for me with Barry Yacht Club.
We didn’t get a chance to go ashore.
Already it was 9.30pm when we moored,
and as we had to leave at 4am for the tide
to Tenby, we had dinner and climbed into
our sleeping bags.
We left before dawn at HW to catch the
tide going out of the Bristol Channel. There
are a couple of Ministry of Defence firing
ranges on this stretch of coast, so we
called to say we were on passage.
The wind was still from the east when we
arrived in Tenby at 4pm. Here, the
assistant harbourmaster kindly put our fuel
cans in his truck and took us to the petrol
station to get fuel.
A northerly headwind was forecast for
our onward journey the following day. If we
couldn’t make it to Fishguard, our backup
plan was to go to Dale, or if it really picked
up, along the Cleddau river past Milford
Haven to Neyland or beyond.
We left early and enjoyed the sunrise
over Giltar Point. There’s an inside
passage between Skomer and mainland
Pembrokeshire, where you go through
Jack Sound and Ramsay Sound. It has
something of a reputation, but in fact there
was loads of room compared to the Menai
Strait, where I’m used to sailing. The thing
with all these places is going through at
the right time. As long as you’ve done your
homework and know where you need to
be, it’s not a problem.
We carried the tide round Strumble Head
into Fishguard, where we used the
showers in Fishguard Bay Sailing Club.Foggy start
Thick fog greeted us when we rose from
our bunks the next day. To avoid the
shipping, we kept to the inside of the
coast and blew the foghorn every two
minutes until it cleared, meeting just one
potting boat along the way.
After 15 miles the wind picked up. With a
north-going tide and 27 knots on the nose it
became lumpy and the outboard kept lifting
out of the water. That was the worst bit- waves were breaking over Scooby’s bow,
and we still had 45 miles to go. It was time
to call it a day before things got too bad.
We needed to find refuge, but all the
harbours ahead of us were drying ones
and the tide was out so, with heavy hearts,
we turned back to Fishguard.
The following afternoon the wind was
due to increase with Storm Hector coming
in behind us, so we left at 4am. By 8am it
was blowing 12-15 knots, and increasing.
We surfed down the waves with a boat
speed of 8 knots! It was an exhilarating
sail, and in 12 hours we covered 57 miles
with a full main and working jib. Scooby is
a stiff boat with short bilge keels, so she
felt really safe.
With the storm forecast, there was no point
in continuing so Mike, a yachtbroker friend
who works in Pwllheli, gave us a lift home
to Deganwy until the weather improved.
Three days later I returned to Pwllheli,
hoping to make Conwy in one go. It’s a
70-mile leg, which would take around 12
hours. We got through Bardsey Sound a
little early by keeping in close and using
back-eddies to dodge the tide. The flood
then carried us along the Lleyn Peninsula
towards the Menai Strait.
An hour before slack water we sailed
through the Swellies – a turbulent,
rock-strewn stretch of water between
Anglesey and the mainland. Meanwhile
the wind was building. By the time we got
to Bangor it was 25 knots. We dropped
the main and had plenty of wind and
steerage to get us past Beaumaris before
the tide turned.
Despite being so close to Rhyl I had to
moor in Deganwy for another five days
before the winds abated. Tony joined me
for the last leg around the Great Orme,
past Colwyn Bay and into Rhyl Harbour,
where the inshore lifeboat was waiting to
cheer us in. Then, when the tide turned, it
was back to Deganwy for dinner.
We’d completed our 501-mile voyage in
26 days, navigating three rivers and four
canals. What an adventure!CIRCUMNAVIGATE WALES
Sandra first spotted Scooby in Bull
Bay, near Amlwch. She had moulded
bilge keels with ballast, and for years
the boat had been left in the owner’s
garden, full of water. I gave her a hand
moving Scooby and we stripped her
completely – windows out, rubbing
strakes off, stanchions – everything.
When stood on the ground, the hull
pushed down on the keel and opened
the frames up, so we had to use a
lifting frame to get the keel hanging
again. We ground it all out, reglassed
it, and strengthened it – a job that took
most of the winter.
RESTORING SCOOBY
ABOVE Parkheath
Bridge
LEFT The lively,
modernised quay
in Gloucester
RIGHT View from
the mooring in
Market Drayton‘The tactic for a small boat is to keep to the
sides of the channel so there’s not enough
water for anyone else to hit you!’
w➜