The ‘Erly Tour – Fishguard to Pwhelli
13 June 2021 – Fishguard to New Quay
I weighed anchor at 07:30 to make use of the east going tide. With light winds I was going to need all the help I could get!
Well, the wind started off light, toyed with me for a bit to get me all excited
then tailed off so I resorted to the engine again.
A bit of a bonus on the approach to the anchorage…
They played around for a bit then disappeared. The “dolphin watching” boat that came out ten minutes later missed them completely!
Dropped anchor just after 14:00. 28 miles, 6.5 hours.
In the afternoon I had a couple of birds over…
Not quite what I had in mind!
And later, a rather less attractive visitor…
Of course, these creatures are fascinating and, in their own way, quite beautiful!
I was treated to a glorious sunset that evening.
14 June 2021 – New Quay to Aberystwyth
The harbour and marina at Aberystwyth have a tide-dependant entrance and Moon Shadow, with a draft of just under two metres, can only get in and out about two to three hours either side of high tide so I had to be away from New Quay by about 08:00.
Once again it was a day of motor-sailing with glass-like water and light winds.
The entrance to the harbour is very difficult to spot from offshore – even with good binoculars. The pilot book mentions lining up a post on the shore with the end of the wall but I found the post almost impossible to spot. Thank goodness for GPS!
Entered the marina at 12:00. 16 miles, 4 hours.
It was a very pleasant marina with good facilities although the Aberystwyth Dominos has to be the worst I have come across. I ordered a pizza and asked them to let me know when the driver was on his way so that I could go up to the road and meet him. Unfortunately, he called me when he arrived so by the time I got up to the road and back to the boat the pizza was cold. I complained and they sent another and this time I walked straight up and waited for him but still, it was cold! I only managed to salvage about three slices 🙁 it’s a shame because IMHO Dominos is the best pizza place in the country!
15 June 2021 – Aberystwyth to Pwhelli
Not only does Aberystwyth have a tide dependant entrance but so too, does Pwhelli. Unfortunately, the distance involved meant that it would be nigh on impossible to get out of one and into the other on the same tide. Leaving as early as I could I would have to wait until the evening tide at Pwhelli in order to get in. To make things easier I decided to make for the anchorage at Abersoch, wait there overnight and go on to Pwhelli in the morning.
Best laid plans of mice and men and all that…
So I left Aberystwyth at around 10:30 and, once again motor-sailed most of the day. It was a glorious day, very warm, cloudless sky and sea like glass.
Despite having a maximum (brief) wind speed of around 12 knots all day, on my approach to Abersoch, it suddenly increased to the high teens which caught me out rather as there was no indication that it would happen and I had full sail up! that got pretty interesting for a bit and made picking up a mooring buoy pretty tricky.
On the mooring at 18:30. 30 miles, 8 hours.
That has to be my worst night on the boat so far. The strong wind didn’t let up until the early hours and the pitching and rolling was simply awful! I don’t think I slept at all. My only consolation was that I was on a good mooring so didn’t have to worry about the anchor dragging.
The following morning I went up to Pwhelli which is only about six miles and I motored the whole way in thick drizzle. Even though I was less than a mile from the coastline I couldn’t see it and I was relying on my GPS to guide the way. The entrance to the marina is also pretty tricky to spot, especially in the poor visibility but, having called ahead, the marina had sent out a pilot launch to guide me in. they even hopped off and took my lines for me. It was such a relief to be in calm water and tied up in a marina.
I had intended to stay for just a couple of nights but a band of bad weather came through and I decided to stay put for a few days. Pwhelli is quite a pleasant little town and only about a fifteen minute stroll from the marina. There is pretty much everything you need there, including a pretty good Weatherspoon’s – perfect – cheap beer and cheap grub!
The marina has a pretty well-stocked chandlery and I decided that I needed a better arrangement for my gybe preventer. So I bought two 20 metre lengths of line and a couple of small blocks. The blocks I shackled to the toe rail a couple of feet aft of the bow and fed the line through it. One end of the line I brought aft along the side deck and the other was brought aft outside of the rigging and guard wires. I did this on both the port and starboard sides. Now all I need to do if I have to rig a preventer is to tie the “outside” line to the end of the boom and pass the “inside” line to the secondary cockpit winch. No more fiddling about on deck!