We set off as planned at 5am just behind the Irish yacht and hoisted sail and made really good speed south close hauled in a southwesterly breeze. There was one patch off the headland south of Greystones (Wicklow) where the wind was a bit fluky and we put in a short tack but after that the wind built and we reefed down but were making really good progress with the tide pushing us along. We had been planning to go to Arklow, which isn’t the most inspiring port and where, according to the forecast, we could be stuck again for a few days. After a brief discussion, and after checking the forecast again, we decided to head across St George’s Channel directly to Milford Haven.
Unfortunately, as it was quite rough, Anne was now feeling a bit seasick but with the Hydrovane steering and the sun out it was not too bad and we took the reefs out when the wind dropped and put them in again as it built, sometimes to around 20 to 22 knots apparent. We were making over 6 knots through the water so a good speed for Harvard. There wasn’t too much commercial shipping around and only one ship came anywhere close. We didn’t see another yacht the whole time of the crossing but a visit from some dolphins cheered us up as we approached St David’s Head and Ramsey Island. The tide has pushed us a little way north of our track but as we approached the Pembrokeshire coast we picked up the south going tide again and were doing 10 knots over the ground at times. Off St David’s Head the waves were huge, and a little bit frightening, but Harvard never felt in any danger and carried us through the overfalls with no problems. Then we went across St Brides Bay and into Broad Sound between Skomer Island and Skokholm Island. Then the wind died and we motor sailed for an hour the last five miles to Milford Haven.
It was with some relief that we dropped the anchor off Dale and tidied up. We had covered well over 100 nautical miles in 16 hours so we felt it was a great passage even though Anne was still feeling fragile. Anchor alarm and anchor light on and it was time to head to our bunks for a deserved sleep.