Milford Haven 51:42.69N 05:02.29W
5 September
The alarm went off at 5.30, but I was already awake
listening to the wind screaming through the rigging. Didn't sound like
the 18kts we had been promised and there were a few dubious looks from the crew
as to whether we shouldn't hang around at Kilmore quay for a few days
longer. I rechecked all the forecasts - and for once nobody had a gale
warning out - lots of small craft warnings and strong wind warnings - but no
gale. As we got Swallow ready to go, I joined a small party of would be
departees on the pontoon. A French boat was heading for Land's End and
not really looking forward to it as the wind is forecast to go south and build
overnight. An old gaff rigged fishing boat (Ros Alicea) that we had
sailed in behind from Arklow was also heading off - and had revised Land's End
to Milford Haven. So we set off within a few minutes of each other and
stayed within a mile and VHF contact all the way (we beat them by 10 minutes in
the end). Coming out of Kilmore was fine and the approach is well
protectred from any westerly swell. As we went over St Patrick's Bridge
and put the sails up we started to hit some swell - that got quite impressive
at times. Despite making offerings to Irish Sea spirits (Martin's
suggestion having read our Arklow departure entry), Ann got clunked on the head
by the cockpit locker and then spilt the porridge as a particularly large wave
tried to roll us. So much for pagan rites.
Ros Alicea in mid-channel
But a great sail. Wind in the west all day and generally
F4-F5, giving us a 60+ mile beam reach. Even the tides worked pretty well
and our problem in the end was arriving too early. Mid Irish Sea we were
joined by a group of dolphins for almost 2 hours - leaping all over the
place. As the forecast for tomorrow now looks pretty horrid (wet and very
windy) we'd decided to pass on a Dale mooring (long run in to shore) and headed
instead for Milford Marina. By taking down most of the sail and gently forereaching
down the Haven with just a handkerchief of jib up, we managed to arrive at the
dock just after the freeflow (no locking) period started.
