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19 Sept
Smoke Me A Kipper, I'll Be Back For Breakfast
To take my Yacht master examination I required two trips of over 60 miles as the crow flies. So I decided to do a flying visit to the Isle of Man over the weekend of 15 th &16 th September to get these in. First job was to find a motley crew, which was to be Dave McWilliams, Ian McLean and Jon Power a friend of mine who sails a Benetau 40 also from Conwy. Unfortunately Dave had to pull at the last minute.
I got down the boat after doing the shopping at 18:00 on the Friday, unpacked everything and popped up to the Mulberry for a quick pint before the others arrived. Went back to the boat and put the tea on just before Ian and Jon arrived. With a bottle of red wine to accompany the meal we talked of the passage plan and the weather forecast. Due to the wind being a Northerly later on we decided not to go to Port Erin but to go to Port Saint Mary via Lynas (so we could do the required sixty miles). The wind was to become a Force 5 from the Southwest on the way back. Should be a fantastic sail back.
We left at 23:00 on a moonless and cloud free night. We were to do 4 hours on and 2 hours off watch. The first watch was Jon and myself. The wind was head on and about 10 knots so we motored. Our speed was vastly increased since we had cleaned the bottom of the hull only the week before. On the passage up to Lynas we had Dolphins swimming with us, which Ian missed. Shooting stars, Venus rising and a phosphorescent sea were just a few of the joys on the passage. Part of the Coastguard's broadcast for the Isle of Man had stated we could not take dairy produce or fresh meat into the Isle of Man including waste due to Foot and Mouth? We had beacon butties for breakfast and made Port Saint Mary at 09:00.
After a short sleep we launched the dinghy and made for shore and more importantly the pub. After a couple of pints in the beer garden over looking the harbour we headed back to My Tern. I had been asked to get some Manx kippers but the market had closed at midday. Attached to the dinghy was an envelope with a questionnaire about what we had on board and were we had come from, after finding a pen and duly filling it out, the harbourmaster arrived and with everything in order we headed back to the My Tern. After a few sandwiches and another bottle of red wine (thanks to Ian) we had a sleep.
Up at 22:00 to make and eat our curry before setting sail at midnight. Just before we sat down to eat, the coastguard gave an imminent gale warning for the Irish Sea. That was not in the plan. We called Liverpool coastguard to tell them of our plans to leave at midnight. Deciding it would be better to allow it to blow out and head back during daylight, we decided to leave at first light. We called the coastguard to inform them of our change of plans. So back to bed, as I was concerned about the change in the forecast I did not get much sleep.
Back up at 05:00 ready to get off, the wind was blowing 24 knots in the harbour and we knew it would be worse out of the shelter. Having been out in a Force 9 before I knew that the boat could handle it, and it was due to pass. We informed the coastguard that we were to head for Conwy and inform them once we arrived about 16:30. We headed out at 06:30 with plans to head for Douglas if it was too bad, or Liverpool or even Holyhead depending where we where. Once out, the wind was 34 knots with a 2.5m swell, bad but doable. We all had life jackets and safety lines on.
As the miles passed the wind built, as did the sea, touching 40 knots and a 3m swell. When we got to the point of no return the wind increased further, to 45 knots and a 4m swell. This definitely was not in the plan. This was survival tactics. Heading straight into the waves and wind would make 1.5 knots with the tide against us, going slightly off wind and on to our course with the seas on our starboard bow the speed increased to nearly 7 knots. But that was precarious. I had left the lazy jack bag open so we could hoist the main sail if needed it, thinking it would not be this bad. The wind blew part of the sail out and gave us too much windage and weather helm. Ian volunteered to go forward to put a rope around the flapping sail. We could not afford to have a beam sea, having being flattened before I had no desire to go through that again.
With 20 miles to Anglesey the wind increased again to 50 knots and the seas built to 4.5m. This was no fun, Ian made a comment about being outside his comfort zone, and we all felt the same but had to plough on. Less than 10 miles from Anglesey I went down below to plot our position as our chart plotter was not working, but we did have two GPS 's. A squall came through, I was thrown round like a bouncing ball even though I was holding on. The driving rain was like stones hitting our faces. The wind hit 53 knots a Force10 and nearly a Force 11, this was extremely serious.
Once the squall had passed the wind died to a Force 8, which felt like luxury. I phoned Sarah to say I would be back late due to the weather, not sure if she really understood about what we had been through. We passed Lynas and headed for Molfre as we had missed the tidal gate at Conwy. The wind died and the sea became calm in the shelter of Anglesey . Again we had Dolphins with us and at last Ian got to see them. Once on a mooring we had our curry, informed the coastguard that we were safe and would make Conwy about 23:00 and after an hour's sleep before our final passage back to Conwy.
After leaving Molfre the engine started coughing, my first impression was blocked fuel filters after all the violence of the passage. Off Puffin Island the engine died. We put out the Genoa with Ian helming, Jon and I went below to try and sort it out. I drained the primary filter and just got water, so that was the problem. I removed all the water and bled the fuel system; the engine ran as sweet as a nut. Surely no more dramas, we headed down the channel and into Conwy River . The marina lights were on red so we picked up a buoy to wait till the sill gate was down. The night watchman saw us and called us up to inform us that our berth had been taken and we need to go to D leg, but to watch out as there wasn't much water. We proceeded up the marina very slowly and got into the berth with the help of the watchman. Safely tied up we unloaded, and said our goodbyes and headed home. I would go back in the week to sort the boat out.
Before leaving Jon asked, with hindsight would I have done it. "No" was the answer. But I was glad I had, as it has given me confidence not only in My Tern but myself. I always have and will always have great respect for the sea. It will always put us into perspective, ?Ants Crawling Upon The Surface? (From the Rocky Horror Show), just to show how small we all are.
I finally got to bed at 01:00 on Monday morning, after a very long passage.
Thanks go to the crew who were absolutely brilliant and without them it might have been a totally different story.
As Rimmer's alter ego said in Red Dwarf ?Smoke Me A Kipper, I'll Be Back For Breakfast?.
Mike Hilton, a very relieved skipper
Tell us what you think - your comments, contributions and photos are very welcome.
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