Isle of Man

[Guest]

I will be calling in (weather permitting) at the Isle of Man at the end of March to fill up with diesel on the way to Wales. As I have never been there before can anyone suggest the best place to undertake this and anything else that should be noted. Many thanks.

 

[Guest]

There are no quayside pumps at any IOM harbour. You have to make arrangements with the Harbour Master for a tanker to call. At Port St Mary its a lorry with a plastic tank.

 

[Guest]

Diesel is not a problem on I.O.M. Like many fishing harbours its normal to colect from a tanker. If your lucky there will be one filling the fishing boats otherwise phone for one asap. Or you may loose a day.

Stop at Port St Marys or Douglas. One has a pontoon but cant remember which.

Sea Area Mull of Galloway. North of I.O.M to the mainland.

Be carefull of this whole area.

Admiralty charts state dangerous to small boats this includes a mine sweeper or Distroyer !!

I read the last bit after my first time round.

Very heavy overfalls in some condtions, watch for tides especialy wind over tide and sea conditions.

Probabley easier to go round the west side of the island.

Otherwise its a dodal.

Other suggestion is Strangford Lock Ireland. Its alot more fun and the scenery is fantastic. Talk to Dermot who runs the M.O.T Ferries (or used to). He'll find you some diesel even if he's to siphon the ferry!! Then cruise down to to Wicklow for the night.Then few miles to Arklow for cheapest diesel around.

Soppose it depends where your going in Wales though. Pwhelli 65 miles straight across.

 

[Guest]

I agree with Haydn, I would miss the IOM and (if this is KIP Bill) I would suggest going down the East Coast of Ireland. Prevailing winds and depth give generally a much smoother ride and the scenary is better. Kip - Bangor circa 90 miles, diesel at normal marina prices. Going down East Coast, Ardglass inner harbour (only at high tide - tie up at marina if you have to wait) - Garage across the road will sell you diesel at farmer prices - when I was last there, he attached a hose to his pump with jubilee clips and across to the boat. it did'nt turn out much cheaper as the old Irish fishermen drank all my whisky! Strangford I have not tried for diesel but try the Portaferry Hotel for seafood - brilliant! Hop is probably then Strangford - Conwy or Liverpool or even Phwelli. Watch the overfalls at the mouth of Strangford loch. If you are trying the Menai straights be very careful, its tricky for the uninitiated.

Nick

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the info guys, much appriciated. I am actually going to sail my boat to Southampton from the Clyde. There it is being shipped out to the Med for the summer.I might be better then to make the first stop at Holyhead and miss out I.O.M.Any further info gratefully received. Or go down the Ireland coast? Or not go for the experience and adventure at all -just put it on a low loader?

 

[Guest]

Depends on your range. But IOM (or pass it) Holly Head is the quicker route. Fill up at the ships refueling dock- very cheap!, Fishgard or milford Haven, Padstow. Round lands End, then its all down hill and easy to Southhampton

 

[Guest]

Thanks H, Sounds easy when you put it like that. I have no idea of the exact range but I recon it should be about 240 miles so I should make Holyhead alright.I might take a couple of 2x25 litres for piece of mind.Obviously if the weather is not to great we will sit it out and wait.I have a Fairline Phantom 38 with twin 370 hp which will cruise at 25 knots. The tanks are twin 200 gallon.Where will we pick you up as our technical adviser?

 

[Guest]

Dont know much about technical!!!

Just used to keep my last boat in Wales and did a fair bit of Ireland, Scotland, I.O.M.

Now In Plymouth and done Bristol Chanel and most of the south coast.

So I've covered your route a few times, all be it not in one go.

Important bit is to know the safe bolt holes.

Get good pilot books of the areas.

I live in Lancashire and keep the boat in Plymouth at the moment, so you could give me a lift down there ??

Just call in about Blackpool-ish and pick me up. !!

By the way. Whats the cost and method of shiping to the Med and where to exactly.

Might chuck my boat on a ship and come with you.

Regards

Haydn.

 

[Guest]

I like that idea too, although going down through the canals might be more fun. Bill, with twin 370's, to be honest a couple of spare 5 gal cans ain't going to offer a lot of comfort. They will probably just slop and smell. Just be sure of your range. At a 20knt cruise, I would guess you are looking at 20 gal per hour but it is a guess. If you allow say a 20% safety margin, range is 400 gals x 80% = 320 / 20= say 15 hours @ 20knt = just over 300 miles. Thats enough for Holyhead in one hop just about but for most of us thats a bit long, even with free supplies of Scottish Leader! I still think down the East Coast of Ireland is better and hop across from Strangford or even Ardglass.

Meantime, if you are looking for a day out of a sunny weekend in Scotland when your own boat is in the Med, let me know. I will be happy to accomodate, even if you will have to put up with a down market older vessel (but with character!).

Nick

 

[Guest]

Hi H, I am shipping it from Southampton to Palma, then someone will pick it up there and take it to Mahon in Menorca. I used to have a smaller one there about 20 years ago in my mad youth and it was a single diesel Fairline Mirage. We sailed that from Scotland, through the French Canals and over to Menorca with one compass.There was no GPS and stuff in those days and with only the one engine it did have it's scarey moments.The cost for this one is about £4500 to £5000 all in but I will be doing some promotional work with it and I am putting in with Mike Ryan at Kingfisher Yachts (www.menorcacharters.com) who already has it on his site for charter.Why don't you just sell your one and use mine? You can hop on a plane to Palma no bother these days if you cannot find a direct flight to Mahon and it is only £20 from island to island.Tempting eh? You should do the same Nick.It makes "Man Overboard" a joy and under 40 feet you don't need the depth readout as you can see the bottom. Best fun of all is going down to SEE that the anchor is lying properly.No rushing down to check the boat and rushing back for your tea and with the phone on board you are not as far away as you think.Going for Holyhead then with Nick's calculations.That's QUITE near Blackpool H, remembering we will have loads of free booze on board and I don't even drink. (Well not much, we do promotions for it).

 

[Guest]

Dont Know where Nicks got the three hundred miles From. Maybe its the Whiskey!!

. Mind you he is an accountant so anythings posible

Dont remember it being that far though.

Thanks for the offer. Very tempting. I'm sick of the snow.

 

[Guest]

Bill Have a look at Coliholic for message.

 

[Guest]

Excuse me granpa! The three hundred miles was a safe range for boat in question, not the distance from Kip to Holyhead which I would reckon going down the West side of IoM to be about 220-230 miles - still a bigger leg than most people want to do in one. With a break, Kip - Strangford is about 125 and Strangford - Holyhead about 100.

So there!

I agree about Mediterranean. I have chartered boats there in the past. The coast line of the old Yugoslavia, now Croatia is just fabulous - the scenery is like the Scottish West coast only with 85% temperatures and like the Balearics, you can see the anchor hit the bottom 30 ft down. Good network of marinas too.

A single engined Mirage to Majorca eh! I had a Mirage once with twin petrol outdrives and, apart from lengthening my arms by several inches carrying 5 gallon petrol cans, it was an OK boat but short on range. KIP - Campbeltown and back via Kyles of Bute did for most of a tank. She was also pretty uncomfortable in any kind of sea - slammed a lot. I suppose, though, a hundred gal tank and a single diesel is a different proposition in terms of range. Anyway, this is the man who can't find Southhampton so getting to Majorca without nav aids must have been pure luck - are you sure it was'nt Ibiza?

Nick

 

[Guest]

Yes Nick,I remember my Fairline Mirage exactly in that frame of mind.The fact you had petrol engines at least meant that you would go up on the plane.I never had a "Slamming" problem as our one never went that fast.Our one diesel job only got up there twice in it's life that I remember, once on a flat calm day with the wind behind it and another when it had just been antifouled with no water and almost empty of fuel.It was such a shock we just hung on and went silent.The rest of the time it would plod along at about 8 knots and go up a wave, over the top and down the other side. The engine noise would also go up and down with where you were on the wave.My friend gave me his Princess 38 (old type)to take out one day and I could not believe that when you pushed the throttles forward, it rose up above the waves as well as going over the top of them.Anyway, on going through the French Canals, the mirage was great and was an ideal boat for that purpose. When we came out at the Med however, the 8 knots had dropped to 6 and after checking everything we could not find the cause.As we looked out to sea we said that if we missed Menorca with our compass bearings then we would see nothing until we hit Africa. No we won't said my pal because the fuel will have run out long before that he had calculated. We were spot on though and as soon as we bought a new fuel filter in Mahon,the engine returned to it's mind blowing 8 knots.The trip down south is off anyway as after talking with Haydn and my other mutinous crew we have decided that this is not the time of year to play at Captain Pugwash and as we have a deadline to meet for the second half of the journey, we have arranged the very helpful John Shepard to charge it down on his Low Loader.As from the 1st April therefore, we are available for short practice runs on your machine, free booze brought along as long as you do not practice "Man Overboard" proceedures under any conditions where the water is brown in colour.

 

[Guest]

Sorry for the delay in replying - I have been off for some sun and sangria therapy in Tenerife (our annual late winter trip).

You are welcome any time you want to have a go of a nice weekend. I've got two new propshafts so if you can find any paying passengers...!!! (that was a joke Haydn or anyone else who may wish to comment on insurance etc. etc.)

Oh well. Don't be late for Mr Sheppard. I turned up at the marina when he delivered my Mirage. I was there at 7.45am only to get a row because he had arrived at around 06.00! I don't do that early!

Nick