Following the rather demanding journey home from Chichester, the crew had been looking forward to some more relaxed sailing for our summer break! However, the unseasonable weather this year seems to continue unabated......
A few trips across the harbour with last-minute stores, then dump the car with Beverley & Andrew Rowlands in Braddan. Bev and Jonathan, Joel and Joshua came to wave goodbye, as we intended to carry the evening tide down to Port St Mary.
Isle of Man tides are so strong that you really have to get your timing right. Although aiming North initially for Bangor Marina in Belfast Lough, it is actually quicker to go south-about, since the Island really lies in a SW/NE direction.
Leaving the harbour at 19:30, we made a total dog's-breakfast of hoisting the reefed mainsail - but eventually got underway, and pointed South. Out past Douglas Head, we met the north-bound swell, and decided to motor-sail to get through, as we had limited time.
The seas off Langness were lumpy in the extreme (they usually are!) with the swell against tide - but the pain was short - and we arrived Port St Mary at 21:45, and abandoned our earlier plan to pick up a visitor mooring - as the swell was setting into that area. We went, instead, alongside 'Stargazer' from Howth Yacht Club - they'd been waiting days to get back home!
The wind kept up
all night - but tucked behind Albert Pier, we slept well - not so, it seems, the crew of
Stargazer who were kept awake by the swell banging them against the back rubber fendering
on the wall - Oh Dear! what a mess of black rubber marks on their topsides in the morning!
The 7am forecasts were depressing - F5-6 Poss 7 - perhaps quieter later - so we beat a hasty retreat back to bed....A look over the wall when we did emerge - and Horrors! - a mass of white waves, and a hasty discarding of any ideas of moving till it quietened down.
Instead, a cunning plan to take the cliff path over Spanish Head with the sole intention of taking a look at conditions in Calf Sound.
There are 3 ways around the South of the Isle of Man - through the Sound - by far the quickest, but subject to sluicing tides, and a lot of white water if the wind is against it - or a slog down and around inside or outside Chicken Rock Lighthouse (named after the Storm Petrels there - know by sailors as 'Mother Carey's chickens).
The fact that our route took us past (and inside) the Creg-y-Shee tea-room at the Craigneash crofting museum was quite co-incidental - and the fact the said tea rooms serve some of the best home baking in the known universe had nothing at all to do with it! After our repast, it was quite clear that a passage through the Calf was out of the question - when the tide turned north to carry us through, it would meet the strongish WSW wind coming the other way and be joyously rough. Our view of the Chickens tidal race was also a mess of white water - so we caught the bus back to Port St Mary determined to stay put - this is a holiday after all!
Forecasts of Strong S/SE winds overnight persuaded us to move inside the drying Inner Harbour - as a dreadful swell sets along Albert Pier in such conditions. At this we were laughing as the Southerly sits in so little water, we could move in early and get a choice position well up the wall - long before all our fin-keeled colleagues could think of moving.
Thus bedded down, we slept like logs......
Awoke at 6am to the gentle creaking of the boat as she floated off again.... Something was missing? The fierce winds that were forecast had not arrived! A brisk walk to look over the sea wall , and look! no swell - and a gentle force 4. Hang the forecast - if we got straight away, we could get through the Calf Sound just as the flow turned - then decide what to do - the Island would in any case shelter us from the strong South winds if they did turn up, once we were through the gap.
The crew were roused, and we sneaked out whilst all the fin keelers were still high and dry - through the Sound without any problems, then set the Auto Pilot NNW for an hour or so to see what blew up.
The forecasts all broadcast S/SE winds increasing quickly to F5/6 - the rain came on cold and wet, so we opted to head for Peel on the Island's west coast - and by the time we arrived, the wind was already piping up. Picked up a visitor mooring and clung to it through the rest of a very wet, windy day. Looking out past the breakwater - we were pleased not to be out in the very rough conditions out there!
At least we'd got past the major tidal gate at the bottom of the Island - and were 20 miles nearer Bangor! - we congratulated ourselves on our sly move getting through the Sound early.
A tidal gate is a place where the tidal flow means a boat can only pass if the stream is going in the correct direction - there are 'gates' at both ends of the Isle of Man - and another at the approach to Belfast Lough from the South- near Donaghadee.
The morning arrived with winds still brisk - but you must be
careful in Peel - the layout of the hills is such that they accelerate any wind towards
the outer harbour and make it appear more windy than it sometimes is!
The outlook was for strong west winds, but today's forecast was just fresh SSE - so we decided to take a look-see - even though we could expect a lot of left-over swell.
Two miles out, the Force 4/5, even with the swell, was well within the capability of the boat - it is much stiffer than our last boat - a Jeanneau Sunrise - and with the ability to feather the keel back a bit, the quartering seas were not nearly so bad - still not the sort of passage to take if you're at all queasy - it was very rolly in the middle!
We made a very
fast passage - averaging 7.5kn - and arrived off Donaghadee on time - though the tide was
already ripping south - making the passage past the Copeland Islands rather interesting -
still the powerful motor pushed us through - but we're glad we weren't any later!
Turn left at the Briggs Buoy, and a fast sail west along Belfast
Lough. We arrived in a rather sunny Bangor at 3:45pm - after covering 45 NM by the log -
nearer 53 miles over the ground. Noted a large Catamaran called 'Freebird' - is this the
original Freebird in the range of large cats made in the same yard as Tidewinder - at Northshore Yachts, Itchenor?
Bangor's an old favourite - with a great curry shop, and a Pizza Hut. We also
had an important investigation to make. Our Pastor - David Gordon, who hails from this
town, had informed us that Connor's had closed down! Connors is a high-street chemists
near Bangor railway station - and has a small restaurant which offers a full Ulster Fry
breakfast for £1.25 - and is therefore a favourite with the crew. Off up the high street
to check - and, floods of relief, it is still there - make a mental appointment, stock up
with stores, then try to decided whether curry or pizza for tea?