Holyhead Day Skipper

A long weekend to Holyhead with us taking Friday off.  Joined by Derek Asquith and Dave Winson on the Saturday, we all walked away with Day Skipper Practical.

Weather

Route

Notes

A warm but not over warm day, with bright sunshine we set off with a headwind.  We thought that when we turned the corner at Puffin we might be able to get a proper sail.  However, it was still pretty much on the nose so we motor sailed.

On turning the corner at Lynas Point, sure enough, the wind turned with us.  It provided us with an unfailing direction to where we were heading.  We noticed another boat tacking up wind so we let the foresail out and turned the engine off.  After a bit of this, we noticed our ETA at Holyhead was going to be after 9pm, so we started motoring again as we approached Carmel Head

Bright Sunshine at West Mouse

We saw a fairly large passenger cruiser leaving Holyhead as we approached - passing quite close to us: 

The Saga Rose coming out of Holyhead

Later we found out she was due in Dover for Monday to begin the 14 day Treasures of Britain and Ireland cruise.

It was a glorious evening with a little wind - about F2 in the marina, so we picked the pontoon that offered us the most shelter.

Sunshine at Holyhead Marina

We then settled down to relax with a couple of beers before tea and a visit to the yacht club.

Relaxing

The yacht club was welcoming but we were followed in by a drunken bloke who had his boat on a berth in the marina.  We had to distance ourselves from him!  We noticed that the club did not take advantage of it's location very well.

The next day started early with Dave and Derek turning up at 0900 or so.  We fairly soon took the boat around to the fuel pontoon, at the back of the dock and next to the lifeboat.  We had some difficulties doing this last year.  In the windless conditions and with Dave's guidance this proved very easy.

Now being full of fuel and water, we motored round the dock for the next six hours.  We spent a long time coming alongside pontoons and reversing in a straight line, all good boat handling stuff.  We noticed that Derek, although being unfamiliar with our boat, had a firm grasp of the forces at work - a sign of his experience.  Springing off was also covered extensively, something everyone benefited from.  At the end of the day, Dave was more than happy to sign us off on our Day Skipper Practical.

Dave and Derek then left us at about 1500.  We had a list of jobs to do on the boat and got cracking.  First up was the sail bag, which needed new rods to stiffen the sides.  This accomplished, after several drill bits, we fancied a beer.  This is when we realised the fridge was not working at all!  Carolyn was about to radio in a MayDay, but stopped when we decided to try fixing it instead.  It turned out to be a problem with the temperature sensor inside the fridge - I shorted it and the fridge came on.  We retired to the yacht club while the beers got cold.  We had our first beer at 1900, and managed to get a table in the yacht club restaurant, which was very good indeed.

Getting back to the boat, we sat in the cockpit until the fairly cool temperatures and wind got to us (it had gone more northerly so our pontoon position, carefully picked, did not shelter us).  We went to bed at 10pm and didn't rise until 0800 the next day!

We left Holyhead at about 0930 and had a tailwind all the way to Puffin.  On the way back, we called in at Porth Eilian, a place we were OODing the following weekend.  Looks delightful - we went in for a sneak peak: 

At Porth Eilian

Porth Eilian

Across Red Wharf, the wind dropped to virtually nothing and we tried putting the foresail away.  It had become totally clogged on the wheel, requiring a long visit to the bow to fix.

After about an hour of fiddling, we persuaded the foresail to roll away, and continued back home.  The sun had got hotter and we were heat-addled as we got onto the mooring!

Now for the Yacht Master....