*CYC Club trip: 29/03/13 - Easter Cruise Gower

[Matt]

29/03/13 to 01/04/13 - Easter trip to the Gower

We are starting this years sailing with a trip to Swansea and the Gower area at the end of this month. The intention is to do this over 4 days and have a play around the this area of South West Wales. What we do will be of course weather dependent e.g. beach hopping, fun racing around the bay, shopping

Friday

Early start from Cardiff with a possible lock out around 7am (being 1 hour before high water). Once we are in Swansea Bay it will be low water so we will have to wait to get into Tawe lock. The plan is either to anchor in the Mumbles or have a sail around the bay. In the evening a few drinks in the Swansea Sub Aqua Club. Swansea will be our base for these few days.

Saturday

Sail down to a beach in the Gower and anchor for some lunch then back to Swansea in the evening. There are some lovely bays in the Gower peninsular such as Port Eynon Bay, Oxwich Bay, Three Cliffs, Pwlldu Bay, etc. If the weather isn't too clever we can always have a race in Swansea bay.

Sunday

More of the above.

Monday

Enjoy a leisurely breakfast. In the afternoon leave for Cardiff. Those who have the week off will leave in the morning for places further south or West .

We plan to have a 'tactical talk' the week before on Thursday 21/03/13 for all skippers and crew who want to go in order to discuss times, tides, passage plan, etc. Please post on here if you are intending coming on the trip or if you are interested in being crew.

The flotilla will use VHF Channel 77.

List of boats confirmed on the event:

Boat name____________Skipper[/u]

Xanadu ........................... Mike Birdsall
Ocean Factor ................... Mathew Williams
Ardua ............................. Duncan Hall
Shooting Star .................. Mark Branson
High Spirits ...................... Andy[/color]

Remember that it is always the skippers decision whether it is safe to go to sea.

Matt

[duncanhall]

Ardua will be there it seems like a good plan

Duncan

I won't be there the previous Thursday

[Andy-High Spirits]

High Spirits and I would like to come
Andy

[Deleted]

If you have not visited Swansea Marina before make sure you are not allocated a berth in the shadow of the dreaded SA1 tower. It blocks out all the sun and causes quite a swirling breeze. when moring The Grape and Olive on the top floor is worth a visit though. Good food and superb views either out to sea or inland taking in the Beacons on a clear day. Waterfront Museum worth a look too - and its free.

[Fred]

Mar 4, 2013 19:06:29 GMT Matt said:

29/03/13 to 01/04/13 - Easter trip to the Gower

We are starting this years sailing with a trip to Swansea and the Gower area at the end of this month. The intention is to do this over 4 days and have a play around the this area of South West Wales. What we do will be of course weather dependent e.g. beach hopping, fun racing around the bay, shopping

Friday[/u
] Hope the finish the repairs to the lock should be up and running bt the 25th

Early start from Cardiff with a possible lock out around 7am (being 1 hour before high water). Once we are in Swansea Bay it will be low water so we will have to wait to get into Tawe lock. The plan is either to anchor in the Mumbles or have a sail around the bay. In the evening a few drinks in the Swansea Sub Aqua Club. Swansea will be our base for these few days.

Saturday

Sail down to a beach in the Gower and anchor for some lunch then back to Swansea in the evening. There are some lovely bays in the Gower peninsular such as Port Eynon Bay, Oxwich Bay, Three Cliffs, Pwlldu Bay, etc. If the weather isn't too clever we can always have a race in Swansea bay.

Sunday

More of the above.

Monday

Enjoy a leisurely breakfast. In the afternoon leave for Cardiff. Those who have the week off will leave in the morning for places further south or West .

We plan to have a 'tactical talk' the week before on Thursday 21/03/13 for all skippers and crew who want to go in order to discuss times, tides, passage plan, etc. Please post on here if you are intending coming on the trip or if you are interested in being crew.

The flotilla will use VHF Channel 77.

