Arctic Monkey - Blue Planet Odyssey: Milford Haven, Wales

We had planned to stop in Dale, about 5 miles to the West of Milford Haven but there was a Webasto heater service agent in Milford Haven so that was it. Our extended family, Zetty's sister Nicky's in-laws, live in Dale and are active on the water sailing etc. John, father-in-law, is the harbour master, mooring master, general go-to-guy there and had a mooring arranged, Yacht Club welcome, etc all set for us if we could make it. We ended up having the boat worked on through the weekend, all to no avail in the end. Still, a fun time was had as told in the previous post. And then...

Most of you have seen or heard about a famous '60s television show, Gilligan's Island. In the theme song, the crew sets out for a "three hour tour". "The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed, if not for the courage of the fearless crew the Minnow would be lost." This leg made me feel as if Arctic Monkey was the good ship 'Minnow' with me, the skipper, (some would argue Gilligan) and Zetty as Mary Ann, practical hottie (What?!? Ed.) Our plan was to sail from from Milford Haven to Conwy about 160NM north, sailing across Cardigan Bay (which our family now informs us is 'notorious'!!). As I always do,before we set off I downloaded the weather files called GRIBs, and Zetty and I discussed our options. We had a strong Southwesterly breeze coming, 25-34kts, but it would be from behind, making it a beam to broad reach to our next destination Conwy, in the north of Wales. The 160NM trip would be about a 24 hour sail give or take a few. According to the weather, if we waited, the next week was the same strong breeze but shifting to the north which would make a more difficult sail. We've sailed in the predicted conditions before and the boat is certainly able to cope with it so the decision was made to set off around 11am.
We had a fine sail in 20-25kts for most of the day, made dinner and got the kids to bed. The wind picked up a little so we decided to put one more reef in the main - from 2 reefs to 3, for the night. We had no hurry and it makes it a little more comfortable so why not, its easy to shake out the reef if the wind goes down. So far so good, 25-32kts, surfing down the waves, sometimes over 10kts of boatspeed which is great for us! Zetty and I changed watch at about 12:30am. Zetty showed me a line of rain coming, which we were ready for. As I started putting on my gear, the wind jump up to 38kts. I like to reef early as a precaution, so I thought maybe I'd take in a little more staysail, possible look at rigging the 4 reef point on the main. We don't have it permanently rigged as its only used in storm conditions but its easy to do if you have two people and an autopilot. Lifejacket on and one last check of the radar, hmm, looks like that rain is coming a little faster now. As I watched the radar, the wind jump up to 42kts. I called for Zetty, "Honey, I may need some help, the wind is jumping up!" She said "OK" and started putting her gear back on. Just then "Stanley" our autopilot let go. He does fine but anything over 40kts and a confused seaway is pushing his limit. As I jumped out on deck, the last glance at the wind was 54kts, "Zetty I need you right away!" I grabbed the wheel and turned us back downwind as the boat generally goes head to wind when nobody is steering as was the case now. We started surfing down the waves at over 12kts. Zetty was watching the radar and trying to turn off the constant loud beeping (so as not to wake or 'alarm' the children) as the autopilot alarm went off- "NO AUTOPILOT COMPUTER". I hand steered for about 30 minutes before the wind subsided again to 30-35kts. Zetty was able to reboot the autopilot and "Stanley" took over again. Now some may wonder what it was like. Try sticking your head out the car window next time your on the Interstate, at night, going 65mph. Now for extra fun, turn on the windshield washer, filled with salt water. It's scary the first time, but thank goodness this wasn't our first rodeo. Dawn came around 5:20am, the wind still from behind at 30kts. We rounded Holyhead, sailed along the north coast of Wales and anchored just off Puffin Island near Llanfairfechan. Conwy is a tidal marina, only accessible at High Water +- 3 hours so we spent the day watching for the elusive Puffin and sleeping. It was a nice test of the ground tackle (anchor and chain) as the wind stayed at a steady 30-32kts all afternoon and the anchorage provided protection from the swell but not the wind and waves. A short trip 7 mile trip at high water got us into the Conwy Marina for a solid nights sleep. The next morning a local rigger stopped by the boat and mentioned that our upper spreader on the mast was bent on a downward angle. Sure enough, what should be a six degree angle up, was 10 degrees down. Not good as this could cause the mast to fold. I had a chat with him and he agreed to come by the next day and fix it. I'm glad we got by with only a minor issue. It looks like they have a nice Pub here...