I slept ok for the first 4 hours of the night, but then the wind got up and cervisia started bouncing around. I was not anchored in a place at was suitable for north east winds: there was little choice. The main thing is that the anchor held and cervisia is alright. I got some rest for the other few hours. When I got up at 430, there were clearly some waves around and there was a force 3 wind. The sun was just coming up and it seemed like a good time to get moving.
Cervisia was really straining at her anchor. I thought that it might be a pig to get out, but it was fine. I then had to stow the anchor (not easy on cervisia at the best of times) while cervisia was bouncing around in the waves.
The Irish coastguard were forecasting calm winds. Indeed the local observations on the radio were for 2 to 3 knots of wind. We must have been in a magic windy spot as we had a good force 3. This wind stayed with us most of the way across the Irish Sea, only giving out for an hour somewhere in the middle. It was a gorgeous day with sunny skies and it was pretty warm too. We made good progress on a broad reach most of the way. When the wind died, I got the spinnaker out which helped a lot. It looks colourful too.
It was a good job that we hadn't gone down Cardigan Bay (the original plan) as they were firing missiles into it from Aberporth. I think the dolphins might have been on holiday too. I saw none in the Irish Sea.
It was good to sight land at the far side. I recognised Carn Lidi a St David's head. After that all the islands and hills started to make sense. I knew that the tide was going to turn against us and so had the cruising chute up to get past the South Bishop lighthouse. We had realy good sailing with this up. I don't really know why I took it down. Maybe I was being over cautious. Taking it down was a big mistake as it meant that we lost speed. Coupled with a poor navigational choice (going too far north into Broad Sound between Skomer and Skokholm Islands) meant that we got well and truly stuffed by the tide in Broad Sound. The first time we tried to get through, it was clear that we were going to hit Skomer rather than make it through the sound (Skomer is rocky and uninviting from a shipwreck perspective). We took a more southerly course the second time and made it through very slowly. There must have been a 6 knot tide against us at one point. Unfortunately we had to do the sound under engine to make sure we got through.
I saw some other boats in South Haven at Skomer and so assumed that it must be ok to anchor there. I got here after sunset and anchored in the gloaming. My first attempt at anchoring didn't work (my first failure). It was obvious that it hadn't worked and second time seems to have been lucky. The iPad is going to be on anchor watch duty again tonight!
Skomer is as beautiful as ever. It is a really special place. The seas around it are full of birds. There are puffins swimming around in the water around the island. There are birds squawking outside as I write this and I heard some seals on the shore earlier. It's a really special place.
The aim tomorrow is to get to the Gower. We'll have to see how that goes. I can't face getting up too early and so the day will start with a slog against the tide before the tide takes us round the south of pembrokeshire to Tenby.
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