List of boats confirmed on the event:

Boat name____________Skipper

Xanadu ........................... Mike Birdsall
Ocean Factor ................... Mathew Williams
Arietta ............................ Keith Pritchard
Ardua ............................. Duncan Hall
High Spirits ...................... Andy

[/color]

Remember that it is always the skippers decision whether it is safe to go to sea.

Matt

[/quote]

[Matt]

To all those that are interested in going on this trip we are meeting this Thursday (21st March) at 8pm in the bar to discuss the tides, weather, passage plans, etc.

Matt

[Matt]

It was confirmed last night that we will lock out on the 7am lock from Cardiff on the Friday.

We will keep an eye on the weather and post here any updates in the event we need a 'Plan B'.

There was a chap by the name of 'Attila' down the club last night who was looking to be crew on the trip if anyone is short handed? I can provide his telephone number and email address if you want to PM me.

Matt

[Matt]

The trip is slightly changed and now and leaving Friday morning, staying Friday and Saturday nights and leaving Sunday lunchtime as monday is a bit windy. Of course up to others if they want to stay longer.

Remember to wrap up warm!

Matt

[Deleted]

Hope you've all got several sets of thermals ;D
Have a good trip!
Peter

[Xanadu]

Xanadu will also be coming back Sunday lunch time.

[duncanhall]

Packed my thermals also. Good news is that the fetch is small .

Swell looks ok

magicseaweed.com/UK-Ireland-Surf-Chart/1/?size=500&chartType=WMAG#?size=500&chartType=WMAG&_suid=1364474568032008173782820813358

Sunday return looks sensible on temperature grounds.

Duncan

[ishtar]

Can't make this, sorry. Still waiting to take Ishtar out. Enjoy all.

[Matt]

Friday

Got up at 4.50am and it was still dark and very cold. I got my bags together and headed on down to the club. We (the crew – Keith, Joff, Terry) had planned to meet up at 6am on Ocean Factor and lock out at 7am but had to get the get the genoa fitted, stuff on board and the usual cuppa tea before the off so ended up locking out at 7.30. Xanadu (Mike, Rhiannon and father in law) was in the lock with us and Ardua (Duncan and son) locked out before us at 7am. It was almost HW when we locked out into a beautiful sunny morning past Penarth pier and around Lavernock point. Past Sully we caught up with Ardua and we had hot sausage rolls and more tea. As both the wind and tide were travelling East it was a fast trip down with 10 knots plus all the way until we turned North at West Nash Cardinal buoy. Tamarind (Martin, Sarah, Carl and Tilly) radioed us that they were coming too and were not far from us, taking the Nash passage. As we had arrived around LW we had to wait so tied up to the ferry terminal ladder, rafted up with Xanadu and Ardua and Tamarind moored up to a buoy outside Tawe lock. We worked it out that we did the trip in 4.5 hours which was great bearing in mind it usually takes us about 6-8! Berthing was easy and we had pretty good clear sunny weather for most of the trip down. It was cold but the layers of hats, jackets, trousers, socks, balaclavas, etc meant that it wasn’t too bad.

In the evening we all joined up to walk down to the Swansea Sub Aqua Club which is a cross between a Yacht Club and a pub and feels less formal than most clubs. After chatting about passage plans for the next day and general boatie things we retired back to the boat. I had to visit the loo several times as my bladder can’t hold much. It was -4 in the night and it was a battle as to whether I waited till my bladder burst or do I get out of my comfy warm sleeping bag to walk on a cold floor and sit on an equally cold toilet seat and watch my breath evaporate into the air? I think I made 3 visits.

