Route

Route

Weather

Saturday: SW 4-5 going W, rain, slight
Sunday: SW 5-7, heavy rain, moderate, poor visibility

Note

We were wondering about whether to go as Carolyn had a cold and was feeling rough on Saturday morning.  We got up anyway, as I was Officer of the Day.  When we got to the point with a good breakfast inside us, we radioed Ocean Mood and received a chirpy response.  With the warm sunshine we decided to set off.

At this point Trowell turned up and enquired about the club trip.  He was wondering if he should come along in Verity - a boat just launched, with a new engine.  We encouraged him and he said he would ask Carolyn's 71 year old dad if he wanted to come along to help.  We were radioed by them halfway - they had set off and were sailing by the Gib.

We managed a close hauled sail all the way to the anchorage - whereupon the weather started getting nasty and grey:

There was quite a lot of swell - not very much where we were, very tucked up facing the beach.  Ocean Mood came along and anchored next to us.  They started swinging towards us - so I suggested roping the boats together:

This seemed to work very well and so for added security, Jerry went out in his dinghy to put a back anchor out.  As a Piece de Resistance, I dug out our Anchor ball and stringed it up.

Some kayakers turned up who had been on a trip to Amlwch - very posh looking Kayaks!

Soon after this, Verity turned up and announced they were in trouble.  Some rope had got around the prop and they needed a quick tow away from the rocks.  They had deployed the anchor.  Ocean Mood and Mistral had overheard and went to the rescue.  I was underdressed and followed on.

When Verity had been made safe, Trowell went for a quick dive to free his prop.  I was impressed he had the equipment on board to do this - but he was / is a diver after all.

Soon after this was all sorted, the weather got even worse:

All the fin keelers were rolling around in the slight swell - we noticed the bilge keelers hardly moved in comparison.  We were rock solid like in a marina, feeling smug if damp.  Most of the fins decided to leave for Moelfre, where at least they could go to the pub.  Llew stayed on Genesis with Trowell coming across in the morning to collect him.

We invited all to join us on Genesis, and fed the crew of Verity.  They had set off with half a meat pie each and were going to go hungry.  And no tea!  Snowbird and Shearwater joined Genesis, Ocean Mood and Verity for a long evening of wine, beer and cheese.  At about 1 am we retired.

The next day was just as wet, and we were called by Colin on Shearwater to say his engine wasn't starting.  We said stay at anchor and we'd be over in a bit to do a tow out.  In a few minutes however, he managed to get it started and was OK.

A few minutes later, we got a call from Verity to say they had no engine.  Nothing, no lights or anything.  We told them to stay at anchor while we finished breakfast.  Shortly thereafter we went over and started the long tow across Red Wharf Bay:

We managed about 4.5 knots over ground - our log was not working so no idea what speed through water we were making.  Our ETA at Puffin was going to be about 12 noon - not exactly ideal for getting back to our mooring by 1215!  I radioed Holyhead Coastguard and told them - they said to contact them if we had any problems.  As we approached Puffin, we had made better time than we thought and were due to arrive by about 11am.  However, the sea state had worsened and the wind had built to over 25 knots.  We decided that trying to put Verity back on her mooring was going to be too hard, coupled with the fact we would have to refuel soon.  Not something you want to do in the pouring rain  with a boat in tow!

Holyhead launched the lifeboat and it turned up pretty quickly.

A crewmember was put aboard who took our line off and transferred the tow:

The whole operation was smooth and professional.

The Lifeboat established a fast tow and soon Verity was overtaking us:

But no matter!  Genesis got a new leash of speed and we realised we could now get onto our mooring on this tide rather than having to wait until the evening for the next tide.

Something we learned later is that Verity crew had no food or hot drinks during the entire tow trip, and no breakfast.

Lessons Learned

• An umbrella is surprisingly useful
• Make sure a casualty boat is sorted out
• Tying boats together at anchor stops the wobbling and is altogether a good idea