Mermaids Cove with Paul Kent

Route

 
Overall route

Notes

Paul and Glen had spent the whole day on Friday at a water sports centre so were in no shape to go for an energetic sail, especially as both had been frazzled in the sun.  Saturday was therefore a welcome lazy start, with a requirement to get to Gallows Point by 1130 in order to get through the Swellies as early as possible.  When we got there we found most people had abandoned the idea of Holyhead and were either going to Rhoscolyn or exactly the same destination as us.  Skye were adamant that they had thought of this first and had reserved a space!

Other boats going that day included Enigma, Meander, Gigi, True Brit, and Skye:

Skye

We left shortly after Meander (who were never seen again!), and begun sailing straight away. 

We motor-sailed through the Swellies; Paul had seen this area of water at low tide the night before from the bridge and was apprehensive.  However, at HW slack(ish) it appears relatively benign.

There were many people on the water on this day - from flotillas of small sailing dinghies to water skiers:

One handed water skier

This most impressed me and Paul as we had spent the previous day at a water sports centre.  He tried his hand at helming:

Paul helming a 9hp vehicle capable of 6.5 knots

The wind had come around to the front of the boat so we began tacking southwards down the straits:

Tacking southwards down the Straits

While tacking, Glen helmed; this was Paul's first experience of pulling sheets in on a boat and after a few tacks in the light wind, he managed to be quick enough to not need the winch handle very often.

Enigma, who had launched shortly after us, had John Lomas and one crewmember aboard.  He was leading the trip (although he set off afterwards and was actually behind us).  He was on the radio a lot talking to people . They did exactly the same thing as us and began tacking.  We set ourselves a little goal of keeping in front of them as long as possible; we were aware that Enigma is a faster boat than our tubby bilge keeler.  Around Caernarfon area, they caught up and we ended up on a starboard tack to their port tack; with both on a direct collision course!  I kept an eye on them hoping they would give way... until at the last moment turning to port to avoid collision.  As I turned to avoid them however,  they spotted me and turned to starboard!  I had time to go back onto my original course and avoid seeing which boat was made of thicker plastic.

We noticed that their port tack ended quite soon on the Anglesey side, to avoid going too far out of the channel.  I decided to extend our tack a bit further over the sand bank - I had been out to a boat that had run aground at low water on this patch in the lifeboat a week earlier, and noted that the bottom was very flat.  The sounder reported 4 or 5 metres depth so I reasoned that we were safe.

With that tack complete, we had effectively caught up with Enigma - so we were on the same direct collision course once again, again with us on starboard tack heading towards the mainland and them on port going towards Anglesey.  I left it until we were pretty close before turning to port to avoid them -  which once again, they noticed us at this point and did exactly the opposite, before hurriedly turning back to their original course to avoid us.  We came pretty close!

A close call with Enigma

With that bit of excitement, Enigma disappeared across the bar.

Crossing the bar was uneventful and Paul had another go at helming.  We were under power and motor-sailed the rest of the way.  As we approached Llandwyn we could see how popular it was:

The popularity of Llandwyn

As we got closer we could see the other Venturer's boats already at anchor.  We made our usual course straight into Pilots Cove to take the beach.  This involves taking the same course as other boats as if we were going to anchor in the usual place, but continuing eastwards to go between the rocks. 

We had a bit of discussion over whether we should immediately go up the beach or anchor just off so we would float earlier the next day.  In the end we decided just to go up the beach; it was a couple of hours after local high water, and we could always move her back overnight.  I deployed the stern anchor immediately and later on walked the bow anchor out.

The weather was absolutely glorious - Jenna looked very picturesque on the beach:

Jenna posing on the beach

Jenna has invaded the beach!

We went for a walk around the island to show Paul the local scenery.  It was most impressive in the late afternoon sun:

View to the North

Pilots Cove

View from Lighthouse

We did all this without using the dinghy which was nice.  We went back aboard the boat whereupon Carolyn decided to go for a swim in the clear water.

:
Testing the water

Swimming!

Carolyn did not stay in the water very long: it was much cooler than we had experienced at Din Lligwy a few weeks earlier.  Paul and I had a much more sensible approach and drank cold beer in the cockpit.  The fridge was turning out to be the best piece of equipment on the boat. 

We were going to have a barbeque on the beach and was hoping to be joined by the other Venturers.  We could see activity going on and when we realised they were coming ashore, we jumped off Jenna to assume control of the beach, nabbing the best spot to put a barbeque.  Eventually we were joined by Skye, Gigi, True Brit and Enigma.  Stan's rib eye steaks and sausages went down a treat with some mushrooms and peppers.  Gigi's Nick complimented us on being brave enough to take to the beach, which was nice!  However, this was received wisdom on our part - we had done exactly the same thing as Cloth Porridge did a few weeks earlier.  Still, you learn off other boats...!

We got back on Jenna just as the water started lapping around our side boarding rope-ladder.  Then we settled down to some serious drinking.  We re-floated at about 2300, an hour earlier than I had predicted the day before.  We had agreed that Gigi were going to leave early at 1000 in the morning with the rest of us going at about 1030.

At first light and before we hit the bottom, we let out the bow anchor out to it's fullest extent and pulled back on the stern.  I redeployed this so it was further away, as we ended up quite close to it.

The next morning I got up and checked the beach and found Paul's sunglasses - and managed to retrieve them and re-board just before water surrounded us.  Then it was a bacon sandwich and a wait to re-float:

Waiting to float

We noticed the Venturers all leaving on time just before we floated:

Venturers leaving

We caught up under engine - we had the main out but there was virtually no wind at this point.  We did try a couple of times to turn the engine off but lost steerage - so gave up, and put the auto-pilot on. 

As we went past Fort Belan we saw an unusual arrangement of boats at Abermenai:

Bilge Keeler to the Rescue !

If you look closely you can see that the big fin keeler has run aground and a trusty bilge keeler has come to rescue it.  The fin keeler was one we saw the day before motoring down the Straits, and had Dickie's boatyard logo emblazoned across it's hull. The bilge keeler's name was Tela.  This confirmed our belief that you need a bilge keel in the Menai Straits!  Is there nothing a bilge keeler cannot do?

Caernarfon looked pretty as we went past it:

Caernarfon Castle

There was a lot of radio chatter, again with John Lomas leading the trip back.  He was advising Gigi what time to go through the Swellies - basically, he was going to go through first and Gigi a little while later.  We decided to go through as early as possible - so followed Enigma through - about an hour or so before slack.  Our master plan was to get to Beaumaris in time to go for a meal in the Courtyard restaurant!  We put the hammer down, unleashing about 70% of the 9hp at our disposal and passed Enigma, who had decided to sail up - with the very weak wind on the nose but the tide taking them in the right direction.

We made it comfortably onto our mooring at 1340 and observed the Ooby-Dooby going past Beaumaris:

The Ooby-Dooby

A short while later we were enjoying a cold pint of San Miguel in the restaurant outside in the sun.

Lessons Learned

• Carry a collision avoidance hooter (we have an aerosol version but it's not assembled)