Llanbedrog - Fishguard
Even though the original plan had been to sail over to Ireland, we slipped our mooring in North Wales at 1700hrs on 21.07.07, bound for Cowes. With a warm evening sun and a NW force 2-3, we made an easy 4 knots with the spinnaker and full main up as we sailed between St. Tudwal’s isles. Over the next few hours, we made excellent progress with the spinnaker before putting up the #1 genoa and gennaker, with the #1 poled out to windward. By 2215hrs, however, we had had to reef the main down and put up the working jib. We then followed a 2-hour watch system until 0700 the next morning, when we decided to put in a second reef, as the wind was now up to around 20-24 kts.
The wind then started to ease off and by 1130hrs we had the full main and working jib up again. The wind continued to ease off until about 1400hrs, when it backed round to the South and increased once again, heading us away from Fishguard. Also, the tide was now running around Strumble head and pushing us back up the coast. We tacked against what was now about 18 kts of wind for around 3 hours before finally admitting defeat and motoring the remaining 3 miles into Fishguard. Once inside, we anchored off the lower harbour, which is a picturesque drying inlet in the back of the bay and is well away from the main harbour and the ferry port.
Fishguard - Dale, Milford Haven
Ramsey sound and Jack sound both ideally need to be navigated at slack water for the easiest passage. However, as we had to pass through both of them in one day, we were expecting to get to Jack sound at least an hour later than slack water, and were therefore possibly expecting a rough passage through. We left Fishguard at 1120hrs and hosted the main with 2 reefs and the working jib. We made an average of 5.5 kts across to Strumble head with the NW force 5 behind us and then turned south for Ramsey Sound.
As we rounded Strumble head, due to the wind over tide we entered some huge overfalls, they were worryingly large so we put the washboards in and closed up the hatch. It was all I could do to keep Casulen II stern-to the waves, but at this angle we were heading in towards the headland. This meant that I had to steer a slalom course, turning offshore between waves and then turning back to take the waves on (and sometimes over!) the stern. In all I think we were pooped three times, once the wave went over the whole deck and we were sailing underwater! We were thankful of the 1½” cockpit drains we had fitted last winter. By about 1400hrs, we were clear of the overfalls and making slow but steady progress along the coast. 
The tide turned as we rounded St David’s head at about 1620hrs. We flew through the sound at about 7-8 kts, and then turned towards Jack Sound, which we passed through without incident. The wind now increasing, we sailed around St Ann’ s head and into Dale for 2015 hrs, where, the visitor’s pontoon being full, we picked up a mooring.
Dale, Milford Haven – Dale, Milford Haven
Over the next five days, we were stormbound in Dale with winds of up to force 8 being forecast. After spending one night on a mooring, we moved onto the pontoon, where we spent 4 frustrating days doing very little. Although Dale is really nice, there is only one small village shop and the sailing club. Rowing a small inflatable into 35 to 40 knots of wind was also very hard, so we spent most of our time on the pontoon. On the fifth day, the wind had eased off sufficiently to allow us to sail up the Haven as far as Lawrenney yacht station. We anchored off Williamston’s pill until the tide turned, then we sailed back down to Pembroke for some food and petrol before returning to Dale and anchoring for the night.
Dale, Milford Haven – Newlyn
Having spent 5 days in Dale, when we heard a forecast of N/NW force 3-4, we were ready to leave immediately. As we cleared Dale shelf, we put up the spinnaker and turned off the engine. Although the winds were light, there was still a residual swell running, so the sails just slatted back and forth so we only made about 1-2 knots at best. 
To stop the noise, we put in the flattening reef and changed sails to the gennaker and #1 genoa. This helped, and then an increase in wind meant that out speed was now consistently around the 3.5 knots mark. Toward sunset we were surprised to see a pod of dolphins, which came right up alongside and stayed with us for about an hour. We were making course for Padstow, but eventually decided to head for Newlyn, as the wind was in our favour and the seas were by now fairly flat. Therefore, at sunrise, we altered course to head for Land’s End and tried to make the best speed possible in order that we should catch the tide.
Unfortunately, to do this we had to motor for one or two hours in the morning as the wind had died completely. By early afternoon, we were off the Brisons rocks, and had plenty of tide in our favour. As we passed Sennen cove, we went through a huge shoal of about 20 basking sharks, some of them a lot longer than Casulen II! Shortly after, we passed inshore of Longships, and started along the coast to Newlyn. We were passed by several yachts, and could see many more astern, evidently all part of a racing fleet coming in from Wolf rock. They all seemed to be heading for Penzance, and we did our best to keep up with them as we all sailed into Mounts Bay into what had now increased to about a force 5 from the north. In any other circumstances, we would have probably reefed down, but we were determined to keep up with the other boats. With Casulen II heeled over to about 30°, we made about 5.5 knots to windward (not bad considering our hull speed is 5.4 knots!) We tacked right up to the breakwater at Newlyn, then started the engine, dropped the sails and motored in and onto the pontoon. 
