On the way to St Ives

Posted at sea off Newquay. Its hzrd go lress tbe right ldttrf

17 July 2014 – Lundy to Padstow

We found that another boat had arrived overnight, Moody 31 Ardua. We both set off at about the same time in rather light following wind. Had dolphins with the boat for a while. Played with cruising chute. Entered the river Camel as soon as we arrived as the HM said there was plenty of water and picked up a mooring in The Pool to wait for the harbour to open. Rafted up alongside Ardua who had entered the moment the gate opened. We were the goldfish in the bowl, with lots of people wandering round the harbour.

Pentire point, approaching the Camel estuary

16 July 2014 – Dale to Lundy

Early start, seemed to take forever to get to Turbot Bank buoy (see yesterday), then at last we had a good sail to Lundy, arriving there around slack tide, so the claimed overfalls were not operating. On the way the weather forecast changed, predicting wind from NE. That meant we would not be able to spend a full day on the island, but would probably be able to make an overnight stay. Going ashore we found the top of the island in mist. Walked up to the village, such as it is, and had an evening meal in The Tavern. As NT members we did not have to pay the landing fee – our NT membership might be paid for with all this year’s visits.
First view of Lundy
Getting a bit closer
Steamer pier and landing place. This pier was built in 2000. Before that the ferry had to land on a tiny slipway very close to the shore.
The anchorage (off SE corner of the island)
Mist is down and another boat has arrived.

15 July 2014 – Llangwym to Dale

For a while we had hoped to get down the river, leave the harbour and go to Lundy.  However it all took too long and we headed slowly in again with light wind. There is a firing range near here and whilst we were sailing about the safety boat came bounding across the waves like an excited puppy. They told us that to avoid the range we had to go to Turbot Bank buoy before heading for Lundy. OK, but strangely this range is not mentioned in the coastguard’s daily broadcasts.

The upper parts of the river are quiet and wooded

There are lots of oil and gas installations

Landing pontoon at Dale

14 July 2014 – Dale to Llangwym

We had been told that The Cleddau river, which is past all the oil jetties and the Cleddau bridge is worth exploring, so we headed up against some tide. Did not go too far or it might take forever to get back. Weather wet and a bit windy so glad we did not stay at Skomer.

Cleddau Bridge. Which span should we go through?

13 July 2014 – Fishguard to Dale

We had arranged to meet Jan and Christine Newman, who have a P325 based at Milford marina. No problem, we just go through Ramsey Sound, Jack Sound and into Skomer South Haven, the meeting place. We took the ebb through Ramsey Sound, which was no problem, so continued across St Bride’s Bay and through Jack Sound on the last of the ebb with a light following wind – ideal conditions.  All very smooth until leaving the S end of the sound where we had a real “bucking bronco” ride through a whole train of short steep waves. As we had very little speed with the light wind we did not leap over waves and crash into the next but did have to hang on tight. The rough part was quite narrow but we did not feel quite confident enough of the pilotage to steer clear of them. Maybe most of the time it’s better just to go right round the island, which is quite small. Maybe it’s also best avoided on a big spring tide with coefficient about 106! Jan and Christine arrived in South Haven soon after us – it’s a small inlet with lots of puffins, guillemots and others constantly flying to and from the cliffs. Shared lunch on J and C’s boat and thought they were very relaxed about going back against the tide – well they are locals so it must be OK.  The trip back required some hard motoring against the tide, which was a bit hard to avoid as South Haven did not seem a good overnight stop.

Lunch in Skomer S Haven

Blue Moon leaving S Haven

Skokholm and some strong tide

St Ann’s Head at last

Milford Haven by night

12 July 2014 – Cardigan to Fishguard

A bit of excitement on leaving.  Just after leaving the pontoon the engine exhaust changed to a hollow “bob bob bob..” sound, whereas it should be “bob splosh gurgle bob…”. No water was coming out. However there was just time to get through the narrows before overheating and then the rest of the channel was downwind. So we soon turned off the engine and started tinkering with the cooling water, remembering to start with all the simple reasons for it not working before dismantling it all. It turned out that a plug of mud was blocking the water inlet in the bottom of the boat, presumably it got there when we sat on the mud at low tide in the night.

Ashore at Fishguard, Geoff Turner came to meet us and took us for tea at the cafe. As he is the Welsh rep for the PSSA I had contacted him earlier.

Old harbour at Fishguard

On waiting buoy outside. The other boat is Geoff Turner’s Parker 21

Raft race, part of the Sea Scouts day.  They had arranged very fine safety boat cover for just 4 rafts.

Carrying the shopping back