Our Final Leap South
On Monday 29th August, a sailing wind had returned and we set off from Port Erin on the Isle of Man to catch a ride on a series of favourable winds that were forecast for the following few days.
Our hope was that these would get us home before the arrival of nasty weather - about a week away!
Our Route Home from the Isle of Man
52 miles, 8 hours
Passing the island "Calf of Man" at the start of our rush to get south
Dodging a very large Irish Ferry, we found our way into this huge harbour. We were not sure where we should go and started by tying to the one remaining (and very ropey) pontoon. The rest of the marina had been swept away when Storm Emma had brought 80 mph winds to Holyhead in 2018. Since then, there have been plans to rebuild but these have not yet got off the ground.
Aberdaron to Skomer Island
If we had been here earlier in the year, we would have been surrounded by clouds of seabirds, who come here each summer to raise their chicks but instead we could only see the hundreds of empty Puffin burrows dotting the hillsides . A seal was resting on the rocks nearby and made its familiar mournful cries into the evening air.
Storm Emma lashing Holyhead Marina in 2018
The marina office was deserted, so I called in at Holyhead Sailing Club and they very helpfully gave us one of their moorings for the night. Staying on the pontoon was not appealing as the F5 wind was now in the NE and blowing straight into the harbour, making the pontoon exceedingly uncomfortable!
Holyhead to Aberdaron
40 miles, 5 hours
After a windy night in the lumpy sea conditions inside Holyhead harbour, we set off again at lunchtime to catch the south-going tide. We had a hairy sail downwind in a NE F5/6 and made our way between Bardsey Island and the Welsh mainland as the strong spring tide carried us through. We turned sharply to port to escape the Bardsey tide and dropped our anchor onto a sandy bottom off the town of Aberdaron. The next stage of our journey south completed, we made supper and prepared for tomorrow's early start.
Our anchorage off the windy shore at Aberdaron
77 miles, 12 hours
Our steps south were getting longer and with this one we again enjoyed lovely sunshine but the winds were a bit lighter at NE F2-5. We had timed things correctly and reached Ramsay Sound off St. David's Head at 1700 to catch a strong tide into St. Brides Bay beyond. We put the engine on to pass through Jack Sound, between Skomer Island and the Pembrokshire coast, as our sailing heading dead downwind did not allow us enough wriggle room to safely negotiate the twisting channel past the line of rocks known as "The Bitches". A turn to starboard took us into the South Haven anchorage off Skomer Island at 1800.
Tucked into South Haven anchorage on Skomer
Skomer to St. Michael's Mount
125 miles, 19 hours
We left Skomer at 0300 into a fresh E F4 breeze that took us south and away from the Pembrokeshire coast. Very soon, we had to alter course to avoid the Pembroke - Ireland ferry that was just leaving Milford Haven harbour. Looking back, we saw the entrance channel with its massive arrays of leading lights to guide tankers and other ships into Milford Haven at any time of day. A large gas carrier was heading towards the harbour and we sailed past 2 other tankers awaiting their allotted time to pass through the entrance.
Crossing the Bristol Channel, we made good progress until 1300 when the wind stared to die and we had to turn on the engine to keep us going. The forecast was for much stronger winds and the tides also seemed to be less strong than the tidal atlas had told us. So, when we finally approached the coast near Lands End at 1800, we found ourselves battling a 2 knots adverse tide. At this rate we would find it very hard to reach a safe haven for the night! Doug consulted Reeds Almanac and we followed their advice to seek out a counter-current very close to the coastline. Our progress was tedious and we could just reach 5 knots by running the engine hard and dodging the rocks close inshore. Worried that our fuel was getting too low, at 1900 we transferred our spare 20 litre cannister of reserve diesel into the tank. As we wound round the coast we saw that our two potential anchorages of Porthcurno and then Lamorna Cove were untenable due to a residual westerly swell running into them. So, as dark fell, we pressed on into Mounts Bay. Anchoring off Mousehole was also out of the question because of the swell and we located another anchorage on the western side of St. Michael's Mount and made our way towards this. We had to avoid numerous fishing boats, operating in the dark and laying buoys and Purse Seine nets while flashing their lights to show they were actively fishing all around us. At the end of our long day at sea this was quite draining! However, at 2200 we finally dropped anchor amongst half a dozen other yachts with the dark silhouette of St. Michael's Mount looming above us.
St. Michael's Mount to Helford River
29 miles, 6 hours
No peace for the wicked and it was off again at 0545 to motor in a flat calm round Lizard Point and up to the Helford River.
Rounding the Lizard in a calm sea in the dawn sunshine
The sun shone and we were greeted by a NNE F2 wind at 1000 that allowed some gentle sailing without the engine at last. We were happy to pick up a visitor's mooring opposite Helford River Sailing Club at 1145. Shortly afterwards, we were joined by Alison and Robert, our neighbours from home in their yacht "Anna Catherina" as they took the mooring next to us.
Rapport in the Helford River - home waters at last!
We enjoyed a long awaited shower at Helford River Sailing Club and afterwards had a lovely supper in their restaurant with Alison and Robert.
Helford River to Weir Quay
52 miles, 8.5 hours
Helford Dawn before the strong winds arrived
The gentle sunny weather was over and the forecast warned of S winds rising to F6 by lunchtime and later F7. We knew this was the start of the heavy weather that we had been expecting. Setting off at 0700 we wanted to reach Plymouth as soon as possible.
Rapport loved the strong S F5/6 winds just aft of her beam and we had a great sail, flying along at 7+ knots, surfing at 8 knots. The seas had not yet risen and we made spanking progress to reach Penlee Point at the entrance to Plymouth Sound at 1200. We turned to port and raced north with the wind aft of us and our sails goose-winged. In the following seas we had to steer carefully to sail between the beacons marking the narrow Bridge Channel west of Drake's Island and up past Devils Point to reach Devonport docks.
We dropped sails and motored into Mayflower Marina to fill up with fuel and water before sailing under Genoa alone up the Tamar River to our mooring at Weir Quay.
We were relieved to have reached home and set about clearing up and preparing to go ashore.
Alison and Robert arrived on their mooring near to us and very kindly took us ashore in their RIB to the boatyard pontoon. A short walk later and we were finally home after our epic and wonderful 3 month journey to the wild northern waters!
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