Luke Farrar

After a pretty bumpy overnight stay at anchor I got up at 06:00 and made hot drinks for everyone and explained how the day would go. The first job was to drop the old 95% jib and put up the brand new jib. Once that was organised we raised the main, this time without reefs, and then raised the anchor to get under way. The winds were light but westerly and the tidal flow past the entrance to Porth Wen was building nicely in our favour. On a broad reach we were making around 6 - 7kt in nice flat waters. A complete change from yesterday! Due to the apparent wind angle it was decided to deploy the Code 0, Tess and Luke got that organised and then we furled the new jib and sailed down to Puffin Sound. As we arrived close to the Penmon Head light house we unfurled the jib and furled the code 0 to head up to sail to the first channel buoy. We then had a number of tacks, 9 in total, before we dropped the main and furled the jib to motor the last section in towards Porth Penrhyn dock following the 5m depth contour. Under motor the crew removed the code 0 and we tidied up what we could as we headed into the harbour entrance. Once inside the harbour we were asked to moor up alongside a fishing boat on the quay whilst the two lift outs before us were dealt with. With a bit of time to spare I offered the crew a small shot of Jura, as they had missed out last night, to celebrate getting the delivery completed.

With an intention of sailing on the ebb tide round the Stacks and back we were preparing the boat as the strong wind weather warning came on the radio. With Sam’s 10 year old son onboard and the weather warning I made the decision to just go for a sail in Holyhead Bay. The rain held off and the winds remained around 18kt gusting 20kt so we had a good sail and a good introduction to sailing for young Nathan.

Finally we had a Wednesday evening without too much wind but this evening’s race was technically very challenging as the winds died away and at times we relied entirely on the tide! The wind was light SW giving a downwind start. The yachts which started were, once again, Hellhound, Aquilibre and FlairIV. A short course of start to Clipera and back was decided as the winds were so lite and the sunset early. All 3 yachts got a good start and were at close quarters past the knuckle but then FlairIV sailing with her code 0 steered a little higher to wind to pick up the better wind away from the breakwater pulling out a fair distance by the time she sailed beyond the Aluminium Jetty. Rounding Clipera she was well ahead and as the wind died away she was able to pick up assistance from the flood tide as it ran round the end of the breakwater. By this point both other competing yachts had retired and were motoring back into the harbour. Hellhound caught up with us just as we approached the finish line.

2025-08 Race 2 Winds F5 gusting F6 southerly Only 4 yachts competing. Dawn Russell OOD selected course 1: giving us a good upwind leg from Meath to Penrhos. Some close quarter sailing between FlairIV and Houdini and then the 2 smaller yachts Aquilibre and Livewire. A decent downwind leg followed from Penrhos to Clipera.

Key crew member Luke invited a long term friend and his family to come for a sail. As the tide was flooding we had little choice about where to go in the time available. The last weekend opportunity for me to sail before my shoulder.and Carpal Tunnel operations. Fortunately the weather forecast was encouraging for Flair IV to take Luke and his friends family out for Saturday afternoon. Winds light and Northerly 8-12Kt. With the crew’s arrival soon after 12:30 we had lunch in the cockpit on the mooring before sailing off to sail up the coast towards Carmel Head. Rough water after the tide change but I encouraged them all to have a turn at helming. It was slow progress sailing back against the tide but they all seemed to enjoy the experience with the exception of the tide race near Carmel Head.