Our visit to Milford

[Deleted]

For what it's worth this will be a few blogs of our visit to Milford this month. There may be a few tips in here which others will find useful.


Departed just before the high tide on Sunday morning for Oxwich. The Channel was very bumpy and with a F4/5 westerly we were close hauled all the way with 2 reefs.
Passed Chausey on his way home across Swansea Bay & chatted on the VHF. This was not quite the highlight of the trip though, as we had a dolphin for company for a time whilst abeam Port Talbot.

Motored the last few miles to make Oxwich with plenty daylight to spare. Where to drop the hook? Well there was one other yacht so we lined up between him, the front row of fishing boats and the cliff. This left us with 2.5m at low tide. After that Enigma pointed at the beach and didn't budge all night.

Next stop Tenby for the obligatory fish & chips while sitting on the quay. Good visitor moorings here and dead calm overnight again. Take care because the local tourist boats & fishers don't seem to know much about colregs.

Tuesday morning came with a strong wind warning for later so we left a little earlier than planned for the 23Nm hop to Dale. Motored to St Govans head with wind on the nose. Kept in fairly tight to the head but still caught some of the race with 3m standing waves. A couple of ribs passed us even tighter in where the water was flatter but we were unsure of depths. On this occassion it was light winds and neap tides; in any other conditions I'd suggest give these races a wide berth.

Otherwise an uneventful trip with winds dropping (except Beth was hooted out of the way by an approaching tanker in the Haven! - gets a bit hairy at times, they're very big) . Noticed a small tear in the main on the way in so abandoned Dale and made straight for Neyland where there is a sailmaker.

Wednesday; the main is with the sailmaker and the strong winds have arrived so good for a lay day.

PS no photos - my laptop dongle is too slow.
PPS just read the other blogs about Sheila - pse keep us informed.

[Camelot]

Sounds like you're having a great time.

How long did the sailmaker say your repair would take?

[Deleted]

Forgot to say, we tried & tried (honest guv) to raise the harbour master at Tenby but no response, so a free night was had.

The sail repair took all of 2 hours and cost very little. Full marks to Stephen Ratsey whose loft is 100m from Neyland Marina.

We still took a lay day in Neyland and included a walk up the Brunel Trail, very peaceful. Comments on the marina:- well run, good facilities, bar/restaurant a bit pricy.

Next stop an epic voyage of 5Nm to Llangwm. Sailed all the way in flukey winds which was good fun. Reminded of our dinghy sailing days at Llandegfedd. 'Borrowed' a mooring for the afternoon and basically just chilled.

Lawrenny for the night - bad move. They were very difficult to contact by phone and the guy in the office was particularly grumpy. Showers were extra; we didn't bother. Took a good walk along the Landsker trail (details on request). The Lawrenny Arms looked inviting and the beer was OK but we were firmly told that there was nowhere to sit inside unless we were eating. How odd.

There's a low passing over today (Friday) and as we don't do hardcore sailing (you may have noticed), we motored the 5Nm down to MH Marina for a civilised wait whilst it blows over.

[Fred]

try angle bay good food at point pub afloat 4hrs before and after H W or anchor near lifeboat station.

Fred

[brian (Blue Bear)]

If you stay in Nayland Marina Nayland Yacht club, is a short walk food and drink very reasonable and a friendly club. I found Nayland marinas Electricity very expensive, you'd need a luxury Liner or at least several electric heaters to make it worth while.

[Deleted]

I gave up trying to add posts whilst we were still away as the signal on my mobile dongle proved very variable around the haven. So just a few sailing related comments below to wind up our log. (Shan't bore you with our walking exploits)

Anyway, we arrived back for the 21:45 lock last Monday having made passage from Tenby with a lunch stop in Oxwich. With a forecast Westerly F4 occ F5 turning to F6. the heavy following sea made the last 30Nm up the channel quite hard work. According to radio traffic a yacht making from Watermouth to Barry with 6 on board was also not finding the going easy.

BTW, the Met Office forecasts were consistently understated and we often ended up shouting at the VHF "Just look out of the window you ********s". Seriously, the MO inshore waters forecast for our area is just too much of a blunt instrument . We find PassageWeather.com and accuweather tend to be more accurate.

With extreme springs and lows coming through I wasn't happy that there was enough of a window to make Jack sound & Solva, so that will have to wait for another day. However, we did pass through Jack sound 3 times on the Dale Safari rib. A really enjoyable trip; our driver/guide took great pains to ensure we could see as much wildlife as possible around the islands. Also a 'yachty', he showed us the right sailing line through the sound.

Update on St Govan's Head- I spoke to a number of local sailors and a Tenby lifeboatman who all confirmed that the best way round is to keep really tight in.

Thanks to Dale YC who welcomed us to use their showers and Neyland YC who welcomed us to their bar.

Hayden & Beth

[Deleted]

Mr P forgot to add that we did see dolphins once more on the journey home, this time between Worms Head and Port Eynon. We were also entertained with Fireworks and Lifeboat launch in Tenby as part of a weekend of Round Table activities.

Ishtar returned to its mooring during our second visit to Dale, but as it was not an evening for sitting on deck enjoying a G & T, we were unable to make contact with the crew on board. We did however come across Caswyn moored in Milford Marina when we called in for a coffee en route for a Coastal Path walk with friends, and had a chat. - Club members are getting around this year

[ishtar]

Hi.

Not sure when that was. May have just been me on board. We were both there one weekend, which was lovely, and then I was on my own the next weekend, when it was quite nasty, with strong Northerlies. I sailed up to Llangwm and back that weekend. The previous weekend, Louise took us up to a little bay just off St Davids, Caerbwdi, and we had a fair sea running with wind over tide off Skomer on the way back. I succumbed to seasickness as Louise wouldn'y let me come on deck (it was a 'ladies' sail). We saw 'Redeye' and directed them to Alana's mooring that weekend.

Hoping to be down Fri-Sun this week if anyone else is around.