20 Jul. Party onboard for a circumnavigation of Anglesey, via Maltraeth, Caernarfon (overnight) and Cemaes - 77 miles in great weather.
2 Aug. The plan had been to pop down to Kinsale (185 NM) to support the Holyhead Sailing Club Squibs sailing in the Irish National Championships. Unfortunately, the wind in Holyhead was F7-8 so departure was delayed. 3 Aug. Wind only F5-7, so off we set. Sadly, as well as being strong, the wind was also in the wrong direction and after beating to windward for the best part of 28 hours, we flopped into Kilmore Quay. Kinsale was another 70 miles or so, which would have meant arriving in time to turn round for the return trip and missing all the racing, as well as probably facing a beat most of the way home!! We elected to have a sleep, a pint and some more sleep, before setting off at 0430 to catch the tide north through St George's Channel. After an unpromising and wet start, we had a great sail home and were back in 18 hours, almost all under sail except when we were playing with the Irish Coastguard helicopter.
8/9 Aug. Family charter, which took us both south and north of Anglesey. The original plan to anchor in Rhosneigr was foiled by a fresh S'ly breeze and associated swell.
16 and 18 Aug. Circumnavigation of Anglesey, via Rhoscolyn, where we dropped the girls, and Caernarfon (2 nights to avoid strong winds).
21 Aug. Positioning Dun Laoghaire for race to Pwllheli - departed 1430, arrived 0200.
22 Aug. The start was a spinnaker reach in light NW'ly. We stayed with the Js inside Kish Bank and were still with them at Codling where there were some spectacular overfalls caused by the spring tide. Having gybed after Codling, we started to fall back a little with the light wind being knocked from our sails by the swell. We just made it to Bardsey Sound before the tide turned and were almost through when the wind died completely..........we spent the next 6 hours stuck under St Tudwalls, before finishing at 05:13!! We carried on sailing and were back in Holyhead 12 hours later.
1 Sep once more saw us setting off round the Island - this time stopping at Menai Bridge to sample the delights of Dylan's restaurant. Having been through the swellies, the following morning, we were a little late for Caernarfon Bar and the wind against tide conditions made the passage more interesting than you would wish, but nontheless manageable.
6 Sep. Two-handed delivery for Pwllheli to Dun Laoghaire race, the last ISORA of the season.
7 Sep. Spring tides and wind forecast to be W F6 backing SW 3-5. The course was start to finish with no intervening marks. We made a good start and were up with the leaders into Bardsey Sound, where the wind against tide conditions became increasingly extreme and then we entered the overfalls.......all pretty predictable really, but the 4m breaking waves did make for an exciting passage! However, with the excitement behind us, we were still well up with the leaders, with everything to play for and so it remained as we beat to windward with the wind and tide slowly taking us round to our desired course. At one point it looked as though we would make it, but alas, we were either too slow or unable to point high enough, or a combination of the 2 and we finished being pushed by the incoming tide and having to work our way south against it, losing a couple of places in the process. The results can be found on the ISORA website. In the meantime we have the winter to consider how we are ever going to sail to our (rather too large) handicap!
8 Sep. Back to Holyhead .....and the drawing board?
28 Sep. Delivery to Caernarfon for the winter in glorious weather once again. 2013 summer over?
Monday 30 September 2013
2013 Season
A summer at last! The season has been pretty busy - hence the lack of posts - we covered a little over 2100 nautical miles, split evenly between cruising and racing.
Pre-season included replacing all the standing rigging and guard rails and then a full survey for coding. We also took the opportunity to scrub the bottom, but left antifouling to the planned summer lift out. So it was, with a clean bottom and shiny new standing rigging, that we delivered Pipedreamer to Holyhead on 30 Mar.
The early part of the season included 3 charters. The first was boat handling for some prospective Yachtmasters. The second was a family day trip to Rhosneigr. The third was noteworthy as it was the first time Pipedreamer had played host to international guests - from Russia with love!
3 May saw us positioning Pipedreamer in Dun Laoghaire for our first ISORA. The delivery was a beat into a force 6, but we arrived in good time. The race itself was to be a drag race to Holyhead via the M2 buoy. The wind was still W F6, which meant a reach to start followed by a run. We were first over the start line and stayed high on the wind in the hope of gaining an angle to fly the new asymmetric later on the leg. The Js held a much lower course and flew their spinnakers from the start, with varying degrees of success. Our tactic appeared to be working to start, but then a series or errors compounded to push us back through the fleet. Despite the true wind gusting to 30kts, we had gained sufficient of an angle to fly the new spinnaker and were making good speed downwind. However, a change over on the helm led to an accidental gybe, which nearly put a member of the crew overboard. Consequently, the next 20 minutes were sailed very conservatively and we lost ground to the fleet. The second error resulted from a misplotted waypoint on a handheld being used by some of the crew! So, despite the skipper's protestations to the contrary, the crew maintained a course to the wrong waypoint!! By the time we had found the correct waypoint (M2) we had sailed at least a mile further than the rest of the fleet. Finally, adding insult to injury, we flew the spinnaker from the top of the mast for a good 10 minutes when the sheet escaped overboard! That said, we were still in sight of the leaders at the finish - a marked improvement on the same race last year.
