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. 


Last Wednesday Evening Race 2025

Flair IV

Wednesday Evening Race no 1 September 

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.


Wednesday Evening racing 

Issued 2024-08-11
Due to the forecast for very light winds on the west side of Anglesey. As the course would be against the tide up to SouthStack the alternative is to go back anticlockwise as the wind forecast to the east of Anglesey is much better the decision therefore is to cancel the event and for individual yachts to make a judgement on their return to Holyhead.
Flair IV intends to sail at approx 09:30 with a planned lunch stop at The Brickworks for lunch to wait for the tide to flow west. 
Thank you for the great turn out see you back at Holyhead. 

Flair IV’s progress back to Holyhead
Flair IV Left at 10:05 from the 2nd position in the raft alongside the Prince Madoc and the Iceni Marine Services vessel, slipping from between Hierro and Moonraker to sail anticlockwise back to Holyhead. 

In very light winds we motored east along the Strait head to wind. 
All the way along the Strait we were pestered by motorised vessels exceeding the 8kt speed limit and creating wake. After passing Beaumaris the wind filled in a little in patches so we deployed the jib.
Approaching Penmon raised the main at just after 11 o’clock. As the apparent wind angle changed gradually turning at Penmon Head we deployed the code 0 and made good progress across Red Wharf Bay towards Point Lynas.
From Point Lynas the wind angle was sufficient to fly the ‘floater’ spinnaker but insufficient wind to keep the main up so we sailed on the spinnaker alone giving us an opportunity for a late lunch at a quarter past three. The journey had taken so long in these light winds that the concept of anchoring in Porth Wen was not viable so lunch on the go!
With the cloud cover changing  from the west  it quickly became cooler as we past Harry Furlong, looking back at the receding blue skies. 
We were being caught by Summer Wine motor sailing on our way from Carmel Head back to the New Harbour and as the wind died we motor sailed too. 
Back on our Mooring 18:00



Round Anglesey Event day 2

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. 

Saturday introduction to sailing for a family

Normally on Sundays during the sailing season the club holds racing. This season so far there hasn't been any weekend racing organised. 
The day started when Richie arrived I sent him into the lazarette to put detergent on the area around one of the pipes on the calorifier while I turned on the water switch to set up the pressure to check for leaks. No leak was noted at this location, back to square one! 
Luke climbed with tools and the replacement windex in a bag and he noted that the steaming/deck light had been damaged by loose halyards and was hanging on the starboard side retained by 1 very bent screw. But as he got to the top he reported that the replacement was not the right one so we had to abandon the proposed improvement. 
Richie and I managed the safety lines attached to his harness and he arrived safely on the deck. I had been onboard earlier than the crew and had cleaned the solar panel to see if that would increase the battery charge levels. 
Having run the water pump the battery level dropped and so I started the engine to bring the batteries back up sufficiently for the afternoon sail 
We raised the main and left the mooring in beautiful sunshine and a F2/F3 NNW breeze. Without a passage plan we just sailed out from the New Harbour having watched the ferry leaving port. We called Port Control to check we were OK to cross to Clipera Luke steered us across to Clipera and then on until the depth gauge started to fall rapidly as we approached the shore, so we tacked onto starboard and sailed on to gain some advantage from the flood tide. On this tack I noticed that the wind instrument display was not showing the expected angle to the wind and we planned to make an adjustment to the settings once we had a comparative reading on the other tack. We discussed where we would go on such a lovely sailing day with smooth waters as we headed up towards the Skerries. The decision was to sail up the coastline and then on to the south west coast of The Skerries. So we tacked againand after making the  necessary adjustment to the wind instrument we sailed to a point close to Porth y Dwfr before tacking to run north roughly parallel to the coast line passing Traeth Ynys y Fydlyn with all the picturesque rocks, caves and coves.

The passage across the tide race at Carmel Head to The Skerries allowed us to point off the wind to a broad reach and it was noticeable that the tidal stream dropped off a little once we had passed the line from West Mouse to South Stack. 
Luke successfully navigated us between the dangerous rocks, The Platters, and The Skerries leaving them to port. Then as we passed the Island we could see the staff from the Bird Sanctuary walking back to the lighthouse with a considerable background noise of birds. This close, the buildings look much more significant than our usual view of them. 
Now we gybed and headed south across the top of Carmel Rocks where the tide race was boiling up but remarkably flat. As we were now on a downwind leg in winds varying between 9 and 12kt we deployed the lightweight spinnaker for the return to Clipera and on to the New Harbour entrance. We had timed this well as we watched the ferry from Dublin arriving well ahead of us. 
Once in the harbour we used the engine in neutral to recharge the batteries as we had been using the AutoPilot but sailed up to the area of our mooring. As we arrived the crew from a visiting yacht was disembarking into the launch so we gave them a wide berth and circled round to come up to the mooring. 
Another super day of Sailing out of Holyhead. 

Photo album link

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ktjSAe4ALAgpWeaQ9

Luke Farrar