First voyage - she31 - Maryport to Aberystwyth advice please!

[BlackDelta]

Dear learned members,

I have been saving for some time and have just gathered enough to buy myself a rather pretty looking she31 delta 95, 'Black Delta'.

Having had a survey it looks like I've lucked out as the only necessary work has been the rigging which I have now replaced.
I've just bought a chart Plotter bringing her navigation a bit more up to date.

At last she is ready to go.

I'm looking to sail her from Maryport to Aberystwyth stopping on the isle of man on the way.
I'm looking to leave on the 1st November and I've given myself 10 days to get to Aberystwyth.
I will be sailing with my dad who is an experienced sailor .

Do you have advice on our route, given the bad weather recently it would be good to know of as many options as possible to break up the trip and offer us some shelter should we be getting battered by bad weather.

Any advice at all would be great!

 

[ghostlymoron]

10 days should be plenty to make the trip unless you're excessively storm bound. The longest leg is Douglas to Holyhead so you need a decent day for that. Holyhead is easy to enter under all weather conditions so offers a good refuge. I would then head for Pwllheli via Bardsey sound. Aim to pass through Bardsey at low water slack when you should have no problems. Pass inside the Tudwals is better IMH.
To reach Aberystwyth pass west of causeway buoy and watch out for the reefs which extend further west than you'd think.
The entrance to Aberystwyth is a bit intimidating but, follow the leading marks and 'hard 'a port' once you pass the jetty, and you'll be alright.

 

[Ian_Edwards]

Since no one else has responded, here's my 2d's worth.

Although I now sail the the NW of Scotland I was brought up sailing from Pwllheli and I have transited the Irish Sea in recent years.

It looks like about 170 nm from Maryport the Aberystwyth, or about 35 hrs sailing.

The 1st leg would probably be from Maryport to Douglas, that's about 50 miles, or 10hours. my view is that's a long sail for this time of year, you'll be sailing in the dark for part of the time.

Douglas, is the obvious port to aim for, but the marina has a tidal access, +/- 2hr either side of high water. The waiting pontoon is seasonal, so is probably out at this time of year and the bay isn't very friendly for anchoring and quite exposed to the south and east. Derbyhaven might be a better bet as an anchorage, I've anchored overnight there before.

The next obvious stop is Holyhead, which is great place to stop, but it's another 50miles from IOM.

From Holyhead it's about 60 miles the Aberystwyth, but you need to get through Bardsey Island Sound, which can be quite rough, I'd aim to get here a LW slack, that'll give you the ebb south from Holyhead and the tides across to Aberystwyth are quite weak.

I think that this is quite an exposed passage for November, You'll need to be well prepared for night sailing, keeping warm would be one of my major concerns.
There aren't a lot of all weather boltholes, you can go for, and the area is quite exposed to the winter SW gales. Morfa Nefyn on the north of the Llyn Peninsular is a good anchorage in a SW'ly. but the first two legs are quite long and exposed, with limited plan B's.

There's also a lot of commercial traffic, so I'd look at an AIS transponder, ie actively transmitting, or a radar transponder (Sea-Me or similar), commercial traffic won't be expecting a small sailing boat out at night at this time of year. I've navigated the area in summer with, AIS, Sea-Me and radar in reduced visibility and watched (on the radar) commercial traffic go around me, I heard them but never I saw them.

You'll obviously be looking for a good three day forecast, and you might be in luck, there's often a calm period in November.

I'd also be sure that the engine was reliable and that I had plenty of fuel, and I wouldn't be too concerned about motor sail, if the boat speed drops below 5 knots, it's probably more important to use the weather window, than saving fuel.

As a final point, most of the yachting facilities we take for granted in the summer, will probably be shut down, so I'd phone ahead to make sure places are open and expecting you.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy the trip.

