Errands by dinghy

Our dinghy has been stored on deck in "sailing passage mode" since our unsuccessful attempt to escape Fishguard on Monday (see We are back in Fishguard and Preparing to leave for Dale). Our current plan is to try to get to Dale again tomorrow (Friday) morning.

So today we decided that despite rain being forecast all day it was worth going ashore for supplies. We are starting to get quite practised at this. The dinghy is stored upside down in front of the mast for sailing. We tie our spinnaker halyard to the dinghy painter (the line tied to the front of the dinghy that we tie to the boat or shore with). Then Jane uses the mast winch to lift the dinghy while I guide it. Once the dinghy is upright, it only needs lifting a little more for me to twist it and guide it over the guardrails. Then Jane lowers it into the water and the job is done (well, we still need to put the electric outboard motor on, add the battery and the oars).

The errands were just the normal stuff.

• drop off the rubbish
• drop off the recycling (lets be honest we are not that confident that the contents of the recycling bins right next to the ordinary bins actually get recycled)
• fill the petrol cans for the generator at the petrol station. We should be good for several weeks now.
• fill 4 x 5litre water containers at the outside tap by the petrol station
• do some shopping at Tesco Express (main objective some fresh veg)

We should now be fine for another 10 to 14 days before we need to go ashore again.

We got pretty wet from the rain. By the time we had put the dinghy back on deck we were probably outside for about 90 minutes of light but continuous rain. We should have worn our sailing waterproof trousers but the Decathlon waterproofs kept our top halves dry.

Not many jobs to do to prepare for departure tomorrow morning.

• fit some more netting so that things stay on the shelves in the forward heads better
• tie down the dinghy and a few other bits of preparation on deck
• repack the cockpit locker (dinghy motor & battery, generator etc)

As last time the most tricky part is the first, from outside Fishguard harbour until we turn the first corner around Strumble Head. Initially, the wind and tide mean we won't be able to head directly towards Strumble Head, we expect very slow progress for a couple of hours, then the tide should change, and we should be there ready to take advantage of it.

Once past Strumble Head we aim for St David's Head (just before Whitesands Bay) and we should have a much more favourable wind angle, plus the tide with us until we are through Ramsey Sound. Then we are taking the simpler route outside Skomer and Stokholm Islands before turning into the Milford Haven estuary.

However, if it doesn't work out we have other options available 😄