Sam Jones

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

Light wsw breeze as we prepared the code 0 and made adjustments to the beefing line for racing. The start was delayed while the 2nd cruise ship, anchored in the New Harbour was cleared for departing. We circled around under the mainsail as we waited for the starting sequence and at the 1 minute signal deployed the code 0 getting FlairIV over the line in 1st place. With all the shipping movements and the light winds on our stern quarter it was challenging trying to keep the heads sail filled but we had a significant lead by the time we cleared Clipera to Starboard and headed upwind to Penrhos. Rounding to port we tacked and deployed the code 0 for the leg to Meath. This leg was very interesting as it was more or less a dead run but complicated by the traffic movements, with the bunkering ship, the pilot boat, the departing Irish ferry and the Stena ferry arriving. However with communications over Ch 14 all went well as we cleared Meath and sailed towards the stern of Stena Estrid then tacked to sail back into the New Harbour with 1 final tack close to the Viking Cruise ship birthed on the Aluminium Jetty. The wind freshened on our last leg to the finish close the the Breakwater end of the line.

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.

Very light variable wind so no racing but we managed to sail out to Penrhos markto enjoy the eclipse. A fantastic evening

Delayed start due to F6 gusting F7 winds up until 11:00. The club was holding its annual jumble sale and try a sail day so it was a very crowded carpark! We eventually goot the crew, Tess, Sam along with his son Nathan and me to the top of the groyne but by then it was the Launch Driver’s lunch time, so a short delay waiting to be taken out to FlairIV. When we got onboard we decided to have lunch while we were on the mooring and then to go through the checks before leaving the mooring with the engine running but sailing on the main as we navigated through the various moored yachts. We had decided to do a ‘round the cans’ sail to give Sam and Nathan some experience of what happens in a race. With the jib unfurled we sailed downwind to the club start IDM [inner distance mark] and then followed course 2, which took us close to the Viking Cruise ship berthed on the Aluminium Pier. Sailing between this and the berthed Ferry gave a demonstration of the effect of two large ships close together in a strong SW wind. Sailing down to Penrhos mark the winds were gusty and showed the crew how to manage sudden gusts and counter the healing action. As the buoy is in a shallower area of the opening to the Cymyran Strait we watched the depth on the instruments and discussed the depth below the keel and the likely dangers. After gybing round Penrhos we headed due North to the Meath buoy, tacked round and back to Clipera before sailing back into the New Harbour to the finish line. Once over the line we picked up Sam Meade from the club rib and sailed around in the more sheltered waters of the harbour. Sam J then offered to do a mast climb to try and fix the new steaming light unit but this was unsuccessful as the position of the choc block connector made it very difficult to set the multi strand cables into their appropriate location.

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.

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.