 

[Vegable]

+1 to the above, and I'd add
Leave Holyhead about 30 mins before local HW and keep very close in to both North Stack and South Stack to avoid the overfalls. When passing Porth Dinllaen, slowly move towards the land so you pass on the land/south side of The Tripods as you get better help from the outgoing/ south going tide. You should arrive at Bardsey Sound before the tide turns against you. If you don't then go really close in to the mainland shore and try to work what little eddies there are. Read the pilot books and don't even think about going through the sound with wind above F3 against tide. Going with the wind is fine.
Once past Bardsey Sound you're home and dry. If the weather is bad, you can leave your boat at either Holyhead or Pwllheli and come back when the weather's better. Both are very safe.
I assume you know about the shallow entrance and swell at Aberystwyth. If not speak to the harbour master before you go.
Mike

Ian posted just before me but the above still applies. I bought my boat in Brighton and sailed her from there to Pwllheli over the bonfire night weekend. It tooke 5 days in total and we never got rained on and never had to tack. So you might be lucky like us. It was cold though!
(Everything is still open in Pwllhei but maybe reduced hours)

 

[lpdsn]

Boats you've just bought have a tendency to go wrong. Perhaps a combination of the previous owner cutting back on the maintenance and the boat having stood for awhile awaiting sale. Surveyors catch some things, but it is pretty common for other faults to slip through.

So don't stretch yourself for the first few legs so that you have the capacity to deal with sudden failures. Even to the extent of deliberately making your first day's sail short, say Maryport to Whitehaven.

 

[ganter]

As above. That's good advice. She's new to you so make the first 2/3 days a bit of shakedown/ Sea Trials, with short legs, so you and the boat can see if anything breaks.

 

[[3889]]

+1 for Whitehaven as a brief shakedown leg. Don't rule out a skirmish doen the Irish coast in southerlies, which will afford you a nights rest at Skerries / Dublin before 'tacking' back. Personally, I wouldn't include Pwllheli as it gains no distance from Bardsey and puts you into the corner of Cardigan Bay from where you will have to beat out against prevailing SWerlies.

 

[steve yates]

I've just done this, more or less.
I was trying to get her to Essex from maryport and have only got as far as Milford haven, having left around the 7th, getting there around the 18th. There is a good weather window this weekend which will help.
It's 10 hrs approx to douglas, I would suggest leaving maryport in the dark will be better than coming into douglas in the dark. Go to the battery pier, on the left as you enter the harbour, and tie up there. Forget about the marina, it's far too restrictive in timings, unless you want to spend a few days there, and the waiting pontoon was taken away the day before I arrived
Going to Whitehaven first isn't a daft idea at all, unless you have a good spell of weather you want to make the most of, it also knocks 10 miles or so off your crossing.
Other options are over to Ramsey, then down to st Mary.
From douglas, I took the tide and left at 1am, then nearly blew it by coming into Holyhead bay too close to the skerries, at springs there is a 5knot tide running across the bay, it took me 2 hrs to work into the bay. Either time it better or come in at the western end of the bay, well west of the cardinal bouy. I just had time to fuel up and head back out 30mins before hw to pass the stacks.
As said by a previous poster, leave then. Go close in to them for the easiest water, on no account pass them in wind over tide situations. Once clear of south stack, I headed off down to port dinllaen and dropped anchor there about 3-4pm.
I went outside of Bardsey island, as I had wind over tide. You would then turn for aberystwyth, I went on across cardigan bay to fishguard.
I was singlehanded, and it would have taken me three days like that to Aberystwyth. Plus the one day sitting out winds in douglas I had.

I've seen black delta, she is a cracking looking boat, enjoy.

Ps, if strong easterlies are blowing, either don't go, or go straight for Holyhead.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

+1 for Whitehaven as a brief shakedown leg. Don't rule out a skirmish doen the Irish coast in southerlies, which will afford you a nights rest at Skerries / Dublin before 'tacking' back. Personally, I wouldn't include Pwllheli as it gains no distance from Bardsey and puts you into the corner of Cardigan Bay from where you will have to beat out against prevailing SWerlies.

+1. If you come down close in to the Irish East coast you will find that even in strong westerly wind you will have a relatively flat sea.
Shelter can also be found in Carlingford, Malahide, Drogheda or Poolbeg (Dublin). The first two however, present tidal restrictions. Drogheda and Poolbeg are a long way upriver. Then when you get into the right spot you can have a downwind run or broad reach to your destination.

 

[lpdsn]

+1. If you come down close in to the Irish East coast you will find that even in strong westerly wind you will have a relatively flat sea.
Shelter can also be found in Carlingford, Malahide, Drogheda or Poolbeg (Dublin). The first two however, present tidal restrictions. Drogheda and Poolbeg are a long way upriver. Then when you get into the right spot you can have a downwind run or broad reach to your destination.

I suspect the OP is just interested in getting his boat to Aberystwyth as quickly and as safely as possible. If he looks at a chart he'll see the E coast of Ireland is well out of his way.

