Luke Farrar

Race night 5 yachts prepared for the race starting at 18:00, with the same course as last week: start, Clipera (s), Penrhos (p), Meath (p), Finish. Winds were SW 12kt gusting 19kt with some ferry movements and a small cruise liner on the Aluminium Jetty. FlairIV started to prepare the code 0 for the start but there was a twist in the halyard so it had to be dropped and reset, which made us 35 seconds late over the start line. However we soon overtook the 2 yachts in front of us and made for Clipera. With one tack on the unwind leg to Penrhos we made excellent speed and after rounding the mark made for Meath. By the time we rounded Meath the rest of the fleet were only just getting to Penrhos! one tack once we had rounded Meath to clear the breakwater and then one last tack by the end of the Aluminium Jetty to make it all the way to the finish. Results: YTC https://halsail-1e484.kxcdn.com/Result/Public/98464

As arranged all the yachts split away from St George's Pier at 06:15 to go through the Swellies at Slack Water. In perfectly flat conditions we all motored through the Swellies and as the wind didn’t fill in as hoped we continued to motor towards Caernafon Bar C1 buoy. At 09:53:00 the wind had reached approximately 4kt from the NNE while our SOG was 3.0kt which allowed us to start the race. The winds continued to be light variable but we hugged the coastline to gain benefit from the eddies in the bays as the ebb tide continued to push the other yachts backwards as they had stayed out to the West. The winds picked up several times as we continued to concentrate on maximising our VMG to the next waypoint; finally filling in as we passed Aberfraw and from here on we had nice consistent winds but with the wind with tide both against us we made 31 tacks and 1 gybe on Sunday! As we approached South Stack we put in a couple of tacks to get closer into Abraham’s Bosom with Twr Helen glowing white in the bright sunshine. Conditions around the stack got a bit choppy with wind against tide but by no means the worst! We arrived at the finish at 15:40:40, back to the mooring and a clear up before a sit down and a pannad before catching the launch to go ashore.

After the successful installation of the Steaming and Deck light Chris, Luke and I went for a delightful flat sea cruise to Langdon Ridge and back. We shuffled back into the New Harbour ahead of the incoming James Joyce and the out bound cruise ship.

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.