Saturday

I woke early but again didn’t want to get out of the warm sleeping bag. After an hour I put a camping heater on. Damn I really need to get a shore power lead and plug in a heater. It was another sunny day but freezing temperatures. The others got up and cooked a great bacon and egg sandwich before we all got up for showers and pay the Marina. We had originally planned to stay around the Swansea area and go and anchor around some of the beaches as I had assumed that the temperature would be around 16 degrees by now at least. It was still very cold for the time of year. Also Monday was looking pretty windy so it was decided by that us and Tamarind would travel over to Watchet and Xanadu and Ardua would go back to Cardiff. We all locked out of Tawe at 11.30am and once through the harbour entrance we took a course SW to attempt the Nash passage, recommended by Carl the night before. It was a good route but a bit hairy at the East Nash Cardinal buoy as there isn’t much room for manoeuvre. Great fun to navigate and felt quite satisfying getting through it. Tamarind had taken the West Nash route and arrived at Watched about 10 minutes before us.

After tying up to one of the hammerhead pontoons next to Tamarind a friend, Mick rang me up and invited us aboard for a few drinks. His boat was so warm and had an Eberspatcher heater on full blast. He had a temperature chart which stated that the level he had it on it could kill babies! After having a drink and a chat he took us aboard his friends yacht ‘Olympus’ which is what I can only describe as an old ex millionaires yacht. The owner had motored her back from Greece and stuck her in the Watchet mud. He has been slowly doing her up and she is looking great. Two massive engines in an engine room the size of my boat and a proper bridge. I don’t think I could afford the upkeep though. After we popped over to the British Legion Club where an Elvis tribute singer was belting out the oldies. There were lots of people in the club so clearly a popular act. I’m not an Elvis fan but had to admit he was pretty good although I’m sure the two pints of Thatchers Gold helped! Back to the cold boat and the trips to the loo.

Monday

We left early morning to catch the tide. It was wind over tide and as we had to point towards Cardiff the cold chill of the air was really cutting. Tamarind was up for another day out so travelled to Weston. It was probably the coldest of the 3 days sail and my fingers were stiff. Luckily we had a good speed and arrived back in Cardiff in the sunshine. As soon as we had moored up we all hurried to the hot showers to help our core temperatures stabilize.

All in all a good trip, good company, good food, nice weather. There was a depression threatening to enter the UK on the weekend and last Wednesday we had considered cancelling the trip as it looked bad. The forecast got better though and we had three days of mostly sunny weather, no rain at all. I am hoping the temperature gets warmer for the Portishead trip!

I did take my camcorder and so did Terry so if I manage to getting around to editing it I'll try and upload it to youtube or photobucket or something.

Matt

[sheila]

Very nice Matt, but some of it is a bit too much information! By the way, it was Colin on board Tamarind along with Martyn & Sarah & Tilly.

[Fred]

Apr 2, 2013 12:14:53 GMT Matt said:

Friday

Got up at 4.50am and it was still dark and very cold. I got my bags together and headed on down to the club. We (the crew – Keith, Joff, Terry) had planned to meet up at 6am on Ocean Factor and lock out at 7am but had to get the get the genoa fitted, stuff on board and the usual cuppa tea before the off so ended up locking out at 7.30. Xanadu (Mike, Rhiannon and father in law) was in the lock with us and Ardua (Duncan and son) locked out before us at 7am. It was almost HW when we locked out into a beautiful sunny morning past Penarth pier and around Lavernock point. Past Sully we caught up with Ardua and we had hot sausage rolls and more tea. As both the wind and tide were travelling East it was a fast trip down with 10 knots plus all the way until we turned North at West Nash Cardinal buoy. Tamarind (Martin, Sarah, Carl and Tilly) radioed us that they were coming too and were not far from us, taking the Nash passage. As we had arrived around LW we had to wait so tied up to the ferry terminal ladder, rafted up with Xanadu and Ardua and Tamarind moored up to a buoy outside Tawe lock. We worked it out that we did the trip in 4.5 hours which was great bearing in mind it usually takes us about 6-8! Berthing was easy and we had pretty good clear sunny weather for most of the trip down. It was cold but the layers of hats, jackets, trousers, socks, balaclavas, etc meant that it wasn’t too bad.