Carlingford Cut at entrance can be pretty hairy in onshore weather against the ebb. And it's about an hour up the Lough to the Heath Robinson marina, which ain't as cheap as it looks by a long way.

Drogheda is a bit off-piste and is a commercial harbour not so keen on yachts. And when you get up to the town there are only crumbling quays used by coasters that dry out. Even that one boat kept on a mooring midstream ends up on its side at LWS.

Skerries is a friendly club, but it is a long sail from the IoM for the OP. It is also very exposed if the wind swings round. There's a very good reason why insurance companies are reluctant to insure boats there.

Malahide is also tidal and dangerous in strong onshore winds. Plus plenty of opportunity for the OP to learn how his new boat handles in 3 knots of tide through the marina.

If it were me, I'd just go the direct route and save the E coast of Ireland for next summer's cruise. If it gets up a bit from the SW so that he doesn't fancy Holyhead he can duck down the E coast of Angelsey and enter the Menai Straits to wait for it to die down (Caernarfon bar deserves it's reputation at times but is fine if seas aren't coming in from the W or SW).

 

[LittleSister]

At last she is ready to go.

You won't know whether that's true until you go! I'd strongly recommend a few 'local' trips at first as a shakedown, as suggested in posts 5 & 6.

At the very least make sure you have identified in advance each of the possible bale out places (and their advantages, disadvantages & restrictions), along each day's route, that might be of help if any one of the many things that could go wrong did actually occur.

Have a good trip!

 

[Delta94]

'I'm in a similar boat' - Always wanted to say that

Congratulations on the purchase! And +1 for the shakedown, with the caveat that if you can start with smaller hops, then they are the shakedowns, increasing confidence and distance.

Still, not my choice for this time of year....

As an aside, I was wondering if the OP is aware of the article published in YM January 1980?



Interesting boat name?

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

I suspect the OP is just interested in getting his boat to Aberystwyth as quickly and as safely as possible. If he looks at a chart he'll see the E coast of Ireland is well out of his way.

Carlingford Cut at entrance can be pretty hairy in onshore weather against the ebb. And it's about an hour up the Lough to the Heath Robinson marina, which ain't as cheap as it looks by a long way.

Drogheda is a bit off-piste and is a commercial harbour not so keen on yachts. And when you get up to the town there are only crumbling quays used by coasters that dry out. Even that one boat kept on a mooring midstream ends up on its side at LWS.

Skerries is a friendly club, but it is a long sail from the IoM for the OP. It is also very exposed if the wind swings round. There's a very good reason why insurance companies are reluctant to insure boats there.

Malahide is also tidal and dangerous in strong onshore winds. Plus plenty of opportunity for the OP to learn how his new boat handles in 3 knots of tide through the marina.

If it were me, I'd just go the direct route and save the E coast of Ireland for next summer's cruise. If it gets up a bit from the SW so that he doesn't fancy Holyhead he can duck down the E coast of Angelsey and enter the Menai Straits to wait for it to die down (Caernarfon bar deserves it's reputation at times but is fine if seas aren't coming in from the W or SW).

I did say that Drogheda, Carlingford and Malahide were a bit upstream and that Malahide and Carlingford had tidal issues, but if the OP was using the lee of the Irish coast to make a comfortable journey south with almost no swell and almost negligible tidal currents, the best time to do that would be when the wind was in the west, hence the Malahide entrance would not present problems. All of these ports provide better shelter than Skerries.The strong tide through Malahide Marina can actually make it easier to come alongside at "A" hammerhead. The visitors berths can then be entered at slack water.
Last year Drogheda announced a policy of improving the facilities for visiting yachts and in June 2016 the Irish Cruising Club held a rally there.;
https://afloat.ie/sail/cruising/ite...mes-the-irish-cruising-club-rally-to-drogheda

 

[earlybird]

.
As an aside, I was wondering if the OP is aware of the article published in YM January 1980?
View attachment 66946

Interesting boat name?

And the boat photographed in that article was "Black Badger", even stranger!

 

[lpdsn]

Last year Drogheda announced a policy of improving the facilities for visiting yachts and in June 2016 the Irish Cruising Club held a rally there.;
https://afloat.ie/sail/cruising/ite...mes-the-irish-cruising-club-rally-to-drogheda

Good news. I've said for some time that Drogheda is missing a trick by not encouraging visiting yachts. When does the dredging start?

Still a helluva long way out of the way for the OP though.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

Good news. I've said for some time that Drogheda is missing a trick by not encouraging visiting yachts. When does the dredging start?

