Suggestions for five days early August out of Swansea?

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tatali0n

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I normally sail our Griffon with Dad, but he's away for the first week of a fortnight off work that I have in early August. However, he's said he's more than happy for me to take Calstar out myself whilst he's away.

My (mostly non sailing) wife has just suggested that she'd quite like to come sailing with me, so to my delight I discover I suddenly have five days sailing when I thought I'd actually be on gardening duty, trying to win brownie points for as much time away the following week once Dad gets back....

On the odd occasion she's been out with us before, she's proven she doesn't get seasick, but otherwise doesn't know a sheet from a cleat and isn't that mobile, so I'll essentially be single-handed.

I've got a little over a thousand miles in Calstar, so that doesn't bother me too much, though the close handling in locks and marinas is a bit of a worry, as Dad normally handles the helm in those situations so I can do all the necessary jumping around and fending off. However, those thousand miles of port hopping around the Bristol Channel, Day Skipper ticket, Powerboat Instructor's ticket, I should be okay if I take it slow.

So background out of the way (and apologies for the waffle), anybody got any suggestions as to what I should do with those five days? Calstar is currently in Swansea, and needs to be put back there once I'm done. I quite fancy Tenby, have always wanted to visit Lundy, and we both have friends in Appledore (assuming I can work out the tides and approaches for the Bidford bar), so it would be quite novel to visit them by boat for a change rather than via the M5 :)

Otherwise, I have a blank canvas. I figured if I'm essentially managing the boat on my own, anchoring or swinging on visitor moorings is probably easier than managing locks, pontoons and marinas. Being a Westerly Griffon, she does take the ground very happily.

Suggestions would be very welcome.
 
I would think the possibilities are endless! We've got ten days 'childless' from the first weekend of August, when our son is going on holiday with his grandparents, so we're going to go (weather permitting) from Swansea to Dale via Tenby. Appartently there are 12 visitor buoys in Tenby suitable for boats of about the size of yours and mine. We had a couple of evenings in Dale YC (visiting by land) a few weeks ago, great food and atmosphere and lots of buoys to pick up there too. You can certainly fill five days in the Milford area and it's fairly hassle free sailing, particularly inside the haven if the weather isn't great. A boat that can dry out would be ideal for exploring the upper reaches of the Cleddau.

If the weather's really decent I suppose you could do a cruise around the English coast (Lundy/Padstow perhaps?/Bude if its still accessible/Appledore) but it's more exposed to bad weather.

If the missus isn't really a sailor it might be as well to consider the odd pontoon, even if it's just the floating ones say at Dale and Saundersfoot, so she can get off the boat without immediately having to get into a dinghy. I reckon if you can manage the marina/Tawe locks at Swansea you can manage any, because they are certainly more difficult to get through than the ones at Cardiff/Portishead/Milford. Consider visting Neyland marina- this has pontoons and full facilities to give the crew a proper break, but no locks. It's also part of the Transeurope scheme so you will get a 50% discount if you get Portishead to issue you with a Transeurope card (free).
 
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Wow! How much encouraging do you need? SWIMBO wants to sail and doesn't get sick! Get out there for gods sake! There are loads of blokes who will be totally jealous of you. From Swansea in five days, Lundy, Ilfracombe, Clovelly, the Haven and Tenby! Maybe get your Dad to join you somewhere so SWIMBO can continue to enjoy the sailing. It could change your life!
Allan
 
Haha. It is part of the retirement plan, though I haven't necessarily mentioned this to her yet. "Wants to sail" might be pushing it, but doesn't object too much to the idea and wants to spend some time away with me. I'm absolutely not complaining. In our case 'childless' is that the kids are old enough to stay at home and look after the dogs (the latter too big and too many to fit on a Griffon), the real constraint to SWMBO sailing with me is she works shifts through the week, and our time off rarely coincides.

As for encouragement, next to none, only ideas, though I am slightly spooked at the idea of handling the boat essentially on my own in the close quarters of lock and marina, though I know there's no reason why I shouldn't be just fine :)

Dad wants the boat back in Swansea for the Saturday, so actually it's five days away with the other half and then Saturday day sailing out in Swansea Bay with her, Dad and the friend he's taking away for the week we get to babysit the boat. It's been a long year with very little time off so far, so can't wait.

Maybe Lundy, Appledore (instead of Ilfracombe, was only there with Dad Saturday), Clovelly (hadn't thought of that, thanks Allan), Tenby then back to Swansea, weather permitting? Or perhaps Tenby, a couple of days in the Haven, Lundy, then back to Swansea perhaps? Or perhaps skip Lundy, as I suspect that's more for me than her, and take her to Ilfracombe anyway, as it is a lovely harbour, and one of the few places down that end of the Channel I'm now familiar with.

So many choices, so little time :)
 
Some great suggestions, allmost has me looking to buy a sail boat!
Sounds like you'll have a great five days, I must get round to Tenby one day, anyone know of a planing flybrige mobo that'll take the ground?
 
5 Days how about going further afield. Pick the right weather and the crossing over to Ireland especially crossing at night can be great dun laoghaire is easy to get into no locks just plenty of space to get yourself onto a pontoon
 
Sarh Dee said:
5 Days how about going further afield. Pick the right weather and the crossing over to Ireland especially crossing at night can be great dun laoghaire is easy to get into no locks just plenty of space to get yourself onto a pontoon
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Not with five days and a Griffon......

Try Pembrokeshire, anchor off Caldy then go into Tenby, then either Saundersfoot or down to Milford Haven or cross to Ilfracombe.
 
Sarh Dee said:
5 Days how about going further afield. Pick the right weather and the crossing over to Ireland especially crossing at night can be great dun laoghaire is easy to get into no locks just plenty of space to get yourself onto a pontoon
Click to expand...

Sounds like heaven. Although we push to get an average of 4kts out of Calstar if we don't have the Bristol Channel tide behind us to push us along, so I think we'd probably need ten days rather than the five I have to guarantee getting there and back.

That said, if I manage not to put the wife off there's always next year :D
 
Sarh Dee said:
5 Days how about going further afield. Pick the right weather and the crossing over to Ireland especially crossing at night can be great dun laoghaire is easy to get into no locks just plenty of space to get yourself onto a pontoon
Click to expand...

As others have said not with 5 days available. just for info Dublin Bay is something like 165Nm from Swansea. at 4kn that's 41hrs non-stop, one way. He'd be sailing for four days to have a night on the guinness, good as it is it's a bit of an ask!
 
bitbaltic said:
As others have said not with 5 days available. just for info Dublin Bay is something like 165Nm from Swansea. at 4kn that's 41hrs non-stop, one way. He'd be sailing for four days to have a night on the guinness, good as it is it's a bit of an ask!
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I did Dublin to Weston mud in 36 hrs sailing last year.
 
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