Weather watching and waiting in Milford Haven

 So you last joined me after arriving cold, tired and slightly damp after crossing the Bristol Channel and dropping anchor at the Dale anchorage near Milford Haven.  What next?

The port spreader is the where you fly the marine ensign or flag of the country you are visiting 
As we are in Wales, Tzu is proudly wearing the Baner Cymru

Having looked at the weather and tides for getting through Jack and Ramsay Sounds, more on those later, and being well on schedule for getting to Porthmadog I booked into the marina at Milford Haven. The weather was also a bit grotty in the morning with plenty of rain and some strong winds

First step for going to the marina was getting the anchor up which was no mean feat.  The wind was blowing strongly so it took some patience to dig the anchor out as the windlass would not be strong enough for that alone. You have to bring the chain in then wait for the boats buoyancy to lift the chain.  As the boat drops, wind in a little more chain.   I also have a slight problem with the anchor chain galvanising being too new I think (I havent anchored much since having it done) and the links are not dropping cleanly off the gypsey into the anchor chain hawse hole. This means I occasionally have the anchor out of the ground but not yet on the boat while I frantically unclog the links.    So I exited the anchorage gracefully but sideways and slightly in reverse.  

The trip up to the Marina is about 5 miles past oil terminals and some big shipping.  The channel is deep and wide so its quite easy to avoid any ships, not that I met many.  We did meet "Blue Star 1" in about the area of the marina.  Blue Star 1 is actually a Greek ship that used to operate in the Greek islands but currently leased to Irish Ferries operating to Rosslare from Pembroke Dock


Milford Haven Marina
A rather tight squeeze for Tzu. 
Skippers seen tighter berths when chartering in Greece

We arrived at Milford Haven Marina with no need to lock in as the tide height meant the lock was open both ends on 'free flow'.  We were directed to a berth on Bravo pontoon which was deep into the marina, a tad tight, and next to another 31' Westerly. 

Leg: 6.3nm
Trip: 331.9 

I stayed a couple of days, took some walks, used the very welcome showers and did the usual tasks like topping up the fuel tank from the spare fuel carried in cans.  We stayed two nights and on the final day, today as it happens, settled up (£51) and booked a lock departure opening for 10:45.   At the appointed time we were ready, with lines and fenders attached, for the Lock Controllers, "Pier Head" to call us into the lock.   The lock is huge compared to the canal locks that Tzu saw on the Forth and Clyde Canal some years ago and the lowering in level is quite imperceptible till you get to sea level and realise how much lock is now above you.  A trip down the haven waterway into the wind, again seeing Blue Star 1 but this time on her inbound journey, took us again to the Dale anchorage.  However this time I opted to tie up to the very large remote pontoon.  Its a bit bouncy but the winds are forecast to drop to a Force 2 around midnight.  It will hopefully be a restful night because we are off through Jack and Ramsay Sounds, heading for Fishguard tomorrow.  Planning to start at the crack of lunchtime too. 

The lock and its gates are huge

Its me!

Leg: 5.5nm
Trip: 337.4nm

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

More planning, and a security guard

Image
  Welcome back to Tzu's Odyssey, a somewhat grandly titled page about an "average bloke with a boat", sailing an average boat, on what to some is an average journey.   The planning for the Odyssey continues..   Just some of the charts and books that I'll be using to plan the journey, not only in the comfort of my own home but also probably on quaysides and in pubs during stopovers and from the boat when plans change.   As well as the paper charts and pilot books I will also have electronic charts (Navionics) on my Ipad and phone as well as the fixed on board GPS plotter.  I need to give credit here to Mike who lent me most of these.  You might be surprised how much there is to see at sea with various lights, buoys and features on the shore, all of which are used to know where we are so can plan where we should be heading! Meet Dave.. Dave the Owl.  Dave the owl joined the crew last year as security manager to keep the seagulls away while I'm ...
Read more

Odyssey? Really?

Image
  Welcome to Tzu's Odyssey, a somewhat grandly titled page about an "average bloke with a boat", sailing an average boat, on what to some is an average journey.   Lets start with Tzu..   Tzu is a 31' Westerly Longbow, made in 1973.  she has one mast, one keel and can accomodate 6 people apparently.   However she's set up so two of us, me and the admiral, who  can comfortably stay aboard for a week or two at a time.  Tzu has a 2 cylinder Volvo Penta diesel engine, some decent sails that are probably past their best and has always been a better sailor than I am! Tzu has been part of our life since late 2014 when we bought her and me and co-sailor Mike sailed her round from Hartlepool to Wales via the Forth & Clyde canal.  In 2017 I'd made the decision to change our sailing base from Porthmadog in North Wales to the Solent at Marchwood Yacht Club.  Although an expensive move as I got her trailered down, I've not regretted this...
Read more

The skipper and what he's planning

Image
  Welcome back to Tzu's Odyssey, a somewhat grandly titled page about an "average bloke with a boat", sailing an average boat, on what to some is an average journey.   The Odyssey..   So the route might look a little like the chart above, I know we are starting from Southampton and likely to spend a night in Yarmouth.  After that the only 'almost definite' stops will be at Newlyn (6) and Milford Haven (8) but who knows?  We are at the mercy of the sea and the weather.   The route on the chart is 433 nautical miles,  it will be interesting to see what the final mileage looks like.   Nautical miles are used to measure the distance traveled through the water.  A nautical mile is slightly longer than a mile on land, equaling 1.1508 land-measured (or statute) miles . The nautical mile is based on the Earth's longitude and latitude coordinates, with one nautical mile equaling one minute of latitude. so our planned journey is closer t...
Read more