Once again it’s been a while since I updated my blog, the last time being when we were in Newlyn, so I thought I had better update you on our journey so far. We ended up staying in Newlyn for three nights as the weather for the Bristol Channel had worsened and we would have been facing strong northerly winds through the night. We are a novice crew and after our experience of the passage from Falmouth we were being cautious. In fact I have a mantra that, if there is any doubt, there is no doubt, so don’t go. Perhaps that sounds over cautious, but we’re not doing this to get beaten up every time we go out sailing. Getting to Wales was important, but getting there safely was even more so. I’ve heard it said that boats are far more capable than their crews, and I don’t doubt that WW is more than capable of pushing on through rough conditions, but we need to look after her too. Why take risks when you don’t need to?
Anyway, we stayed in Newlyn and kept a close eye on the
weather forecast. Thursday was starting
to look like a good break in the weather.
The winds were going to be light and from the NW so we decided that it
was time to go. The crew of another boat
bound for Conwy were also planning to leave so we felt some reassurance that we
wouldn’t be the only ones to head around Land’s End that day. We had poured over the charts and almanac and
knew that we had two options for Land’s End.
One was to make good use of the tide rushing through the inner passage
between Longships Lighthouse and the mainland and the other was to go around on
the seaward side. I decided that we
would make a final decision once we could see the conditions facing us. Either way, we needed to get to the Runnel
Stone, south of the Land’s End peninsula, about two hours before high tide at
Dover. This meant leaving Newlyn about
0930 that morning.
And so it was that we slipped our mooring lines and headed
out into Mount’s Bay to make for the Runnel Stone. Mount’s Bay was like a millpond and there was
very little wind. We hoisted our
mainsail, mizzen sail and full headsail but progress was very slow so, once
again, we found ourselves motor sailing.
I was anxious to get to the decision point on time in order to get the
favourable tidal conditions. As we
looked south and west the sky was blue and the sea was calm; however, looking
north the sky looked less friendly and once we could see the inner passage I
decided to take the safe option and head further out before turning north,
giving the rocky reefs of the Land’s End peninsula a respectable wide berth.
Headlands are evocative features of land and sea, and they hold a special place in the hearts and minds of mariners, and have done for centuries. They are invariably turning points, either literally or metaphorically, and often are seen as welcome sights after a long passage. They are also surrounded by myths and legends, and very real stories of wreckage and disaster. When you look at the charts most headlands are pock-marked with symbols for wrecked vessels. So it was that we had a feeling of awe and respect for the headland we were looking at.
We sailed out as far as Carn Bras cardinal marker buoy and then finally
turned our nose towards the north and headed towards the coastline of
Wales. Not that we could see it just
yet!
On the plus side, we were treated to a fantastic sunset, a full moon rise and then a beautiful sunrise. In fact we saw very little dark hours. We also saw very little other traffic in the Celtic Sea. There were a few trawlers which we gave a wide berth to, but other than those we had the sea to ourselves. We had been expecting to see a stream of tankers and cargo vessels heading in towards Milford Haven and all ports east, but this was not the case.
As the sun rose we could make out the high ground of West
Wales, but a coastline is a long time coming.
We were about twenty miles off and it would take us another four hours
of motor-sailing to get there. As we
approached Milford Haven I called Port Control to check if there were any large
ship movements to be aware of as we didn’t want to encounter traffic ‘on the
corner’. Thankfully there was nothing
planned until the Irish Ferry was due to depart later in the day so our arrival
was uneventful. I then contacted Milford
Marina lock control to request access to the lock for the marina. Neither of us had been through a lock before
and we weren’t sure what to expect, but there was plenty of room and no rush,
so we were able to pull up alongside the lock basin without problems. The final stage was to exit the lock and find
our allocated berth in the marina. The
berth was thankfully wide (there was no boat in the adjoining berth) and so we
had plenty of room, but the finger pontoons were quite short and so I was
having difficulty placing WW in the right spot for Bridget to step ashore with
our mooring lines. Thankfully, once
again, there was a fellow sailor nearby who was happy to grab our bowline, and
before we knew it we had three helpers bringing us gently to a stop.
After 26 hours of motor-sailing it was a relief to get
secured alongside and shut down the engine.
Once again we were impressed by the general helpfulness of the sailing
community in assisting us in our safe arrival.
It was time for a shower and a sleep before checking WW over for any
issues. I will write about those in my
next blog (there are a couple) but until then, keep safe and may the winds blow
in the right direction for you.