In the evening we all joined up to walk down to the Swansea Sub Aqua Club which is a cross between a Yacht Club and a pub and feels less formal than most clubs. After chatting about passage plans for the next day and general boatie things we retired back to the boat. I had to visit the loo several times as my bladder can’t hold much. It was -4 in the night and it was a battle as to whether I waited till my bladder burst or do I get out of my comfy warm sleeping bag to walk on a cold floor and sit on an equally cold toilet seat and watch my breath evaporate into the air? I think I made 3 visits.

Saturday

I woke early but again didn’t want to get out of the warm sleeping bag. After an hour I put a camping heater on. Damn I really need to get a shore power lead and plug in a heater. It was another sunny day but freezing temperatures. The others got up and cooked a great bacon and egg sandwich before we all got up for showers and pay the Marina. We had originally planned to stay around the Swansea area and go and anchor around some of the beaches as I had assumed that the temperature would be around 16 degrees by now at least. It was still very cold for the time of year. Also Monday was looking pretty windy so it was decided by that us and Tamarind would travel over to Watchet and Xanadu and Ardua would go back to Cardiff. We all locked out of Tawe at 11.30am and once through the harbour entrance we took a course SW to attempt the Nash passage, recommended by Carl the night before. It was a good route but a bit hairy at the East Nash Cardinal buoy as there isn’t much room for manoeuvre. Great fun to navigate and felt quite satisfying getting through it. Tamarind had taken the West Nash route and arrived at Watched about 10 minutes before us.

After tying up to one of the hammerhead pontoons next to Tamarind a friend, Mick rang me up and invited us aboard for a few drinks. His boat was so warm and had an Eberspatcher heater on full blast. He had a temperature chart which stated that the level he had it on it could kill babies! After having a drink and a chat he took us aboard his friends yacht ‘Olympus’ which is what I can only describe as an old ex millionaires yacht. The owner had motored her back from Greece and stuck her in the Watchet mud. He has been slowly doing her up and she is looking great. Two massive engines in an engine room the size of my boat and a proper bridge. I don’t think I could afford the upkeep though. After we popped over to the British Legion Club where an Elvis tribute singer was belting out the oldies. There were lots of people in the club so clearly a popular act. I’m not an Elvis fan but had to admit he was pretty good although I’m sure the two pints of Thatchers Gold helped! Back to the cold boat and the trips to the loo.

Monday

We left early morning to catch the tide. It was wind over tide and as we had to point towards Cardiff the cold chill of the air was really cutting. Tamarind was up for another day out so travelled to Weston. It was probably the coldest of the 3 days sail and my fingers were stiff. Luckily we had a good speed and arrived back in Cardiff in the sunshine. As soon as we had moored up we all hurried to the hot showers to help our core temperatures stabilize.

All in all a good trip, good company, good food, nice weather. There was a depression threatening to enter the UK on the weekend and last Wednesday we had considered cancelling the trip as it looked bad. The forecast got better though and we had three days of mostly sunny weather, no rain at all. I am hoping the temperature gets warmer for the Portishead trip!

I did take my camcorder and so did Terry so if I manage to getting around to editing it I'll try and upload it to youtube or photobucket or something.

Matt
Nice to be young and fit LOL

[duncanhall]

Yes it was cold. ARDUA plugged in at Swansea but the power ran out at at 2am because the units were allocated to the wrong berths.

ARDUA had an excellent sail down. The only down side was the bildges filled with water. Fortunately it was fresh water but that necessitated a return to Cardiff the next day to fully sort out what caused it.

The sail back was good with us arriving back in Cardiff at 7:45 but we did use the engine on the final leg as the wind was on the nose after Barry Power station. I note that Xanadu was in the following lock but no doubt they did not use their metal sail.

[Deleted]

Glad the trip went well. They'll make a winter sailor of you yet Matt. ..and as Sheila pointed out, only you could include ALL information lol.
Hope the weather warms up for you on subsequent trips..
And where's the photos?!
Regards to all.
Peter