Late on Wednesday evening, still pondering on how to get a bit of sailing in, it dawned on me. Easterly winds, lovely weather, tide ebbing from Cardiff at 10:00 on Friday morning - we could take Ishtar to Dale. I quickly booked a train ticket from Milford home and by 06:30 Thursday morning was heading West, intent on leaving the car at Milford for the trip back on Sunday. The deal was done.
Louise got a text asking her to pick me up at Swansea train station. She had no idea what was going on.........
A few pints at the club on Thursday night, and a quiet night aboard Ishtar. Up at 07:00, the sun trying to break through high cloud over Cardiff bay as we crossed for our 08:00 lock out.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Cardiff Bay"]
[/caption]There were a couple of other boats from the club in the lock with us, as the main group, another 10 or so, were to lock out at 08:30 for the Gower trip. The tide still had two hours of flood left. We could see very quickly that staying close inshore was the best option.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Ranie bouy"]
[/caption]We were about 2 miles out as we passed Barry, Aberthaw and Nash Point. Those boats that stayed close inshore passed us, and, indeed, even boats from the 08:30 lock passed us. We waved goodbye to our friends as we settled into the long passage to Dale.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Heading West"]
[/caption]The wind stayed in the East, around 10 knots. I'd not much experience with our cruising chute. The best way to get experience, I thought, was to fly the thing. She set beautifully, and we were soon doing 6 knots, 7, 8, even 9 knots speed over ground, as the Bristol Channel ebb reached its full flow.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Crusing chute"]
[/caption]So, we were on our way. The plan was to spend the night at Oxwich and continue on to Dale on Saturday morning, arriving late afternoon. We then had to set up our mooring and sail to Milford to pick the car up before driving home on Sunday.
As the afternoon wore on, my mind started playing with the plan. We were making such good progress, if we could continue, at, say, 3 knots against the 6 hours of foul tide, that would only leave us around 28 miles to cover. Going with the tide, we might make Dale by 03:00. A few hours kip and we'd then have the whole weekend to enjoy ourselves. I mentioned it to Louise. Not keen. I said that more night sailing, and entering a major port at night would be good for us. Eventually she agreed, and we changed the plan once more.
Just as we made the decision, Some ominous clouds to the Southwest gave a hint of things to come.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Rain?"]
[/caption]We quickly dropped the cruising chute. I had intended to take it in before dark, so it made sense to do it now, rather than have to pack it away wet. Just as well. As the rain came, the wind veered from Easterly to South Westerly, and increased from 10 to 20 knots in about 5 minutes. We quickly reset the sails and were soon bowling along at 5 knots, against the tide.
I'd like to say I anticipated the squall, and doused the crusing chute through experience, but it was very fortuitous. Good experience, though, and I'll know next time.
As darkness fell, Louise cooked some sausages, mash, peas, broad beans and onion gravy. The smell was wonderful below as she ate hers, before replacing me on watch so I could eat mine.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Evening meal"]
[/caption]As the night drew in, the rain passed, and the wind fell off completely. We'd had a great sail down from Cardiff, but it was time to test our new engine against the foul Bristol channel tide.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="No wind"]
[/caption]I got an hour's sleep, waking near the middle of the tide. I was delighted to see Ishtar zipping along at 4-5 knots, against the full flood. The old engine would never have done that. As I settled into my watch, and Louise got some sleep, darkness fell, and the rain returned, miserable cold, dark and alone.......
Louise came back on deck about 22:00. Pitch dark and we could see nothing. I knew Caldey lighthouse was out there somewhere, and St Govan's head after that, but we could see nothing at all. I imagined being aboard a coastal trader in year's gone by, no GPS to give position, and, like us, no lights visible either. No wonder so many of those ships were lost on these coasts.
Passing Crow rock was even worse. I only knew my position by the GPS. We must have passed the rock within half a mile, but despite both watching out, didn't see it.
It really was miserable as we crossed Freshwater West and approached the Heads of Milford Haven at 23:00. I could make out St Anne's head lighthouse, just, but even the channel markers were difficult to see. Best to err on the side of caution. Louise called up Milford Haven port control on channel 12. Good thing too, the ferry was due in 15 minutes. We waited off West Angle beach. From invisbility, to passing us, the Isle of Innishmore ferry took less than 5 minutes. If we'd crossed the two shipping channels without calling the port authority, it would have been 'interesting'. Another lesson learned.
We eventually crawled into Dale at 00:30. Picked up a mooring bouy and collapsed. 88 miles covered in a little over 16 hours. Excellent!
One of the things that helps to pass the time on a long passage is to do some maintenance. Louise stripped and cleaned the sink tap in the heads, soaking it in vinegar to remove the limescale. Got it working again too, but not without draining 70l of our fresh water into the bilges. No real problem, but it meant we'd have to refill at Dale, and get to the pontoon on a warm Easter bank holiday.
A beautiful morning belied the previous evening's miserable drizzle.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Dale morning"]
[/caption]I'd removed the head bouy and mooring tails, dropping the riser chain to save wear before leaving our mooring last autumn. Louise pulled up the marker line, and half an hour later, Ishtar was sitting pretty on her own mooring. I'd dive it later, but we needed to refill our freshwater. We did manage to get onto the pontoon, near the tap, but, mistake number 2, we'd forgotten to pack the hose. Louise dutifully filled the tank, one bottle at a time, whilst I spoke to another couple, Dave and Jan of
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Mar y Sol"]
[/caption]They had some loose engine sump bolts, so I lent them a socket set. They kindly offered to give Louise a ride to Milfor in their car, which saved us a trip in Ishtar, and an hour later, we were back on the mooring.
One job left, dive the mooring and service it. I was cold, and the water didn't look inviting, but it had to be done.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="150" caption="Get on with it"]
[/caption]The concrete block and ground chain had settled in perfectly. I swapped the seizing wire for cable ties on the shackles, which were solid, and checked each link of the riser. It was a little worn in the top metre, and I'd attached the head bouy a few links down to avoid this wear, but otherwise, the mooring looked in excellent condition. I even found a squatter:
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Scallop"]
[/caption]After that, we just relaxed all afternoon, and watched another glorious sunset at Dale.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Dale Sunset"]
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