Richie Lord

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.

Set off after Becca practising her instructing on engine checks etc. Winds WNW 12kt broken cloud. Our departure was timed to get the last quarter of the ebb tide flowing round The Stacks. Choppy as we sailed through the tide flowing against the wind between North and South Stack. Sun breaking through as we sailed down towards Rhoscolyn Head. Thought about stopping at Trearddur Bay but decided Borth Wen would probably be more sheltered. So resumed course to Rhoscolyn Head. Anchored as a training session, showing how to deploy the CQR anchor. At low water we had 4m under the keel and deployed 30m of anchor chain gradually resulting in good holding so we could settle down with the cockpit table in place for lunch. The lagoon was quite busy with motor boats and kayakers but all well behaved.

Race 2024-09-04 As we arrived onboard we were greeted by blue skies with significant anvil clouds out to the west. The winds were light Northeasterly with a distinctly cool feeling. WIth a crew of 6, Chris, Luke, Sean, Richie and Henri we got prepared for a spinnaker or code 0 start. There were 5 club yachts out for the evening accompanied by a Squib or two. The course around Meath, Penrhos and Clipera meant a very long slow spinnaker run from Meath to Penrhos, then Clipera to the finish; and as the evening drew on the winds got lighter. A very enjoyable evening with interesting sailing conditions on a pretty flat sea.

With a reasonable weather window we went for a quick sail to church Bay and back. Winds NE gusting 24kt we put in a reef and enjoyed a social chat about the history of Holyhead Harbour and the Maritime influences of Anglesey (Ynys Môn) and Holyhead (Ynys Cybi) dating back to the 2 Roman occupations of Anglesey. Lovely sunny conditions until the cloud cover increased as we arrived back in Holyhead New Harbour.

SW F5 wind conditions showing Harri’s son and his friend the basics on Flair IV. Back on the mooring for a late lunch as the sunshine faded away behind high level cloud formations.

An excellent afternoon for a sail in Holyhead bay especially for the first time since my shoulder operation in June. Sunshne and steady 13kt SW wind was ideal with friends to keep an eye on me! We had two novice crew members Ruby and Tony with Becca and me introducing them to this complex sport. While Richie and Tess dealt with most of the sail setting.

Helen, Tess, Richie and Becca came on board at 10:30. I had got most things ready for setting off so we got underway shortly after their arrival. Winds again Northerly on a nice sunny morning 10kt as we left the harbour. Great sailing conditions as we left the harbour and sound over to North Stack. Once passed North Stack we turned to the south and headed down to Rhoscolyn. With the wind on our stern we set up a preventer before changing to the Code 0 sailing down at around 5 to 6 kn over the ground. As we passed Maen Piscar the wind became light but we managed to sail round Rhoscolyn head and make a course to Cymyran Bay when we anchored and settle down to have a wonderful lunch with contributions from all the crew. It has been sunny all the way down to this point, but as we finished our lunch and had a brew, high cloud was building from the west. After lunch, we packed away the cockpit table and Tess and I fill the diesel tank from the jerrycan and added more fuel treatment before we restarted the engine and lifted the anchor to sail back to Holyhead on the flood tide. The return course was to windward and we had to tack to avoid getting too close to Maen Piscar as the tide pushed us ever closer. Once opposite Trearddur Bay the Sun started to reappear and apart from some window tide approaching South stack return journey went well but under the shadow of North Stack the wind died away before changing direction to South Westerley 3 to 5 Kt so we had to motor most of the length of the breakwater to get back to our mooring in good time.