than planned.

    I will be looking for a crew member to help with the sail from Southampton to the Mediterranean if anyone is interested and can spare a couple of months.

  • Entering Milford Haven in a storm

    The sail from Fishguard past St David’s head outside Ramsey went very well with good winds and tides. After Ramsey the wind meant a more Southerly tack than I would have liked but we had plenty of time before a storm was due that night…. Mother nature had other ideas though.

    The winds picked up while we were a little over and hour away from safe anchorage at Dale in Milford Haven and within 10 minutes I had to take down the already reefed sails and switch to motor due to strong headwinds from the direction we needed to go. Speed over ground dropped to a couple of knots and what was due to take an hour, took three.

    I was shivering and soaked after dropping anchor and the anchorage was bumpy for the next 24 hours. But we were safe and best of all, crew were not sick… CREW?!! I hear you ask? Well, I guess it’s time to tell you Ffion has been with me since we left Aberystwyth 😃.

    About 4 weeks ago, Ffion asked if she could come with me if she could overcome her seasickness, at least until Southampton. She was ill for most of the Aberystwyth to Fishguard leg but recovered quickly and was only sick once on the next leg during the storm. This is a very good sign that although she will get sick, she can also get over it quickly.

    We have spent just under a week at Milford Haven marina for reasons Ffion will explain in her blog. Yesterday we sailed to Lundy in the middle of the Bristol Channel and today we are going as far as we can toward Cornwall.

  • What’s been going on and surprise reveal.

    Right then, where do I begin. Well since my last blog we have been quite busy.

    Lady Cindy was lifted out of the water so that John and I could do some work on the bottom of the boat.

    Working on Lady Cindy.

    We went for a walk on Aberystwyth pier head and decided to take some pictures. There were quite a few takes but these were the best ones 🙂

    The house move is slowly getting closer, my room is fully packed and ready to go. Sleeping on a mattress on the floor isn’t too bad.

    We’ve had some guests aboard which has been lovely because it has allowed me to spend time with my friends and we have also had good times with friends ashore having barbecues and going bowling.

    It has been lovely to be ashore for sometime spending time with family and friends.

    While all of this and more has been going on, I’ve been doing some planning and thinking about the surprise.

    For a while I’ve been debating whether or not to carry on with John on his journey and I’ve had a lot to think about like my family, friends and my animals.

    With John mentioning more and more often about finding crew, I decided to give it a go before I lost the opportunity.

    So yes, I have been aboard Lady Cindy with John and Dotty for a while now and we’ve found out that I can get over my seasickness by sleeping. For everyone who knows me, they know I really like my sleep and I’m really good at it. Haha 😂

    I still don’t know how far I’ll get but we’re taking it day by day and we’ll just see how it goes.

    My brother, sister in law and their children came over to my parents house to see John and myself before we left for Southampton and we had a Chinese takeaway and some drinks which was a lovely time.

    I needed to go back home for a bit due to needing to find a new home for my boa constrictor but I’m happy to say that I have found him a new home with someone experienced with big snakes.

    I also needed to go back to see my dog who has been unwell recently but he is doing good and is still happy and comfortable 🙂

    This is only some of the things that’s been going on recently so I might write another blog with more of the things that’s been happening but that’s all for now 🙂

  • We are heading South

    Yesterday morning we slipped the mooring lines and set sail for the South and warm weather. This has been after two years of planning and preparation.

    The sailing was almost perfect for the wind strength and direction but the sea swell did build throughout the day so I decided to stop at Fishguard overnight rather than chance adverse currents around St David’s Head at night. The anchorage has been a bit rolly overnight but is improving slowly. I will stay here another night because winds will drop to near zero later this evening.

    All systems on the boat worked well, I need to secure a few things better that fell over during the sail and a few other minor and easy jobs.

  • Preparing to head South

    The last few weeks have been spent doing the last few jobs getting ready to head South for the summer, it’s not all work though, we have done fun stuff as well; I have finished working at Tescos. At the moment I am waiting for a few storms to blow through before sailing to Southampton and then on to the Mediterranean.

    Test sail to New Quay

    The original plan was to leave the marina, sail to New Quay to anchor a day or two and then sail down to Southampton. Strong Northerly winds put paid to that so we changed it to a day sail with Carys and Ffion to New Quay and back. The trip down was done under motor in mist and no wind but by the afternoon the winds arrived giving a great sail. It was a good test of systems not used for a few months and gave me a few jobs to work on the following couple of days.

    At the moment, it’s looking like the weather will improve toward the end of this week. If it does give a few days window, I will get to Milford Haven via Fishguard.

  • Aberystwyth Marina Review

    I have been over Wintering at Aberystwyth marina for the last six months and before that using it to shelter from strong northerlies when anchored at New Quay.

    Location

    The marina is the only suitable all weather shelter for deep keel boats between Milford Haven and Pwllheli. Nearby anchorages for deep keels are Fishguard (exposed to the East) and New Quay (exposed to the North). The harbour and entrance can be tricky with silted up sides; my 1.8m yacht can only get in 1.5 – 2 hours either side of the high tide. The entrance should not be attempted when big waves are coming in from the North. Care should be taken around the rocks either side of the entrance.

    Aberystwyth Harbour (c) David Jenkins, reproduced with permission.

    Marina

    Part of The Marine Group, it has a fuel Dock, on pontoon water and electricity, a marina office and a toilet/shower block with laundry facilities. There are liftout and yard services. The showers are clean, spacious and powerful. A couple of times I found the hot water ran out but that was rare.

    Local shops, the railway station, beach promenade, pier, Tescos, Matalan, pets at home, Iceland, takeaways etc. Are all a short walk away.

    The marina is badly silted so most deeper boats such as mine touch bottom at low tides, I understand there are plans to do some water blast dredging in the near future to improve this.

    Staff here are excellent. There is a pleasant and friendly atmosphere to the place. Some of the staff are ‘retired’ but still help out.

    There has been a recent change in management and there are some big plans announced by the Council for the Marina, I hope the marina keeps its character through these changes. My preference would be for the Council to get the basics right first by properly dredging the channel and dumping the spoil out at sea. Currently they use diggers and dumper trucks to move it from one point in the harbour to another. Mother nature just moves it back in the next storm.