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We’re behind schedule, says the skipper, so I think we had better make the next passage a long one..

How long is long? Well how far is it to Penzance? Work out the best time to leave..

Out with the tidal atlas etc and it soon becomes obvious that it is going to be a long haul but at least we should have almost slack water when we go and pick up a following tide down Cardigan Bay.

Oh yeah, well that went belly up quickly as we should have had 0.4 against us off Holy Island and instead we were pushing into 4 knots..

Down below, check the tidal atlas again, and no I haven’t got it wrong, it must be a local eddy or something that the atlas doesn’t show…

Round the South Stack light and we are off south again but even further behind, and the the radio bursts into life Securite Securite this is Holyhead Coastguard, all vessels in the Abersoch Bay are area please watch out fot large items of debris in the water due to THE  NUMBER OF BOATS  THAT  WERE  BROKEN UP on Abersoch beach last night….  That’s what a South Westerly gale can do when a mooring is exposed to the full force.

Anyway at least were are sailing again and its time to get the watches organised as this is going to be a long haul. Gary and I take over for the first night watch as we get down Cardigan Bay towards Fishguard and off goes the radio again. Pan Pan all vessels in the vicinity of Aberporth red flares reported. Well we are abeam of it but 20 odd miles away so we can’t help. Keep a lookout and listen in, and eventually we see some white parachute flares going up on the horizon.  Time to hand over to Chris and Liz.

Noises in the night, is it a reef going in or one coming out? Try to get some sleep. Up on watch again and its blowing a whooly again, and the hand over isn’t what I expected. “Weather ahead is s**t, winds upto Bf 7 sea state rough to very rough off Cornwall, head for Milford Haven”

Ok so we are barreling along 8 knots boat speed, 12 knots over the ground so that’s 4 knots of tide and how wide is the channel between those two unlit islands?  Thank God for GPS!