Richie Lord

For once this year on a Wednesday evening the forecast was good for sailing. 10 to 15kt NNW winds stayed constant during the race. Initially we had problems with the double line Code Zero halyard which kept on twisting above the head. So we were a bit behind our planned time away from the mooring. 5 yachts approached the start line for 18:35 with Red Eye, Houdini Aqualibre and FlairIV all clear over the line. Avoiding the wind shadow of the breakwater east of the knuckle Houdini and FlairIV kept a course further south but as Houdini was pushing FlairIV off course we slowed to turn close round her stern. Now in clear wind we overtook Houdini and battled with Red Eye as she overtook us at the Clipera mark. With a couple of onboard issues FlairIV was 3rd as she rounded Meath and with more spinnaker issues lost a lot of ground down to the Penrhos mark. 2 ½ minutes separated the first 3 yachts over the line with Aqualibre and Summer Wine some 40 minutes behind. A great evening race, our thanks to Race Officer Dawn.

Wind forecast was for very light winds from the NE. As we set off there was very little wind until we got clear of the breakwater. Once out in the bay we had 7 - 10kts and sailed over to Clipera before tacking to go far enough north to make our planned anchoring point under the cliffs at Church Bay. so a leisurely lunch at anchor watching the considerable numbers on the beach. Next we inflated the tender, which hasn't been used so far this year but the old outboard refused to start so I went for a row to investigate the rocks breaking the surface to the south of our anchoring point. Back onboard we tethered the tender and raised the sails to sail back downwind. Soon however the wind died away and, as we needed to get back ashore by 18:00, we motored back into the harbour. While we had the opportunity Richie and Sean put markers at 5m intervals on the anchor chain.

2025-07-05 Cruise along the coastline in Holyhead Bay I went to Flair IV for around 12:15 and sorted out a few items, including new clips for the halyards at the mast base, before the crew arrived about 13:20. The weather was bright with 16kt to 20kt WSW winds. As we discussed the plan for the afternoon we had lunch, once again supplemented by Tess’s very tasty pulses with a variety of other inputs. After clearing away lunch the crew removed the covers and prepared the sails whilst I made a final check on the rotation of the propeller shaft running in forward and reverse gear. We left the mooring with the 2 reefs in the mainsail and deployed the jib behind the main as we sailed down wind towards the Aluminium Jetty. After checking with Port Control Sean was on the helm to get us out towards Clipera on the far side of the TSZ, while I showed Tess how to remove the log paddle wheel unit to clean it as it had not been recording our boat speed for a couple of weeks. The unit was covered in tiny shrimps which had completely seized the rotor. After cleaning and re-installing the Water Speed Display immediately started showing 8 to 9 kts as we approached the end of the Aluminium Jetty. With the flood tide starting at 13:30 we had decided to just go for a sail in the bay and come back close to the shore line near Church Bay. As we approached the TSZ the Irish Ferries Fast Cat made her passage in to the Ferry Port but our passage was not disrupted as we sailed behind her as she entered the port. During the return to Holyhead a small tear in the old genoa was noticed which got worse as we entered the New Harbour area Another great day sail in some strong but very acceptable winds.

A beautiful evening with clear skies and steady F4-5 W winds. A good turnout of 6 yachts. The race was complicated by the squib flees rounding the Clipera mark at the same time as the offshore fleet but in the opposite direction! Then, due to the continued closure of Terminal 3, the Irish Ferries left terminal 5 and the Stenna ship entered the port just as the racers were sailing across the port entrance. Our thanks go to the ferry skipper’s consideration and to Holyhead Port Control. All in all a great event after a long wait for good sailing weather!

After lunch we decided that we should raise the main with both reefs but use the full jib, this worked well as we headed back across the northern coastline of Ynys Mȏn on a fetch. Fairly soon we saw Summer Wine struggling to make as well to windward as we were able to. We managed to sail in a single leg from Middle Mouse all the way out to a suitable point to take, near Langon Ridge, to successfully make it all the way to Meath and then Clipera judging the situation perfectly to tack and clear the stern of Stena Adventurer as we crossed back into the New Harbour and back onto our mooring. It was an interesting sail showing the crew the benefits of understanding the tidal currents as they change across the coastal areas of Ynys Mȏn.

Borth Wen (The brickworks) I forgot to start the recording until we were out in the bay, again! With the morning light ssw winds forecast to increase by 11:30 the crew, Tess, Richie Sean and myself prepared the boat to leave soon after 11:00. With the 135% jib, replacing the carbon jib under repair, we set sail from the mooring with the full main and unfurled the jib but noted that the roller reefing line joint was sticking in the fairleads. Flair IV was well balanced on the broad reach as we followed Summer Wine out of the New Harbour area. Following our check with Holyhead Port Control for any commercial traffic we turned towards Bolivar on more or less a dead run; flying the jib goosewinged for most of the run up to Carmel Head. Tess did a great job taking over from me on the helm and we were spoon on a reach along the north coast of Ynys Mȏn (Anglesey) at around 10 - 11kt. The 5m tidal range on today’s tide helped power us along with the sails pulling beautifully; passing Harry Furlong mark and a midpoint between Middle Mouse and the coast to the east of Wylfa. As we approached Borth Wen and turned into the bay we could see a motor yacht at anchor, a number of jetskis racing around and Live Wire also from Holyhead Sailing Club heading in to anchor up. The winds, now 18kt gusting 20-22, made lining up to anchor quite tricky as they descended over the high cliffs surrounding the bay. After our second and successful attempt to get a good anchor bite, we prepared the cockpit table, raised the sprayhood and set up a wonderful lunch mostly supplied by Tess. Summer Wine and Live Wire were anchored in the bay but they left well before us and now there was a thin fog filling into the bay but with the sprayhood up we were not affected too badly.

