We nailed it: Fishguard to Dale

This time we got the wind and tides right. We left Fishguard just before 9am this morning, exactly as planned. We motor sailed with just the mainsail until we could assess the conditions (the wind took a while to catchup with the forecast, between 8am and 9am it changed direction 180 degrees). After one check to see if we could make progress along the coast we decided to continue to head out, unfurled the yankee, and stopped the motor.

The wind started light and as expected for the first few hours we made slow progress as we had to get upwind and up tide to pass Strumble Head. Even then, it gradually got easier. On the leg from Strumble Head to the entrance to Ramsey Sound we got faster and faster over the ground as the tide against us gradually slowed and then became a favourable tide that just got faster and faster.

The sea state was pretty confused and lumpy the whole day with a big Atlantic Swell underneath the local wind generated waves, all stirred up by the fast tides.

Ramsey Sound was an outstanding experience. It seemed very narrow with big breakers on the rocks on both sides as we snaked our way through. At one point we reached 11.7kts over the ground. As we exited to the south, there were some large waves with foam being blown off the top, but Vida coped with them without any issues.

We had a couple of visits from extremely camera shy Dolphin, I was sure one pair were going to hit us as they approached at full speed and then dived under us.

As we passed Stockholm Island and headed for the Milford Haven entrance Jane was steering and was surfing down the big swells at up to 10kts, awesome. We sailed almost all the way into Dale before motoring around to find a good spot to anchor, clear of all the seagrass markers.

We are absolutely delighted with how Vida handled the conditions, how reassuringly safe she felt, and how well she sailed.

Of course there are things we can improve, but this felt great and we both very much enjoyed the passage.

Now it is nearly time for Celebrity Traitors so time to finish.