Newlyn – Mullion Cove
As we had completed a 31-hour passage the day before, we decided to make a reasonably short passage across Mounts Bay to Mullion Cove. The wind was SE force 2/3, so we had a really great sail across the bay, even though the wind did occasionally drop away to almost nothing. We reached Mullion Cove and anchored in the lee of the cliffs that surround this picturesque bay. In order to check our swinging circle, we buoyed the anchor, and then had to re-anchor because the line was too short and the buoy sank! Although this is a really great anchorage in light winds from the east, it would be uncomfortable or even dangerous in anything from the west or south west.
Mullion Cove - Mawes, Falmouth
Early the next morning, we had our anchor lifted for us by a local fisherman thinking that he had found a pot marker that had drifted off station!
Shortly afterwards, we lifted anchor and sailed out of the bay and started around the Lizard. It soon became apparent that we had got something wrong, because even though our speed was 3.5 to 4 knots, our SOG was as little as 0.8 knots! We reworked the tides and discovered that we had misread the almanac. To keep our SOG at around 2 knots, we started the engine. Going further offshore helped a bit and we were making about 2.5 knots over ground. It took all day to get to the Manacles buoy, but by this time, the tide had started to turn in our favour, so we sailed into the river and anchored in Mawes, just opposite Falmouth.
Mawes, Falmouth – Fowey
With the tide with us and the force 4
wind on the beam, we put up the gennaker and made 6 to 7 knots through the water all the way to Dodman point (our SOG averaged out at about 9.5 knots!). As we altered course for Fowey, we had to change the Gennaker for the #1 genoa, as the wind had increased. As we entered the river, we took down the sails and motored in and picked up a visitor’s mooring at 1145 hrs. It had taken us just 4 ½ hours to do 21 miles, an average of 4.7 knots overall. Because it was the Fowey Classics week, the harbour was packed, and by the evening we were rafted up 3 to each visitors mooring buoy, and the pontoons were not visible because of the number of classic wooden boats rafted onto them.
Fowey – Helford River
As we were now running out of time, having spent 5 days in Dale, we decided to turn around. We spent the morning watching the Fowey Classic Rally gaff rigged boats sailing in the entrance to the river before catching the afternoon tides back along the coast to the Helford River. We had the wind against us for the whole of the day, and for the last 4 hours we had to motorsail to make any reasonable progress against what was now a force 5 SW wind. Once inside the river shelter was excellent and we anchored at Voose, the first anchorage as you enter.
Helford River – Newlyn
We checked the tides over thoroughly first thing in the morning, and, after agreeing that we were correct, lifted the anchor at 1040 hrs. We sailed out of the river and had soon got the #1 genoa down replacing it with the working jib. We tacked up the coast in light SW winds before starting the engine and taking down the jib to keep a good course. As we rounded Black head we entered the first of the overfalls. 
Once through, we headed across and entered the overfalls off Lizard Point. We dropped the engine down as far as it would go, but the prop still lifted out of the water once or twice. The waves increased in size and at one point we had a wave higher than the spreaders! Luckily it was not breaking but we still stopped as we rode up the face of it. Once clear of Lizard Point, the waves subsided again and we set a course offshore to go around the Boa; a small patch that “breaks occasionally”. However, the tide took us directly towards the patch, so we had no option but to steer right through the middle of the overfalls! After going backwards at one point, due to three relatively small waves in quick succession, we cleared the worst of it, turned off the engine and put the spinnaker up. We then had a really nice, gentle sail across the bay to Newlyn and only took the spinnaker down about 10 metres from the breakwater! We tied up alongside in exactly the same place as before, and went ashore for fish and chips.
Newlyn – Newlyn
Due to a fresh northerly wind forecast, and as the North coast of Cornwall is not the best coast to have as a lee shore, we spent the following 2 days in Newlyn. We saw quite a few interesting boats, and managed to “save” a few boats from running aground on an unbouyed slipway. It was quite frustrating that we could have gone to almost any place apart from Padstow, which is where we were intending to go.
Newlyn – Padstow, via St Ives
We had a lie in and then had a late breakfast before going into Penzance to stock up on some food. 
We left the harbour at 1250hrs, and sailed down towards Mousehole, however, just off Pendeen lifeboat slipway, we were hailed by some “novice sailors” whose engine had overheated. They said they needed to get into Penzance, which was their home port. We looked at our Seagull outboard, at their 27 footer, and then at the rocks about 100m away. We passed them a towline, and opened the throttle wide. After turning right round in a circle, we rigged a bridle off the stern to centralize the tow. We then turned downwind towards the rocks and opened the throttle again. When we had about 2.5 knots of way, we turned back around towards Penzance, making now a slow but steady 1.8 to 2 knots. They said that they had a friend who owned a fishing boat who was coming out to give them a tow and about 20 minutes later, a small motorboat came alongside them. We throttled back, drifted down and released the tow before motoring away. The last we saw of them, they were again under way and heading in the right direction. Having lost about 40 minutes, we left the engine on to make up for lost time. We passed around Land’s End in a flat calm, and then headed for St Ives. By 2200hrs we were anchored in the bay waiting for light and a fair tide to Padstow. At 0530hrs it was light enough to see, so we lifted the anchor and motorsailed most of the way to Padstow in very light winds. The lack of both wind and clouds, together with the noise of our Seagull engine, made it a hot and frustrating day. But we did manage to sail the last two hours and by mid afternoon, we were rafted up alongside in Padstow inner harbour.
