Porth Eilian
An overnight trip to Porth Eilian featuring a barbeque on the beach became a day sail to Moelfre and an overnight in Conwy on the pontoons. Glen Warburton as OOD.
| Date | Saturday 14th June - Sunday 15th June |
| Time | Saturday 0900 Leaving mooring 1000 Puffin Sound 1050 Becalmed Red Wharf Bay 1200 Abeam Point Lynas in F6 1300 Anchored at Moelfre 1700 Leaving for Conwy 1820 Rounding NE end of Puffin 1900 Conwy Fairway 1945 Conwy pontoons Sunday 0900 Leaving pontoon 0940 Rounding yellow outfall buoy 1020 Entering Penmaen Swatch 1040 Entering Menai Straits main channel 1110 On mooring |
| Tide UT | 14 0725 6.34 2001 6.33 0139 2.48 1407 2.00 15 0815 6.42 2046 6.53 0233 2.33 1455 1.93 |
| Crew list | Carolyn and Glen Llew |
| Distance | 37 miles to Moelfre 19 miles Moelfre to Conwy 14 miles Conwy to Beaumaris |
Weather
|
Wind |
Northwesterly 4 or 5 in north, but variable 3 in south,
becoming northerly 3 or 4 later. |
|
Sea state |
Slight |
|
Weather |
Showers |
|
Visibility |
Good |
Route
Notes
Having put a promotional Flyer on the notice board of the club, we hoped for at least a couple of boats to join us. As the week progressed, the wind came more northerly, with wind arrows pointing directly into the bay of Porth Eilian.
Setting off from the mooring we observed it was a nice <10 knots of wind with sunny if cool conditions:
We had interest expressed by Shearwater and Shoestring, and Arrabella expressed interest over the radio. We set off sailing fairly slowly and soon got becalmed. A bit of wind came up once we left Puffin, giving us a good NW we could just about maintain course on. However, we were soon becalmed:
We motored for a bit until we spotted some more wind. This was variable N - NW and about 12 knots. We couldn't quite make a direct course to Lynas so headed up as close as we could before tacking. ON the second tack at around 1200 we were fairly flatted by a F6 - just as we came out of the shelter of Lynas. Not a good idea to head into the northerly bay at Porth Eilian!
We radioed the other boats and Snowbird came back to agree with plan B: head for Moelfre and the pub:
Once there we met up with Bernie Hobart from Dansa. On board Snowbird was Paul Mountford, his sister Jonquil, husband Barry and friend from the south coast. Their plan was to head to Conwy and spend a cheap night on the pontoons after visiting the Cruising Club. We thought that was a great idea.
We left our anchorage for Conwy at about 1700, foregoing the barbeque for a meal cooked on-board (mainly burgers and chicken!). Snowbird had set off before us and was making good progress for Conwy. We put a reef in and followed behind in the very nice 10-14 knot SW tailwind.
Getting on to the pontoon at Conwy, we noticed another Legend 38, different in only a couple of aspects:
Conwy was very pretty in the setting sun:
Taking the water taxi into town, we visited one of the crowded pubs and decided the cruising club was the best venue. Meeting up with the Snowbirds, we left at around 11pm for drinks on Genesis:
The blur in the picture is quite appropriate :-)
Next morning we set off after Snowbird at around 0900. The wind was very variable but there was plenty of it at times, all from N to NW so a good sail was had across the Swatch. My pager went off as we rounded the fairway buoy. So at least I knew what I would be doing with the rest of the day!
So anyway, as a stop over at Porth Eilian, the trip was a disaster. But as a daytrip to Moelfre and evening in Conwy it was a great success!