Sam Jones

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.

Sam had been to the try a sail day at Holyhead and wanted to come out for a try on a yacht. The forecast F2 winds didn't materialise at first so we gave Sam a walk through FlairIV before raising the main and leaving the mooring. As we motored out of the New Harbour the winds were very variable from 0kt to 3 5kt much of which was our SOG. Following being granted permission to cross the TSZ we headed to Clipera buoy before turning to port to sail north. We sailed close to Live Wire before shutting down the engine to catch what little breeze was available. As can be seen from the track the tide played a significant role in determining our course. The tide turned at around 12:40. After lunch we turned and return towards Clipera and welcomed the 10kt winds to sail across the TSZ back into the New Harbour.