Weather conditions F4 gusting F6 out in the bay 27kt recorded at one point. Aqualibra and FlairIV racing with Houdini having set off for the Isle of Man earlier in the afternoon. After Becca completed the works to the jib halyard redirector Flair IV we had problems raising the jib and inserting the vertical battens in the high winds, which was why we were a little behind Aqualibra at the start. As usual this season Dawn assisted by Dave Meacher (OODs) set course 1 again, this is now the norm for a May Wednesday evening race! Aqualibre remained ahead as we followed the Squibs out of the New Harbour but then Aqualibre got confused and rather than follow course 1 she followed the quibs going to Clipera. Flair IV followed the proper course and even so passed Aqualibre on the beat to Penrhos where the depth of water was a little less than 2m below the keel. Nothing eventful occurred during the race until Flair IV was sailing back into the New Harbour where she had to alter course to avoid one of the Squib Fleet which was being towed by the safety boat as she had lost her rudder. This meant that Flair IV was now close to the wall as she approached the knuckle but we managed to pinch sufficiently to get past, and then head for the new IDM. We could have done with some sunshine as it became quite cold on our way to the mooring. A good sail shame there is not more competition!

Weather conditions F6 dropping to F4 and less 055° (NE) A fair amount of choppy waves as we took the launch to get onboard. With 3 yachts preparing to race Dawn Russell announced course 1 for this evening's race. Start 18:30 with the normal shadow on the northern end of the start line under the wall. Flair IV first over the line seconds ahead of Houdini. Flair IV tacked early as Houdini was covering her leeward quarter and could have trapped us against the Aluminium Jetty. A slow tack meant that Flair IV lost the lead to Houdini and there was a very close encounter at a subsequent tack where FLair IV had to again lose time in bearing away. On the way to Meath Houdini held the lead with Flair IV gaining again and more so on the broad reach to Penrhos where Houdini had flown her spinnaker but had to bear away to keep it flying. On Flair IV we decided not to fly the spinnaker getting to Penrhos mark just behind Houdini. Again at the last mark on the course, Clippera, we were seconds behind, but having attempted to raise the spinnaker it all went wrong ending in a major tear of the sail and a complete stop as it acted as a sea anchor. Houdini made it to the line first with Flair IV completing the course even after the disaster with the spinnaker and Aqualibre coming in a while later. 2025-05-14 19:30:06 Houdini 1st 19:33:55 Flair IV 2nd 19:53:25 Aqualibre 3rd

it was our intention to sail to the Skerries for lunch but the forecast had underestimated the wind speeds. . As we approached the entrance to the new harbour and called the Port Control we were warned of two ferry movements 1 on its way in and one outbound. we turned to port and headed back towards our mooring. once the Ferries were clear of the entrance we turned a d headed out but soon realised that the winds had increased and turned more northerly hence our decision to abandon our plan.

Following on from a busy day including driving to Pwllheli and back to get the replacement battens I didn’t arrive early enough and although the crew were on board and making preparations as the launch was busy with a lot of demands from the Squibs and other cruisers I was even later getting to the boat. As a consequence we were late getting off the mooring after I had attempted to fit one of the new long battens. The batten, after all that, was too short, so we set off with 2 battens still missing from the main and one in the jib. We checked in with Dawn, thank you for running the racing, to say we were entering the race and then followed the 2 other yachts who were out crossing the start line as we finally got the jib setting, Winds light NE. Of course in the rush to set off I forgot to set SailTies to record for the start! Course 1 had been selected and so we sailed towards the aluminium jetty gradually catching the other boats then tacked as soon as it was feasible to round the end of the breakwater and take advantage of the tide on our way to Meath, the first mark of the course. WIth our early tack we were now ahead of the other two boats as the crew struggled to get the code 0 rigged for the reech down to Penrhos. We intercepted a call on the radio from Hellhound saying that Penrhos mark, the second mark of the course, may not have been put in place yet. We reported that we had the coords on the chart plotter and would use this as the mark before returning the waypoint 3, Clipera. There was some activity in and around the Ferry Terminal with the fuel tanker talking on Ch 14 and as we tacked away from where Penrhos should have been, towards Clipera we received a warning hoot from the fuel tanker and immediately tacked again to show our intentions. By now the other two boats had retired but we carried on until we almost reached Clipera but with the crew getting cold and the wind dying away we also retired and headed back to the moorings. Back on shore we all met up in the clubhouse for a drink and dinner.