| Date | Saturday 9th June 2006 - Sunday 10th June 2006 |
| Timings | 1000 set off from moorings 1100 in Dickies (Port Penrhyn) 1130 in Gazelle (after picking up a mooring) 1445 dropping anchor Puffin Island for barbie 1620 leaving for Conwy 1900 Arrived Conwy Pontoon Sunday: |
| Tide UTC | 9 0846 6.63 2112 6.59 0255 2.27 1520 1.85 10 0925 6.82 2148 6.81 0338 2.03 1601 1.71 |
| Crew list | Carolyn, Glen, Llew |
| Distance | 35 miles |
There was a mild wind on leaving Beaumaris. We knew we had some time to kill before we could take the flood tide into Conwy, so we planned a lunchtime trip to the Gazelle. In the Gazelle (or rather, outside it as it was boiling hot sunny) I telephoned the harbour master at Conwy who advised us we could enter after 1700 and go straight onto one of the pontoons. He also advised us there was a water taxi service available - the pontoons are not linked to the land, and taking your own tender is inadvisable due to the strong currents.
A few pints later we went across to Dickies to get a new deck power fitting for our autopilot. We went into the dock area and turned the boat around before securing to a wall. Me and Llew went into the chandlery to get the item.
We then made northwards to Puffin and determined there was shelter on the North side. We anchored and set about putting the boat barbeque onto the pushpit:
Our first attempt at anchoring seemed to drag - it is quite deep water here, and we had to go deeper than we would have liked to get away from the rocky bottom. It was quite hard to pull the anchor up - but it seemed OK in the end. Just about sheltered enough to have the barbeque - important to pre-cook things!
We then sailed into Conwy - we did ground out a few times, so sticking to the channel is very important!
There was a pontoon available for us. We picked up a water taxi who took us into town. We had a couple of pints and split up - Llew having fish and chips and us having a very nice kebab. Later we went to the pub overlooking the harbour (in a state of building work), followed by going to the Cruising Club.
On the way back, we noticed the wind was variably strong. When we got back to the moorings, the sea state was laughably rough - being on the front of the boat trying to pick the mooring up was fun. One moment I was inches from picking the pickup buoy up, the next about 10 feet away!
Lessons Learned: