Route Check - Portishead to Swansea to Milford

[vodzurk]

Hi All,

So with the latest weather driving us crackers at work, me and the missus have decided to go on our biggest trip yet... Portishead to Swansea to Milford (and back). A day per leg... 4 days overall if weather holds.

So... my question... do these two routes look about right?

1. Portishead to Swansea leg
2. Swansea to Milford leg

Thanks in advance for your input... we depart in about 18 hours as I type, so am expecting non-stop rush between now and then.

Additional ramblings for those interested...

We'll be heading out on Tuesday morning, aiming for the 0700h lock... earlier if we can manage... this should give us 4 hours of ebb. Once in the vicinity, we'll anchor out the low tide for a few hours. Similar plan for the next leg, though I imagine the strength of the ebb will be lesser... but we don't wanna be punching against it.

Will check oil + coolant on the day. Engine is running a little hot (75% over in green instead of 50%, but we still got 25% of the green left)... I imagine this was down to it being hot as heck today. Would running the engine bay extractor fan help circulate air/chill the engine bay in this extreme weather we've currently got?

Any sections where we go close to "the green" on the chart, before any going over it, I'll check how much water is expected (for example whilst anchoring outside Swansea or Tenby).

Backups... yep... we got lots. Aux engine + 12L tank. 2x DSC radios (fixed+handheld). 2 phones. Navionics on tablet + phone, region downloaded to both, and both with GPS not AGPS. Paper charts (printed) in plastic folder. Friends who are gonna ring coastguard if we don't report in by a certain time (time TBC).

 

[Gwylan]

Good luck. Only ever sailed it.

Cannot comment on the motor bits. We just take our average speed at 75% of our rated speed. This means we can calculate a likely duration and do the best departure for a desired arrival time.

Means we have an average of about 4,5 knots. Imagine yours is considerably more.

I would suggest rather than going into Swansea that you push on a bit and anchor in Oxwich Bay. Should be idyllic. Saves all the lost time getting into and out of Swansea. Also Swansea do work sort of office hours which is a pain. Just been through it to get in here.

Just plan your arrival at Milford to be with a rising tide. Again you could try the pontoon at Dale and skip being "trapped" in Milford.

 

[Gwylan]

Doh! Just realised I can open your route plan.
But I cannot get Navionics to tell me the parameters you have put in. Notably boat speed.

Have you tried theeir Automatic route. Need to check it carefully, but gives you a great starting point.

It did try and put us under a 6 m bridge coming out if Cork, last week. We need 15m of air draught!

Not clear why you have so many waypoints and are not doing some longer legs in straight lines.

Additionally you could stop on the visitors moorings at Tenby if you want to take break.

 

[vodzurk]

Thanks for your advice! .

Our cruising speed if the water stays flat should be ~17 knots for max efficiency, so should only take 3-4 hours

Sadly, Swansea looks like it's gonna be essential, same with Milford... our tank is only 150L, so gotta fuel up midway as each leg looks like it'll take 50-66% of the tank by our recent test.

Also, Dale looks like it dries out... which we're avoiding.

Oxwich Bay does look nice... have planned for us to go have a look .

We've never overnighted at anchor. Maybe we will sometime though!

 

[vodzurk]

Yep, have seen the auto route, but kinda prefer to mark it myself. I try putting waypoints near markers so there's something visible when we adjust course. Also lots of them to keep us away from obstructions, spoiling grounds, etc, so the missus can just follow the line if she drives.

I think Tenby is gonna be the highlight for me. I may try and talk the wife into mooring there for an extra night on the way back if conditions look to be holding.

The longer legs... I just prefer to be close-ish to shore. Not sure why. I start getting nervous if I can't figure out how far land is with my eyeballs .

 

[Gwylan]

Well a bit different. Not sure I could cope with that much excitement. Understand your need to fuel at Swansea now.

We do 5 kn and use 2 litres per hour. You pays yer money you gets your choice.

I meant the pontoon at Dale that is out in the water. We were on it on Friday night. We draw 1,2m and have never had problems there. Position, in the vicinity of 51,42.473 N 5,09.407W. it is marked on the charts and Navionics.

Let your nerves make you cautious, rather than afraid. I get nervous too ��

 

[oldmanofthehills]

Thanks for your advice! .

Our cruising speed if the water stays flat should be ~17 knots for max efficiency, so should only take 3-4 hours

Sadly, Swansea looks like it's gonna be essential, same with Milford... our tank is only 150L, so gotta fuel up midway as each leg looks like it'll take 50-66% of the tank by our recent test. Also, Dale looks like it dries out... which we're avoiding. Oxwich Bay does look nice... have planned for us to go have a look . We've never overnighted at anchor. Maybe we will sometime though!

Dale outer pontoon never dries so avoids anchoring, however with your speed through water you can punch the tide to Milford Haven as you need to go there for fuel. Milford Sound is a fine place to explore with fuel at Neyland and Lawrenny also. The best chandlers in Milford area is Dale Marine, confusingly at Neyland, if you need anything while there.

The trick to anchoring overnight is simply somewhere sheltered and usually an anchor that's bigger than supplied with your boat. No cqrs or rubbish stuff, I would suggest a nice Bruce copy from F4 or similar perhaps 7.5 kg for a 3 ton boat, and until you are sure of it, look out of boat every couple of hours to check you haven't dragged or set chart plotter alarm. Mobos can roll more than yachts at anchor but rolling can be ignorable once you are used to it and you sleep through it.

Enjoy the trip

 

[Big Andy]

The last two hours of flood in Milford is free flow so plenty of time to get in and fuel up then back out without having to use the lock. You may be inclined to stop anyway and take a well earned breather with a beer and meal as a reward then Milford Marina is perfect with many eating houses in the area.

I'm the last boat (Pemva) on the East side of G pontoon if your about, drop in and say hi, there's always a cold one at the ready in the fridge.

 

[tico]

Just a thought, the tides are building towards springs this week so I'd advise that you keep well offshore at St Govans..... trust me, you don't want to be caught in the overfalls there!

 

[vodzurk]

Well, that didn't quite go to plan.

One popped-off alternator belt, overheating and coolant everywhere... Limped into Swansea on Aux with 10 hours later.

Journey over until we can find an engineer .

 

[Gwylan]

That's a real shame. Hope you get sorted

 

[Sneds]

Swansea, well done
Thought you might have bailed and stopped at Cardiff!
Must have been a nightmare on your aux engine, at what, 4kts?
Hope the sea was calm for you
Good luck with getting the boat sorted and well done on the trip

Cheers

 

[vodzurk]

That's a real shame. Hope you get sorted

Cheers... Given that it took us 5 months to get a service, I think we're doomed for 2018, though gonna try every place I can find!

 

[vodzurk]

Swansea, well done
Thought you might have bailed and stopped at Cardiff!
Must have been a nightmare on your aux engine, at what, 4kts?
Hope the sea was calm for you
Good luck with getting the boat sorted and well done on the trip

Cheers

Not sure how I deleted my message... Thankfully the back button allowed me to copy it again...

Nahhh, no bailing! Was going perfect until the belt went! Shoulda got here in 3.5 hours with plenty of dawdling @ 20mph (20 as a fuel efficient speed). Was quite nice to see just how big the waves could be and stay on the plane... I think today was probably the best we've ever driven the boat until it went pear shaped.

6hp aux averaged 2mph on GPS. Seemed to be doing 4mph, but the waves spun us so frequently, navionics was saying ~2.2.

Sea was fine (as we learnt) for planning. Wasn't fine for aux... Which kept popping out and activating it's own cut off every 30 seconds. Think that slowed us then considerably... 7 hours on Aux sucks. However, it was calm enough to actually get us somewhere. The original idea was to have it to stop us going where we don't want... So nice in a way. Oddly easy to park with it too.

My knees are toast. Shorts+sitting on swim platform (harnessed - not falling off when engine knackered!) for 7 hours in the sun... I'm really not looking forward to tomorrow! The situation had me forget something so basic as keeping sun-tan lotioned.

I must say though, the coastguard were lovely. Rather than put a pan pan in, I just rang them. They kept tabs on us every 30 minutes, and left all decisions to us. I think they also dispatched an RNLI boat from Swansea, which lurked just far enough away to just about make out that it was orange and likely a lifeboat. When we got 1 mile to Swansea, after watching us for 3+ hours on the horizon, they shot past. It was nice that they had our back, even if they didn't say it.

On the other hand... Coastguard told us that Port Talbot industrial area told us to... Well, go away. They refused to help even we ducked in, stressed that we had limited aux fuel.

Rambling. Wife has found the much needed facilitates so i have a free moment

 

[oldmanofthehills]

Well, that didn't quite go to plan. One popped-off alternator belt, overheating and coolant everywhere... Limped into Swansea on Aux with 10 hours later. Journey over until we can find an engineer .

Hard luck there. If its any consolation similar happened to me on my first trip to Milford, except it was cooling system blocked and then uncooled exhaust melted the plastic exhaust water trap. So after freeing the blockage so engine cooled we limped into harbour with engine compartment filling with exhaust, water and steam and crew member pumping bilges madly.

Long trip expose weakness and you get more alert to issue and know what spares to use.

 

[vodzurk]

My phone is weird.

If I edit a message to correct spelling, it deletes it.

Or engine is fixed! Joe at Network Yacht Brokers came and fitted a new alternator belt and re-tensioned it for us (this was the bit I couldn't do, he did it with a crow bar). He gave us the assessment that it seems fine.

Gonna give it a 20 mins run on the pontoon, then 20 mins in Swansea bay, then 20 mins on the plane... and aim to be out at 7am .

As I type, weather changing to rain tomorrow... Dammit!

 

[Sneds]

Good news!

Interested in what happened at Port Talbot, where did you break down?

 

[vodzurk]

Broke down maybe 5 miles past Portcawl... But tide was pushing us towards Swansea, so made call to push that way on aux.

We limped in to the industrial part of Port Talbot, and the coastguard tried for an hour to get in touch with them. Their response was that they refused to let us berth. In fairness, there was 2 spots, but made for cargo ships, so it'd affect their business (one was loading as we watched). I think if it was life or death the coastguard would have overruled them, but it wasn't.

The marina was around the other side of the industrial one, but nobody was answering on their number... Plus we've never picked up a bouy, nevermind whilst on aux and a drying river, so wasn't too happy with that.

Aux seems to push us @ 4mph, but the waves constantly turning us dropped our average down to 2-2.5mph. I think we were at slack water when we started the aux, and once we excited Talbot, the tide was pushing us in so did half the work for us and kept us safe. All the time we could just make out a large lifeboat on the horizon, which we think was keeping an eye on us just in case.

The amount of fuel we had used, and 5L spare in a Jerry, we calculated to be more than enough to push us over to Swansea from Port Talbot... Just 3-4 hours of it.

Then Tawe Lock was ready for us (probably coastguard warning them) and Swansea Marina have an arrivals pontoon to rest on right around the corner, where we left it for an hour to get a drink before parking.

Nothing but lovely and helpful people so far. The guys at the marina have been great. The coastguard were utterly lovely, though refused to recommend what to do, as they're probably not allowed to. They did hint at the fuel calculation and tide direction though, which was enough for us to decide to make a run for Swansea.

And now... in a few mins, we head back or, just to test it in the bay. Hopefully it's all good .

 

[vodzurk]

And the test in the bay for an hour was successful! Hopefully weather is acceptable for Milford (+Tenby) tomorrow morning.

Currently waiting 5 mins outside a petrol station with a trolley full of Jerry's. Apparently in 5 mins, my wife will be a different customer... Which helps when you need 100L.

 

[Sneds]

Bloody hell, sounds epic
10/10 to you guys!