Leg 6 – Largs to Pwllheli

29 July – Largs to Troon After our delightful summer holiday based in Largs, time to get on the road again, as it were. Our preliminary 20 mile passage down to Troon proved to be “interesting”; wind speeds spanned the range of 3.5 knots to 22 and came from just about every direction which had north in it. Much fun was therefore had trimming sails and – heavens – tacking now and again. By the time we were off Troon, the wind had died and we were obliged to motor in. Still, 2.5 hours sailing is a near record on this trip! Smashing first day – more tomorrow…

30-31 July – Gloom In Troon but with a Happy Ending..

Well, you saw the post. We were well on the way to Bangor in a stiff F5, crashing through the waves and – as Mark and Wendy will recall – water once more coming down the dorades (this time on my bunk!) but even so we were happily slogging along. Just off Ailsa Craig, I heard something banging. Difficult to see what until I noticed as the bow came up out of a great, green wave that the anchor had slipped its lashings and was bashing the bow in a serious way. Once hove to, we could see that this was not trivial and I decided (safety first) to head back for Troon. Getting a good cosmetic repair will be expensive – thank goodness for insurance – but will take time and will have to be left for Eastbourne. In the meantime, Andy of West Coast Marine has done an amazing job of restoring structural strength….

and some semblance of good looks to keep us going:

It is, as they say, an ill wind that blows no good and we have been able to use the time to finally seal the dorades against seawater ingress. Keith and Bob have done outstanding work on the engineering solutions front for the dorades which turned out to be a less straightforward challenge than we thought.

Lunch today was – wait for it – calamari and chips a la Troon. Amazing and delicious. Especially with the Chardonnay.

We’ve also met some nice folk – not least George the Chantenay Carrot, who has been watching with interest prior to his becoming part of a Beef Bourgignon. Sorry George.

We’ve also met Paul Jackson, with whom I once sailed on his yacht Wild Spirit, and his wife. So we shall be having dinner with them tonight (hence George’s untimely demise) before setting off once again tomorrow for Bangor and regaining our schedule over the next day or so.

See? Told you there was a happy ending…

Except for George.

 1 August – Troon to Bangor

Dinner with Paul and Judith was quite a party but we managed to prise ourselves from our bunks and head, finally for Northern Ireland.

This time, we made it past Ailsa Craig, which Keith described as “majestic”. It’s difficult to appreciate just how big the Craig actually is – there are certainly billions of Curling Stones-worth left!

The rest of the passage was uneventful but a touch wet and we arrived thoroughly rinsed-out.

Highlight of the evening was popping over for a drink with very old friends Derek and Norma Parsley; not seen, in my case, for nearly 40 years!

We’ve now done 1213 miles….

2 August – Bangor to Peel

A pretty uneventful trip to Peel, if one discounts the torrential rain and poor visibility for most of the journey!

Keith did a brilliant job of helming through the Donaghadee Sound in very poor vis and soon had us safely through. Peel Harbour was delightful..

….and we were so glad that our previous difficulties with anchor damage had delayed us so that we were in port for the Peel Carnival on 3 August. We had much fun listening to great music:

Acquisitions included crab-meat, kippers and Cointreau marmalade:

.. and very nearly an electric bike!

 4 August – Peel to Holyhead

And so across the Irish Sea once more to Holyhead. Time and tide meant an early start in the dark which at least allowed us to witness a spectacular dawn over the Isle of Man…

We passed the Calf of Man….

And the infamous Skerries (to which we gave a good offing lest they become Scaries) before arriving in Holy head at 1500 after a pretty quick trip. A quick passage was necessary to get our ever-cheerful and very capable shipmate Bob ashore in time to catch a train. Sadly, a family bereavement meant he had to leave us. Hoping very much to see him back aboard at Falmouth.

Delighted to welcome Brian aboard to enjoy from the sea the Welsh Coasts he has walked at length..

 5 August – Holyhead to Pwllheli

Brian’s first passage and Keith’s last was a particularly lumpy affair as even a very good offing failed to spare us completely from the overfalls off Bardsey Island for which  even an earlier spectacular sunrise did not fully compensate.

Thank goodness for Stugeron. Once around Bardsey, wind and tide favoured us and we had splendid broad reach along the southern Lleyn (pronounced, approximately, “clean”) past St Tudwalls.

We were sorry to say farewell to Keith at Pwllheli; an excellent shipmate and superbly accomplished sailor. Hope to see you aboard again soon, Keith.

And so ends Leg 6, with 1394 miles now gone under the keel. It has been a very long (309 miles) and quite eventful leg which has taken us the length and breadth of the Irish Sea. Next, Leg 7 and St George’s Channel and beyond….