Major Catastrophe
New member
Well I waited and I bimbled, but she never arrived. Stood up again!
Following Kawasaki and JamesTT's post about the 'cruise' to Porth Dinllaen, I pressed ganged a crew, prepared ship and was in the straits waiting for the Conwy crowd to arrive.
It was at this point that my plans fell into disarray as there were innumerable boats making their way from East to West and I had no idea on what I was looking for.
Unfortunately, Kawasaki had to withdraw from the cruise, as the day before he had hit a rock or object, with which had not had a previous acquaintance, so was ‘hors de combat’.
Without my guide and mentor, I was left floundering around the straits hoping to spot a forum burgee or just someone who would look me in the eye.
Not to let the plan go completely unfulfilled, we decided to press on regardless, which was to be my longest voyage to date – 20 miles there and 20 miles back. I had loads of fuel, working VHF, charts and a plotter and I knew that the mobile phone would always be working as the signals from both the mainland and Anglesey were very strong.
At 4,000 revs and around 14 - 17 knots, we headed up the straits and out through the heads at Fort Belan. The tide was near the top, so I set off across the sands, through the trench and avoiding the long leg following the buoys. Depth was never below four metres and eventually we made it out from the ‘shelf’ and started the long transit to Porth Dinllaen in 16 metres of water.
Landfall was interesting, as I had never been here before and it is a surprise to round the corner and find the extraordinary site of a pub and a few houses isolated in a little bay and packed with boats and people crowed on the beach.
It was impossible to spot anyone in particular, so we tied up to a mooring and made a nice cup of tea, enjoying the sunshine and the boating activity.
Suddenly, most of the boats weighed anchor and started making their way past us out to the two ball perch, just off the lifeboat station.
I realised that this was the Pwllheli cruise that we were meant to be meeting with JamesTT. I cast off and made my way out to the raft, hailed a passing rib and asked if they were out of Pwllheli. He pointed out a rib from Conwy, but he declined to speak to me and as I couldn’t see JamesTT’s La Traviata, I decided it was time to head back home.
It was very hazy and to landward, but out at sea the visibility was very good.
It was a smoother ride on the way back until we got to the Caernarfon Bar, where on the falling tide; we had a nasty wind over tide swell. It took much concentration and throttle work to keep everything straight, but we made the ‘gate’ and followed the buoys back to Fort Belan, encountering only one other ‘nasty’ bit adjacent to the wreck.
Once back in the straights, we fell in with an Orkney and another small boat out from Dinorwic and raced each other back.
I am very pleased with my efforts even though every bone in body aches.
Of course, nothing is ever event free with me and my next post will tell the story of my catastrophe, which happened in the last few feet before entering the harbour.
Following Kawasaki and JamesTT's post about the 'cruise' to Porth Dinllaen, I pressed ganged a crew, prepared ship and was in the straits waiting for the Conwy crowd to arrive.
It was at this point that my plans fell into disarray as there were innumerable boats making their way from East to West and I had no idea on what I was looking for.
Unfortunately, Kawasaki had to withdraw from the cruise, as the day before he had hit a rock or object, with which had not had a previous acquaintance, so was ‘hors de combat’.
Without my guide and mentor, I was left floundering around the straits hoping to spot a forum burgee or just someone who would look me in the eye.
Not to let the plan go completely unfulfilled, we decided to press on regardless, which was to be my longest voyage to date – 20 miles there and 20 miles back. I had loads of fuel, working VHF, charts and a plotter and I knew that the mobile phone would always be working as the signals from both the mainland and Anglesey were very strong.
At 4,000 revs and around 14 - 17 knots, we headed up the straits and out through the heads at Fort Belan. The tide was near the top, so I set off across the sands, through the trench and avoiding the long leg following the buoys. Depth was never below four metres and eventually we made it out from the ‘shelf’ and started the long transit to Porth Dinllaen in 16 metres of water.
Landfall was interesting, as I had never been here before and it is a surprise to round the corner and find the extraordinary site of a pub and a few houses isolated in a little bay and packed with boats and people crowed on the beach.
It was impossible to spot anyone in particular, so we tied up to a mooring and made a nice cup of tea, enjoying the sunshine and the boating activity.
Suddenly, most of the boats weighed anchor and started making their way past us out to the two ball perch, just off the lifeboat station.
I realised that this was the Pwllheli cruise that we were meant to be meeting with JamesTT. I cast off and made my way out to the raft, hailed a passing rib and asked if they were out of Pwllheli. He pointed out a rib from Conwy, but he declined to speak to me and as I couldn’t see JamesTT’s La Traviata, I decided it was time to head back home.
It was very hazy and to landward, but out at sea the visibility was very good.
It was a smoother ride on the way back until we got to the Caernarfon Bar, where on the falling tide; we had a nasty wind over tide swell. It took much concentration and throttle work to keep everything straight, but we made the ‘gate’ and followed the buoys back to Fort Belan, encountering only one other ‘nasty’ bit adjacent to the wreck.
Once back in the straights, we fell in with an Orkney and another small boat out from Dinorwic and raced each other back.
I am very pleased with my efforts even though every bone in body aches.
Of course, nothing is ever event free with me and my next post will tell the story of my catastrophe, which happened in the last few feet before entering the harbour.