The next ISORA for us was 19 May, Douglas to Dun Laoghaire, with a party in Douglas on the Sat evening. So, to make it in time we set off from Holyhead at 2030 Fri night, aiming for HW Douglas at 0530, and were tied up alongside by 0700. Unfortunately, the new Lopolight Tri-colour was not working, which meant a trip to the top of the mast where the absence of anything untoward led to the conclusion that the light itself was faulty, which indeed turned out to be the case. The party was excellent, but the race that followed proved to be a real test of stamina and perseverance for the 3 on board. The winds were very light and variable and the 80 miles took 21 hours. After a couple of
hours kip, we were back sailing, heading for Holyhead, which we made by 1830, Mon, 20 May.
The 21/22 May saw a circumnavigation of Anglesey with friends, just beating the NNW gale on 23 May.
24 May and it was another overnight trip to the Isle of Man. This time it was for the TT practice sessions. Light and variable winds meant a lot of motoring, but there was a spectacular sunrise by way of compensation. The TT itself was great. I had not been before and I was impressed by the atmosphere as much as by the incredible speeds achieved by the bikes. We had a quick day sail on 26 May and took the opportunity to put some more fuel on board. This proved just as well as our return journey (again overnight) involved a good deal of motoring, after we discovered a rigging problem on the starboard intermediate shroud. We were back in Holyhead by 1430 on 28 May.
The following weekend comprised a circumnavigation of the Island via Rhoscolyn (overnight), Porth Dinllaen, the Swellies and Moelfre (overnight), in near perfect conditions.
After anti fouling, the next big race was the Lyver Trophy from Holyhead to Howth, via a virtual mark down by Bardsey Island. This was another overnighter! Again there were only 3 of us on board and, if truth were told, I think we were getting tired by the end. This resulted in a reluctance to swap spinnakers at the end of the race which probably cost us a place or 2.
Pre-season included replacing all the standing rigging and guard rails and then a full survey for coding. We also took the opportunity to scrub the bottom, but left antifouling to the planned summer lift out. So it was, with a clean bottom and shiny new standing rigging, that we delivered Pipedreamer to Holyhead on 30 Mar.
The early part of the season included 3 charters. The first was boat handling for some prospective Yachtmasters. The second was a family day trip to Rhosneigr. The third was noteworthy as it was the first time Pipedreamer had played host to international guests - from Russia with love!
3 May saw us positioning Pipedreamer in Dun Laoghaire for our first ISORA. The delivery was a beat into a force 6, but we arrived in good time. The race itself was to be a drag race to Holyhead via the M2 buoy. The wind was still W F6, which meant a reach to start followed by a run. We were first over the start line and stayed high on the wind in the hope of gaining an angle to fly the new asymmetric later on the leg. The Js held a much lower course and flew their spinnakers from the start, with varying degrees of success. Our tactic appeared to be working to start, but then a series or errors compounded to push us back through the fleet. Despite the true wind gusting to 30kts, we had gained sufficient of an angle to fly the new spinnaker and were making good speed downwind. However, a change over on the helm led to an accidental gybe, which nearly put a member of the crew overboard. Consequently, the next 20 minutes were sailed very conservatively and we lost ground to the fleet. The second error resulted from a misplotted waypoint on a handheld being used by some of the crew! So, despite the skipper's protestations to the contrary, the crew maintained a course to the wrong waypoint!! By the time we had found the correct waypoint (M2) we had sailed at least a mile further than the rest of the fleet. Finally, adding insult to injury, we flew the spinnaker from the top of the mast for a good 10 minutes when the sheet escaped overboard! That said, we were still in sight of the leaders at the finish - a marked improvement on the same race last year.
The next ISORA for us was 19 May, Douglas to Dun Laoghaire, with a party in Douglas on the Sat evening. So, to make it in time we set off from Holyhead at 2030 Fri night, aiming for HW Douglas at 0530, and were tied up alongside by 0700. Unfortunately, the new Lopolight Tri-colour was not working, which meant a trip to the top of the mast where the absence of anything untoward led to the conclusion that the light itself was faulty, which indeed turned out to be the case. The party was excellent, but the race that followed proved to be a real test of stamina and perseverance for the 3 on board. The winds were very light and variable and the 80 miles took 21 hours. After a couple of
hours kip, we were back sailing, heading for Holyhead, which we made by 1830, Mon, 20 May.
The 21/22 May saw a circumnavigation of Anglesey with friends, just beating the NNW gale on 23 May.
24 May and it was another overnight trip to the Isle of Man. This time it was for the TT practice sessions. Light and variable winds meant a lot of motoring, but there was a spectacular sunrise by way of compensation. The TT itself was great. I had not been before and I was impressed by the atmosphere as much as by the incredible speeds achieved by the bikes. We had a quick day sail on 26 May and took the opportunity to put some more fuel on board. This proved just as well as our return journey (again overnight) involved a good deal of motoring, after we discovered a rigging problem on the starboard intermediate shroud. We were back in Holyhead by 1430 on 28 May.
The following weekend comprised a circumnavigation of the Island via Rhoscolyn (overnight), Porth Dinllaen, the Swellies and Moelfre (overnight), in near perfect conditions.
After anti fouling, the next big race was the Lyver Trophy from Holyhead to Howth, via a virtual mark down by Bardsey Island. This was another overnighter! Again there were only 3 of us on board and, if truth were told, I think we were getting tired by the end. This resulted in a reluctance to swap spinnakers at the end of the race which probably cost us a place or 2.
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