Navigating tides and winds in Wales

When we left you last time, we were in the middle of the Bristol Channel and this is where you find us, in the dark, in the middle of the night with no wind and reducing visibility.   I noticed on our GPS system at the helm that we were crossing a big red line on the electronic chart, and announced to Steve that we must be crossing over Coastguard boundaries from Falmouth to Milford Haven, although I didn’t recall seeing a similar boundary when we had changed jurisdictions before.   It was only when we zoomed in on the chart that we realised the boundary we had reached was not for the coastguard, but it was the limits of the charts installed on the plotter.   We had assumed that, as we had the electronic charts that covered the south coast of the UK, we would be covered for the whole of the UK – this was obviously not the case and we had just sailed over the limits of our electronic charts.  Fortunately we have two alternative electronic plotters, and paper charts as back up, so we were not in danger, but it did affect some of our electronic software – including AIS receiver which allows us to see and identify approaching ships and boats and know exactly where they are in relation to us.   Luckily we also have radar and could still see the boats on radar and be confident we knew where they were – essential when sailing at night, in the fog, with little visibility!!!

We approached Milford Haven while it was still dark, having motor sailed for 4hrs.  The fog was still quite thick so we decided to slow down and wait until we could at least see an outline of land, before attempting to enter the busy port.    One of the few things we could see were birds – lots sitting on the water and as we approached they dived down en masse and didn’t reappear within our vision.   A quick search of our bird book identified them as Razorbills.  Lots of Guillemots were flying in a straight line together, often diving in unison from great heights into the water ahead of us. 

As the sky grew lighter we could make out the cliffs bounding the entrance to Milford Haven and, with a large ship fast approaching behind us, we decided to take the well marked, wide and deep channel into the harbour and dropped the anchor in one of the first bays we came across to get some rest and wait for the visibility to improve.

The anchorage we had chosen proved to be very exposed, so after a short sleep we poked our heads out of the cabin to find a very unattractive view of oil terminals, shipping containers and an industrial landscape topped off with a large swell and rain.   We decided to dive for cover and move to a more sheltered bay further up the river and spent the next couple of days exploring the area in peaceful anchorages surrounded by lush green countryside and trees.   Neyland Marina has an excellent chandlery (shop selling boat gear) so we took the opportunity to update our charts on our plotter!

The weather forecast was not great and a large storm with big winds was expected to arrive at the end of the week, so we decided to aim to be in a marina by Wednesday evening to make sure we escaped the worst of the predicted 50knt winds.   The only problem is, Wales does not have an over abundance of marinas, or sheltered anchorages which are accessible to a boat that has a 1.9m keel!  We did a short jump to Skomer – a small protected island which is a birdwatchers paradise and with evidence of human habitation dating back to 1200BC.  I was excited about being there and we picked up a mooring buoy in the small bay after passing through a narrow, rocky passage called Jacks Sound, with full sails up and a strong current in our favour while birds screamed around us!  

We jumped in the dinghy and headed towards the small beach.  We were met with a big unwelcoming sign – “No Landing” in front of a small hut.  On closer inspection we discovered the island was closed to visitors on a Monday (it was Monday!), and there were big fines if we ignored the notice.   Feeling disappointed but not wanting to be fined, we did a quick tour of the bay via the dinghy and returned to the boat where I birdwatched and enjoyed seeing the antics of a few large seals playing nearby.  

As rain set in, we deflated the dinghy and stored it on our deck in preparation for the next full day’s sail before heading to bed as we had to be up at 0445 to continue our sail north.   The weather had deteriorated and the once sheltered bay was now very exposed with a large swell coming in through the narrow entrance.   We had a very uncomfortable night bouncing around, listening to the wind and rain as we swung around the mooring buoy.   At one point during the night, a flash of realisation dawned on Steve – not knowing how well maintained the mooring buoy was, we had tied another line onto the buoy to be confident it would not break during the night.  The problem was, we needed the dinghy to get down to the mooring buoy to untie the line, and the dinghy was now deflated and carefully stored! 

At 0445 we were up and, before I knew what was happening, Steve handed me one end of a line with the other attached around him, and he dived into to the cold dark waters.  I was terrified – and that was just me! – holding a flashlight while Steve untied the line and returned to the safety of the boat.   What a champion!  

Outside the bay, the wind and seas were less confused and we hoisted the sails and headed NW in a SE wind.   The Bishops are a group of rocks we decided to give a wide berth instead of taking a narrow passage between them, aptly named The Bitches.  Considering we shot passed the small group of islands doing 10.2knts in less than 8knts of wind, I think we made the right decision! 

As we headed towards the sweeping bay of Port Cardigan we saw something floating in the water ahead of us.   Fearing it was an inflatable dinghy in trouble, we went to investigate.  As we approached the floating mass, it became clear it was a carcass of a sea creature, although we could not be certain of what sort.   It was white and too big to be a dolphin so we guessed it may have been a pilot whale.   We reported our sighting to the coastguard and continued into Port Cardigan to find a sheltered anchorage for the night. 

Since leaving Cornwall, we have seen very few other yachts on the water and are regularly the only boat in anchorages so choosing the right location takes research and careful consideration of the weather, tides, type of seabed (to know whether anchor will hold) and direction/protection of sea swell.  Often, when other boats are in a bay, you can normally expect others have also done research and give confidence to your conclusions but when you are the only boat around, there is always a nagging doubt and question whether we have got it right!   Fortunately, after three failed anchoring attempts where the anchor would not take a firm hold, we managed to find a good spot which proved ideal and gave us a calm, sheltered anchorage meaning we both slept well.

Our day started early again as we needed to arrive in the marina at Aberystwyth by 1030 and we had 30 miles to cover with winds on the nose.   Leaving at 0500 we put the autohelm on and sheltered from the rain in the cabin while keeping a good lookout and listening to the coastguards regular weather warnings announcing a severe storm approaching within the next 12 hours.    Entrance into the narrow harbour is restricted to three hours either side of high tide and we were aiming to arrive within one hour of high tide to ensure the current was not too strong.   As we lined up our approach between the small harbour entrance, the marina manager rang to inform us he was removing a large tree which had been washed down the river into the marina and the narrow entrance may be further reduced if we met him in the approach!   As we made our final approach and negotiated the entrance between the seawalls we had to turn 90 degrees to stay in the main channel and this was where we encountered the tree and the marina manager, John!    Fortunately, after much waving of arms and directing us over to one side of the channel, we squeezed passed each other and were relieved when our lines were secured in the visitors berth when we could relax knowing we had somewhere safe to wait out the imminent storm.