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Leg 4: Milford Haven to Pwllheli
The day started well. I woke up to a beautiful, still morning. Chilly but very promising for the trip ahead. As there has been rain over the past 24hrs I was not at all surprised to see that the other side of the river was covered in fog, but the previous day had warm sunshine between the showeres and so I reckoned on it burning off quickly and by the time I was ready to depart at 7.15 the other side of the river was clearly visible in the sunshine.
So I set off. The plan was to take my time getting to Jack Sound, a narrow gap about 1 cable wide. I had been warned to get there at slack water which was 9.40 and so I leaft early allowing for a big of fog, and hence slow running, on the way. There was a little fog in the river but once out of the estuary it was clear. Rounding the entrance to the harbour was very lumpy. It was springs and clearly there was still some fire left in what was left of the flood tide and I found myself heading towards Jack Sound at 9 knots in spite of my engine almost at tick over. With the engine in neutral I had 5 knots on the GPS. This was going to be interesting.
Arriving at Jack Sound 45 mins early I decided to take a look and if it were calm enough then I would go through early. I approached the sound using the recommended route and took a line from the rock at the entrance to the rock clearly visible on the other side and started through. It looked calm enough mid-channel but there were breaking waves either side which gave me a bit of warning about what was to follow. As I went through a trough, about 6 feet deep, opened up in front immediately followed by a wall of water at least 9 feet high. It was raging and so I did a swift about and returned to my rock where I hovered waiting for the tide to turn. I wasn’t at all surprised that I couldn’t get through. It was springs and there was a northerly wind blowing over the northerly stream so clearly it was going to be unlikely but it was worth poking my nose in to take a look as I have never seen such a standing wave. So I waited the 45 mins. At almost exactly at the predicted time the tide showed a southerly set and I decided to take another look. This time the monstor had gone replaced by much more friendly lumpy water and so through I went.
Now a short blast up to Ramsey Sound where, because of my timing through Jack Sound, I met the tide just right and went through with just a few swirls.
With the two sounds behind me I had a long run up the coast before turning north to Pwllheli. This was a fantastic run, smooth water and great weather. This was the first leg where I had a chance to relax and look at the scenery without having to constantly adjust the throttle and steering and I enjoyed it. Even more so when a group of dolphins decided to play with the boat as they seem to like doing. It was a special moment. I even had a couple of porpoises… today I seemed honoured or so it seemed.
However, this was all to change and as I turned north the change in heading had brought about an unfavourable angle to the waves and wind and now I was struggling to make 14kts without slamming and so it was back to the throttle and steering as before. Ah well… it was fun while it lasted! During this leg some of the bumps were big enough to rock me around in the helm seat and unfortunately the seat looks like it has sheered a mounting. I will take a look at it when in Conwy. For now though it is serviceable. The ride worsened but scenery certainly didn’t and all up the welsh coast the hills in the distance made me realise just how beautiful Wales is.
Approaching Pwllheli the sea calmed down again and I coasted towards the harbour entrance. The entrance to Pwllheli is a long sweeping turn to starboard and as it was just a hour or so from low water it was quite shallow and so I carefully made my way towards the marina.
Later I found out that the live tracking on the web site had again misbehaved. It seems that the link that has been created especially for this trip to Google is a little flaky but it did work from Jack Sound onwards. If you get the chance to use Google Earth instead of the web site page then it will be much better.
