Mark Rosenthal

Cruise into Skerries Lagoon 2024-05-12 With a very low wind forecast I anticipated a significant part of the passage would be under motor but the conditions were perfect for access to the lagoon. With High water Holyhead around 14:10 the plan was to leave the mooring at 13:00. Richie, Tess and Henrietta arrived on board at around 12:40 and started to get the boat ready for when Helen arrived at 13:00. Just as the main was being raised the backstay dyneema line failed completely; this was jury rigged with another line before we left the mooring. Fair winds leaving the New Harbour allowed us to pass the TSZ and set off in an 11 Kt SW on our northerly course to a waypoint I had set for accessing the Skerries Lagoon. As the tide reached its high point the winds died away leaving flat calm from opposite Langdon Ridge. Now under engine we continued at around 5.5 Kt up to the West of The Skerries allowing us to drop the sails as we approached the way point. Having not navigated into the lagoon since my last visit on Lily we approached at a slow speed watching the depth gauge very carefully. We managed an almost perfect line into the lagoon keeping close to the wall then circling round to anchor away from the mooring buoy which was occupied by a motorboat and a jet ski. The crew had to reattach the anchor ready to deploy it in 4m depth and check the swing so as to avoid colliding with the motor boat. The jet ski left shortly after our arrival and I am glad to say it left without causing much noise and no wake. Once I was happy with the anchor swing we sat and watched swarms of arctic terns rise from the foreshore making very loud noises while the puffins and gulls just got on with their less noisy entertainment. Henrie and Helen then got their swimming kit on and dived off the swim deck while a large seal observed from the west side of the lagoon but apparently uninterested in the swimmers. We remained at anchor for around 45 minutes before heading off back to Holyhead. There was still very little wind so we motored out from the lagoon and set course for the end of the breakwater. This is our track in and out of the lagoon. Min depth shown was 0.75 below our keel. As we motored over the turbulent waters on the exit of the lagoon we raised the sails gradually filling as we headed south. Visibility was poor and it was difficult to see the lighthouse at the end of the breakwater but as the wind filled in again we had a lovely sail back. Statistics computed from imported data Sunday, 12 May 2024, 12:53 BST Distance: 27.3 km Duration: 4 hours, 7 minutes and 16 seconds Average Speed: 6.6 km/h