2022 adventures from the Solent to Scotland via Wales … returning via Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland
So 2022 started slowly as work to fix our cracked weld ground on and on! We also replaced the rudder bearings, antifouled, installed a new loo (RIP Trevor!), replaced the washing machine (which had started smoking! In truth the replacement process could justify its own blog but I won’t bore you!), re-sealed the portholes, replaced a lot of the LEDs, fixed the wind instruments, added a tricolour, and did a whole lot of battery and engine maintenance … but finally, in late May, we re-launched and it was time for some more adventures!
A BBQ in Osborne Bay with Murray and Melinda (and their boat, Bencarra) alongside was the opening trip … and then, wasting no further time, we were off overnight to the Helford River and a birthday lunch in the pub … fabulous!
We waited out a near gale and then headed round Lands End and up to Milford Haven – little did we know how long we would be there* …
(*noting that I might add that Milford Haven is not the best spot for commuting to and from London while ‘working from the boat” … I know, I did it far too many times while we were stuck there!)
First things first we had to fix a battery charging issue … but that having been sorted, and after a very windy patch of weather we were off again … headed north …
… but it wasn’t to be for long … we had a fantastic (windy and bouncy) sail out past Skomer Island (including some large waves over the top of us!) but somewhere off the Irish coast the steering and autohelm started to grind … something was wrong … we looked at all the options but being realistic there were very few safe havens on our route heading north if the steering problem got worse so the decision was made and we turned back towards Milford Haven … on the plus side we saw a LOT of puffins as we made our way back … they really are fabulous birds!
Another long story short moment … we asked locals Dave and Davy for help … we consulted with Cliff, the guru on our steering … and after almost a week of hammering, pulling, pushing, (swearing) and generally feeling a bit down, we finally managed to get the steering gearing system and the autohelm off and Rob dived onto a train and then into a hire car to drive to Chichester to get them fixed …
About 6 weeks after we had initially planned, we were finally ready to go again … father-in-law, David joined us and we were off … and headed for Scotland … a mix of weather including fog and a close encounter with a submarine moving out at pace made it an interesting trip!
Scotland – it turns out – is stunning and really very sunny! We took a week out to race at Cowes week so spent a couple of weeks working from Rhu marina (which also allowed a quick visit to my client in Glasgow) before it was time to take some holiday …
We started by heading to the Kyles of Bute … stunning … next it was the Crinan canal … not much wider or deeper than us in some spots it was a challenging but fun day transiting … from there we were off to Oban (well actually Kerrera marina) passing the 2,000NM (of sailing Ægle) mark on our way … from there to Tobermory … beautiful and we highly recommend the Tobermory distillery tour (!) … a night at anchor in Loch na Droma Buidhe … beautiful as well, and soooooo quiet … Isleornsay on Skye and a lovely dinner … and a quick run back to Tobermory to avoid inbound bad weather! … Loch Aline … Craighouse and Gigha …. AMAZING … all very highly recommended!
But all good things come to an end and we had to return to the world of work … so it was a quick sail to Bangor marina to complete the holibobs … what a great break!
Bangor provided an opportunity for a Northern Irish road trip – amazing scenery and some insightful touristing – but also for us to catch up with some J80 friends – Michael, Mark and Alastair as well as other halves – we had a couple of lovely dinners reminiscing about regattas including the Worlds in Kiel where Jumblesail and Jalfrezi had almost collided after a spectacular Jumblesail broach! All good things come to an end though and we needed to start to head back as we had a date in Salcombe to meet …
First it was off to the Dun Laoghaire, Republic of Ireland where Mills joined us for a windy and wavy trip down the Irish Sea and back round Lands End to Plymouth Yacht Haven … the last bit was champagne sailing in glorious sunshine with a three sail reach past the Eddystone Lighthouse before the wind gave out and we had to motor the final stretch
After a couple of weeks in Plymouth it was time to get to Salcombe to meet the Nightjar crowd for a fabulous long weekend of eating, drinking and walking … I highly recommend the Salcombe gin distillery tour … all too soon the weekend was over and we needed to start thinking about getting back to Cowes for a winter of maintenance. So Salcombe to Poole and then Poole to Cowes (we kept up the regular dolphin sightings … essentially we saw dolphins on every leg west of Portland Bill this year!) … and at the end of the 2022 season we have now done over 2,650NM on Ægle … we are getting to know her better! 🙂
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