WALES

 172 miles coved in 32 and a half hours, and we now find ourselves in Conwy!


Leaving Port Ellen on Sunday morning, there was absolutely no wind, so we had to motor for the first 2 hours, untill the famous Mull of Kintire, when it began to pick up. 


We had a great sail, dead down-wind, untill the wind picked up some more, and the tide turned against us. Wind against tide isn't ever a great mix, especially on one of Englands biggest headlands! 


By the time we were approaching the Mull of Gallaway, waves of around 3m tall (10ish feet) were pushing us onwards. At this point we had been sailing at about 8-9kts for a while, and I knew were overpowered. This meant that I had to turn the boat into the wind (and sea) to reef the main. I had been putting off doing this for a while, hoping it would just calm down, but after an unexpected gybe, the descision was made. Sailing downwind like this was nervewracking, but fun, however turning to head into the sea, things can become dangerous really quickly. 


Having handsteered for about 8hrs due to the conditions, I hadn't had a chance to change into my waterproofs, or put in the last washboard, so within the first minute of turning Falanda, everything was almost underwayer with the spray.


To make things more difficult, the reefing system on Falanda only allows you to put one reef in safely, from the cockpit, and I hadn't had a chance to connect the rest up yet. Therefore I had to spend 20 minutes trying to just get the cringle onto the ramshorn, and then strap the remaining flapping mainsail to the reefed bit with ties. It did the job, and soon we were moving again, with fully reefed mainsail and jib.


 It was quite strange because the wind couldn't have been blowing more than a force 5-6, yet just the power of the tide against it caused the sea to chop up. Soon after I reefed the tide turned, and the sea began to calm down, just in time for sunset. It seems the weather always slackens off for sunset, so we were left with a pink sky and chilly breeze. I also got to take some photos, although I'm pretty annoyed I didn't manage to get any before, when the sea looked really impressive. 


As it got dark I passed a chest of draws floating just underneath the surface, so that really got the nerves up as shipping increased and it got freezing. At some point in the night, the wind died, so I shook out the reefs, and we continued surfing forrwards.


 Not long after that it picked up again, and a loud bang shattered the (loud) stillness of the night. I soon discovered a shackle attatching the bottom of the main to the goseneck (if thats the right word) had snapped, pulling out a couple of the plasic bits that attatch and slide the main up the mast with it. This left most of the sail flapping violently, so I spent a while strapping it back down with various ropes and bits, which again, is challenging in the dark.


(The lights of Ireland were just to our right, so it was hard distinguishing the ships and ferries from the actual skyscrapers.)


There wasnt as much wind today, and after passing the Isle of Man we even had to Motor most of the way - (only!!!??!!) 65miles!! After a pretty challanging trip we arrived safely in Conwy Marina , where we will hopefully stay untill at least tomorrow.


https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/falanda-roundbritain


https://www.boatfolk.co.uk/


Calming down for sunset




Very pleased with my new flag from Fiona, pink sky behind





Wave breaking alongside


Sunrise


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