Strait to Ireland

The Isle of Anglesey is about 20 square miles in size and is in the northwest corner of Wales, separated from the mainland by a stretch of water called the Menai Strait.   The tidal waters travel around Anglesey, some going into the Straits at Caernarfon Bar but the majority flowing 30 miles around the top of the island.  It’s this unusual flow that causes strong currents and strange tidal patterns in the Strait so it’s important to plan and calculate the correct times to enter and navigate the Strait.

We arrived at Caernarfon Bar when there was sufficient water to cross but, even though it was an incoming time, the current in the Strait was still against us as we entered the shallow, narrow channel.    Our chartplotter, which we had carefully updated with the correct course, downloaded the previous evening from the Caernarfon Harbour Masters’ website, had decided to choose this moment to stop working properly so we continued using line of site and compass bearings which we had carefully jotted down on our passage plan.    Once over the bar, navigating was less stressful but equally as difficult because this time, instead of negotiating shallows, we were having to deal with the strong currents.     As soon as the impressive turrets of Caernarfon castle came into sight, we then had to find the slightly obscure entrance into the marina.   Entry is only allowed when three green lights are showing and it was with relief we spotted the lights permitting us to turn towards the entrance.   This had its own challenges!   We needed to cross the strong current to enter the small marina which meant turning upstream and accelerating forward while being pushed along sideways by the tide, aiming to get through the stone gates and then slowing the boat down quickly once inside so we could find the visitors pontoon just inside the entrance.   The Harbour Master was waiting for us and caught our lines as we edged our way onto the pontoon.   We had made it!!!  

We stayed for three nights in Caernarfon, exploring the small town with its impressive castle and took a bus to Bangor and Llandudno which were heaving with Bank Holiday visitors.   We walked along the beautiful Victorian Garth Pier at Bangor and got our first site of the lower end of the Menai Strait from the end of the 460m pontoon.  Bangor was very quiet which was in stark contrast to Conwy and Llandudno.  I wish we had chosen to get off the bus in Conwy as the impressive castle and city wall built in the late 1200’s looked absolutely beautiful as the bus manoeuvred through the narrow streets. 

Llandudno was full of visiting Brits having a seaside break……. This generally means there were children determined to go swimming and adults equally keen to play beach games, even though it was freezing cold, very busy and there was only a patch of sand on an otherwise stony beach!   In the distance we could see the 160 turbines of Gwynt y Mor offshore wind farm, 18km out to sea – not something we would like to sail close to!

The next day we left Caernarfon Marina one hour before high tide making careful note that the direction of buoyage changes as you leave the marina – this means that instead of passing green buoys on the starboard (right side) of the boat, as we had when we entered the marina a few days earlier, we now needed to pass green buoys on the port (left side) of the boat, even though we were going in the same direction as when we arrived!   This is because there is a sea entrance on both ends of the Strait, so boats are entering from both sides – normally, in most places except the USA, when arriving in port you follow green on starboard and when leaving the harbour, green to port.  

The sun was shining, we had clear skies and no wind – a perfect day for negotiating the Straits!    The passage down the Menai Strait was beautiful – river side mansions, beautiful small villages nestled beside green fields and woodland and rolling lush hills Wales is famous for.    The Swellies is a stretch of water between two bridges – The Britannia Bridge, built by Robert Stephenson (railway engineer) and The Menai, built in 1826 by Thomas Telford.  The Menai Bridge is “the first important modern suspension bridge” to have been built and with its success many famous bridges followed the design.  It now has Grade 1 heritage status and stands 30m tall – high enough for us to pass under.  Having said that, approaching bridges, or anything to pass under, does instill a moment of panic as you look up and, even though you know there is plenty of airspace between the top of the mast and the bottom of the bridge span, there is a brief moment of doubt, just as the boat moves under the bridge!  

We arrived at The Swellies at high tide – the exact time we were intending to pass through and made the quick passage following a number of other boats taking advantage of the favourable conditions.   As we popped out the other side of Menai Straits, we hoisted the sails and headed for a small bay on Anglesey to anchor for a few hours rest before starting our night sail to Ireland.  

Our Chartplotter was still loosing signal which, in turn affected our depth readings but searching for a possible fix on line resulted in a blank so we relied on our back up plotter until we could find a solution.   The depth issue was a little more concerning, as we had no back up and would need a reliable reading for anchoring and negotiating shallows in Ireland.

As the sun started to set and a beautiful full moon rose, we lifted the anchor and motored out of the bay.  The wind was still very light but the direction was good and we were hopeful the wind would build as we moved further from the land.   I was on first watch, and as Steve went below to have a sleep, I turned the engine off and set the sails.   To start with we were only making 3knots which, if that was the fastest we could go, would mean we wouldn’t make landfall in Ireland until next week!  I persevered and with three sails trimmed and the wind on our port side (beam), we gradually started making good speed.   My four hour watch went by very fast with me hand steering most of the time as the wind increased and I was enjoying the night sail.  We were clipping along at 7-8knots when Steve came on watch and I went below to rest.   

Land was well in sight when the sun came up, with us making great time covering 73 Nautical Miles in less than 12hours.   Our destination was Ardglass which had a small sheltered marina and was a good place to start our Northern Ireland adventure.   Unlike other harbours on the East coast of Ireland, we did not have to negotiate strong tides to access the small bay and meant we did not have to wait to enter the small channel.   The waves had started to build as we got closer to land and we surfed into the entrance of the bay with rocks on either side of the small headland.   By now it was light but still early and we could not get hold of the Harbour Master to inform him of our imminent arrival.   In fact we arrived much quicker than either of us anticipated as the description of the entrance channel in our pilot book gave the impression the marina was further into the bay but in reality as soon as the waves dumped us inside the entrance, we had to turn 90degrees to port and found ourselves in the marina – it was almost like doing a handbrake turn and having to come to a quick stop as you spun at right angles! 

We had arrived, and as we gently reversed into the only berth big enough to accommodate us, Tom, our neighbour from Caernarfon, caught our lines and welcomed us to Ireland!