Padstow – Dale, Milford Haven
We had to wait for the lock gates to open at 1420hrs before we could leave Padstow. We motored out into the river, then put up the main and gennaker and made good speed northwards. However, towards sunset, the wind had died off, and we had to motor for about 5 minutes to avoid a trawler. Throughout the night the wind remained light, and the course that we had to make was really hard to steer, as the gennaker would not fill or goosewing. During the night we saw lots of shooting stars, and the phosphoresce was really bright. At about 0100hrs, we again had a pod of dolphins swimming around and under the boat, but as we were not really moving, they soon left. By dawn, the wind was dead astern, and we put up the spinnaker. This instantly improved our speed and we could now see the chimneys surrounding Milford Haven. With the wind increasing all day, we were considering taking the spinnaker down by the time we entered Milford Haven, but we persevered, and sailed onto the pontoon before anchoring for the night. At about midnight, we were woken by a heavy thud as Casulen II touched the bottom. Due to a wind shift, we had swung round and found that we were anchored a bit too close in. Fortunately it was about 30 minutes to low water so we only lost about another 4 inches of water, and we soon lifted off again.
Dale, Milford Haven – Dale, Milford Haven
The next day the forecast was for winds of force 5 from the north, which was a bit strong for making a passage through Jack Sound in Casulen II. However, we had met up with three local sailors, Bob, John and Roy who invited us to go out for a short sail on John’s boat, Humara, an Achilles 9 metre.
Dale, Milford Haven – Solva
We sailed out of Dale at 1340hrs so that we would have the tide with us up the coast and through Jack Sound. 
Once through Jack Sound, we poled the #1 genoa out to windward and headed for Solva. The large black clouds astern of us looked very ominous, and we were preparing for a drenching! We dropped the sails as we entered the pool and motored into the harbour. As we rounded the corner, we were extremely surprised to see so many boats, and we had to dodge between them, almost touching them on either side! Just after we had tied up alongside, it started to rain, and within seconds we were soaked to the skin. The harbourmaster was very helpful in getting us ready to dry out, and then left us to it, a 1-gallon water container tied to the rope connecting our masthead to the yacht club balcony to heel us over. We touched down at about midnight, and as soon as the water had dropped sufficiently to mean that we were not going to move again, we went to sleep.
Solva – Solva
Due to another patch of bad weather passing over (forecast for force 6 and 7) we spent the next three days in Solva, drying out on each tide at about midnight and midday. We walked around the cliff top footpaths and across the harbour at low water, and worried about the crack lines that appeared to run around the tops of most boats keels! The weather was either really hot and sunny or torrential downpour, and there was little warning of either, so we got really wet several times over.
Solva - Llanbedrog
We finally got a half decent weather forecast, and despite warnings of a big swell left over from the last few days, 
we left around midday to avoid drying out on the tide. We sailed along to wait in the anchorage just short of Ramsey Sound. As we approached what we thought was the anchorage, we could see a huge area of white water extending out of the bay! We were just wondering how the tide could be running this strongly through the anchorage when we realised that we had gone too far and were trying to go through Ramsey sound against the 6 knots of tide! We hurriedly turned tail and went to the anchorage, where we let out 50 metres of warp and hoped that it would be sufficient, there was very little room! (We were in 14 metres of water, and the wind was gusting up to 23 knots). Four hours later, we left the anchorage and sailed through the sound, this time with the tide, we were moving very fast with just the working jib up. Once clear, we set a course for Llanbedrog and put up the mainsail with 3 reefs. Even with just this and the working jib up, we were making about 6 knots through the water, and at times about 10 knots SOG. With a huge swell running we were thankful it was dark and couldn’t see the size of the waves. Neither of us slept all night apart from brief spells lying across the cockpit, and we were glad when dawn came, as this meant that it was easier to stay awake.
We could soon see St Tudwal’s isles ahead, and it seemed no time at all until we were sailing in between them. The wind was now dying away, so we took out one reef, but were now so close we left the second and just ghosted past Abersoch, and into the back of Llanbedrog bay, where we picked up our mooring. Our average speed had been 5.9knots over 73 nautical miles since entering Ramsey Sound, not bad for a 21’ Corribee! It had been a long day but a fitting end to a great trip.