Falanda Sailing

 Although a bit frustrating,  we've quite enjoyed our stay so far in Conwy Marina, having not had a rest day since Grimsby!  The Marina crew here are very friendly, and even offered us a lift to the supermarket, which we gladly accepted!  Whilst dad was replacing the rot in his spreader, I helped a nearby yacht cast off,  not thinking much off it.  "Look, somebody who can coil, want to come out with us for a sail!?" ,   "okay!"  I jumped at the chance to go out on a 58' fancy sailing yacht, and within 5 minutes of looking at the boat, found myself at the helm!  Although there wasn't any wind I really enjoyed myself, and it was nice to discuss my plans for the future, including more long-distance sailing, or racing, like possibly even the mini-transat. Turns out  there is a mini 6.5 moored near us in the marina!  As well as sorting out my reefing system,  today we also topped up with fuel, which brings me onto the subject o...

 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 danger...