This morning finds us in the middle of the St George’s Channel. We have just had a weather forecast that is of concern. We are currently in a lumpy sea with the wind around Force 4. During the night we motor sailed to increase our distance South and to change our angle to the waves. This gave us a bit of relief to the beating and let us sleep when not on watch.
The weather forecast is predicting the wind coming round to the South West and increasing potentially to F5. In addition the following 24 hours is forecast to be even worse at Force 7.
Anyone of a certain age will remember the Fastnet disaster of 1979. Not comparing but……..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_Fastnet_race
This is the same area that we would be in as the poor weather hits and the sensible thing to do is to divert and run for Milford Haven, before we even have to deal with the Force 5 if we can.
As it played out we did exactly that, we motor sailed to get maximum speed of around 7 knots. As we were approaching The Smalls (rocks marked by a lighthouse in the middle of nowhere) we gained an escort of 3 Common Dolphins. We were very happy to get to the Dale Anchorage at the start of the channel into Milford Haven around 8pm, not having enough daylight left to go down the channel.
There is a pontoon in the middle of this bay that we have tied to and will get a good nights sleep and motor down to the marina tomorrow.
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| Our warning |
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| The Smalls lighthouse, zoom into the middle. |
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| Our track from deciding to come in |
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| Saint Ann’s Head lighthouse |
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| Following a big ship into Milford Haven |
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