Mark Rosenthal

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!

Today Sean and I worked on a variety of tasks including working out why the engine was refusing to run. We also modified the end of the lowest jib batten to stop it from falling out. The winds in the morning were 16kt + NE so with just the two of us we waited on Flair's mooring until the forecast lower winds came in. After lunch the winds dropped and we prepared to set off to sail in the bay. A beautiful sunny day was perfect for a sail over to Church Bay. Once back on the mooring we attended to fitting the revised lower batten before clearing everything up to go ashore.

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

Tides: High Water HH: Saturday 10th 10:00 Sunday 11th 10:32 Weather Very light winds on Saturday getting better late afternoon 13:00 7kt gusting 9kt, 19:00 10 gusting 12, more on Sunday 10:00 10 gusting 12 19:00 13 gusting 19 Saturday: I forgot to start the record on SailTies until we'd past North Stack, nor did I record the track on the B&G, so a little longer trip than shown. We actually left the mooring at around 10:30 and with only an incoming ferry which we contacted to say we were staying close to the breakwater on our passage to North Stack. Wind conditions: Northerly 5-7kt which gave us a tight reech to North Stack where, unusually, the waters were nice and flat with a very noticeable change between the currents as the ebb tide had started, sweeping us to the south. With the strong tide flowing now behind us we hoisted the lightweight spinnaker, furled the jib and dropped the main. This photo shows the Anglesey flag flying above the Sailing and Cruising Wales group burgee. With the spinnaker flying on sheets alone with no pole our course took us out slightly to the West before we altered course to sail round Rhoscolyn Head and into Cymyran Bay. In the bay the wind died completely. With the spinnaker flying, just on sheets with no pole or guys, our course took us out to the West slightly before we altered course to sail round Rhoscolyn Head and into Cymyran Bay. In the bay the wind died completely. Once an anchor, we lost the wind altogether which made it very pleasant to have our lunch, although it did get very warm in the blazing sunshine. After lunch Tess started work on the domestic water pump, lying on the galley floor with her head in the cupboard under the galley sink while we looked at servicing one of the sheet winches. Having completed the starboard sheet winch the tide changed and the wind filled in, making it was ideal for our return to Holyhead. Once round Rhoscolyn Head we headed up to a tight reach and with tidal backing made very good progress until we chose to tack and aim for South Stack so that we could get close to see the guillemots and the razorbills. Being on starboard tack were helped by the tide run slipping sideways past South Stack but then tacked to avoid the disturbed wind around the headland and sailed with the tide to a point where we coul sail round North Stack to reach the end of the breakwater. Once inside the New Harbour, we downed the sales and motored onto the mooring before clearing up and leaving FlairIV.

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.

Rain started at 05:20 but has eased off by 07:30. Winds up around F5 - 7 After an early breakfast as I waited from the arrival of the crew I worked through some of the remaining tasks on my list. This included cleaning the terminals on the solenoid for the engine stop and other engine checks. Chris arrived first and got to work on preparation for sailing. Sylvia and Andrew followed in good time for us to leave as scheduled and off we went from Hafam Pwllheli in strong southerly winds. As we left the channel into the bay the short chop in winds up to F7 made getting the sails set quite difficult and we lost 2 battens from the mainsail having got caught in the lazyjack halyards. Once under sail we headed out on a port tack sailing in close to Llanbedrog then tacking and heading away and back towards the SCYC area before tacking away heading for the gap between The two St Tudwals Islands. The waves here were getting quite steep so we tacked again to get to a point where we could sail between the mainland and the island. Once through the sound we found ourselves in significant short wavelength waves and continuing high wind. That, along with the ever changing tides, required us to tack away from Cilan Uchaf. On our next tack our course to Barsey Sound was achievable and we settled to a brisk but lumpy sail across, my favourite location, Hells Mouth, and with tidal assistance into the sound with a good NW tidal run. By now we were all soaking wet as it had rained heavily most of the way. Reminder to self, check sailing jacket and salopettes for Waterproofing! Once through the sound in near perfect conditions the wind being almost dead south our sail to South Stack was a dead run. The rain was now far less with a hint of blue sky to the west. Chris and Andrew rigged the newly recoated spinnaker pole, a lovely job by Partington Marine, to ‘pole out’ the goose winged jib. So with a preventer and the pole inplace there was no need for any sail changes until we turned to round South Stack; just some very awkward helming in the following swell. Sylvia and Andrew were given the opportunity to trial their skills but keeping the sails from flogging or an accidental gybe was too challenging in the very cold atmosphere. Our projected course and timings worked perfectly arriving at the two major tidal gates at the right time and the onto Flair IV's mooring only a few minutes after the schedule. Holyhead Sailing Club's Botswain, Tony came out on the club launch to collect us from the new shiny mooring buoy and nice clean strop. A perfect end to a slightly challenging day!

Sunshine and a cold ENE 4 as we left Porth Penrhyn. We motored sailed down from Gallows Point until we turned to port to sail through Puffin Sound. Quite choppy waters as we sailed up towards Point Lynas. Making 10+ knots all the way around the top of Ynys Môn (Anglesey) through inside middle mouse and west mouse flanked by beautiful gannets. As we sailed round Carmel Head the winds abated gradually and eventually we had to motor again as we neared Holyhead Breakwater. Once at the mooring Al threaded his strops through the shackle on the Buoy as we cleared up ready to disembark.

NE winds light to moderate. Assisting Trevor deliver his yacht from Doc Victoria to Holyhead. Sea conditions were fair

CHPSC [Clwb Hywlio Pwllheli Sailing Club] Winter race series, race 2 winds light SSW racing round the cans.