Still a helluva long way out of the way for the OP though.

No dredging seems to be intended, but they did inaugurate a dedicated yacht pontoon, with potential for expansion;

https://afloat.ie/port-news/drogheda-port/item/36165-drogheda-port-launches-pier-for-visiting-yachts.

Yes a long detour for the OP, but with a "new-to-him" boat it would be safer to make the passage south, in the likely event of westerly winds, off a weather shore, with its flatter water, putting less strain on hull and rig. Also the tides are much weaker on the western side of the Irish Sea, with no tidal gates to contend with, (except in the event of having to run for shelter in Carlingford or Malahide ) He has allowed ten days for the trip so he's not under time constraints.

 

[lpdsn]

No dredging seems to be intended, but they did inaugurate a dedicated yacht pontoon, with potential for expansion;

https://afloat.ie/port-news/drogheda-port/item/36165-drogheda-port-launches-pier-for-visiting-yachts.

That looks interesting.

Yes a long detour for the OP, but with a "new-to-him" boat it would be safer to make the passage south, in the likely event of westerly winds, off a weather shore, with its flatter water, putting less strain on hull and rig. Also the tides are much weaker on the western side of the Irish Sea, with no tidal gates to contend with, (except in the event of having to run for shelter in Carlingford or Malahide ) He has allowed ten days for the trip so he's not under time constraints.

At the moment the largest gap he has to cross is Douglas to Holyhead, a distance of 50ish miles. The only way he could get to Ireland with shorter hops is around by Peel and Ardglass and the direct route south from Ardglass takes you well offshore anyway. IIRC, Douglas/Peel to Malahide are both in the order of 75 miles or so. Howth to Barmouth was something like 84, and that was through Bardsey Sound.

I've just checked and Wicklow to Aberystwyth is 80ish miles. Any shelter will be gone after the first couple of miles. Once you get south of Lambay/Howth, tides aren't weak on the Irish side and there's the banks to contend with too.

And if he gets stuck with some issue with the boat whilst on this side he'll face extortionate marina prices and getting things bodged by cowboy professionals. He'll be much better off sticking to the Welsh side.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

That looks interesting.



At the moment the largest gap he has to cross is Douglas to Holyhead, a distance of 50ish miles. The only way he could get to Ireland with shorter hops is around by Peel and Ardglass and the direct route south from Ardglass takes you well offshore anyway. IIRC, Douglas/Peel to Malahide are both in the order of 75 miles or so. Howth to Barmouth was something like 84, and that was through Bardsey Sound.

I've just checked and Wicklow to Aberystwyth is 80ish miles. Any shelter will be gone after the first couple of miles. Once you get south of Lambay/Howth, tides aren't weak on the Irish side and there's the banks to contend with too.

And if he gets stuck with some issue with the boat whilst on this side he'll face extortionate marina prices and getting things bodged by cowboy professionals. He'll be much better off sticking to the Welsh side.

I was thinking in terms of the correct strategy for tackling Biscay; stay well offshore, but I've just had a look at where Maryport is, and it's not as far north as I thought! Sticking to the UK coast would be much shorter but the correct weather window should be chosen, so as not to risk any gear failure on a lee shore.

 

[MarcJ]

For the tidal gates I've found this spreadsheet very useful - download it from here: http://www.nwvyc.org.uk/Orr_Tides.html
Also beware that access to Pwhelli is limited at low water - they don't publish a minimum depth for the channel, so may be worth checking with them if not coming in on high tide +/- 2hrs.
If the weather is fairly settled I would anchor at Bardsey Island - it's a tight anchorage, but the holding is good and it's a lovely spot! It's a long way from there to Pwhelli and then back out again. From Bardsey you can make a b line for Aberystwyth.

 

[ghostlymoron]

You need to do a bit of a wiggle through The Patches reef though.
Pwllheli is a bit of a diversion I agree but it depends if the OP is happy with anchoring overnight.

For the tidal gates I've found this spreadsheet very useful - download it from here: http://www.nwvyc.org.uk/Orr_Tides.html
Also beware that access to Pwhelli is limited at low water - they don't publish a minimum depth for the channel, so may be worth checking with them if not coming in on high tide +/- 2hrs.
If the weather is fairly settled I would anchor at Bardsey Island - it's a tight anchorage, but the holding is good and it's a lovely spot! It's a long way from there to Pwhelli and then back out again. From Bardsey you can make a b line for Aberystwyth.