Small Boat Voyages

Two weeks after SDG and I’m ready to go for another short sailing experience this time the DCA rally in North Wales. I’ve sailed here in Menai Straits once in a 42ft Beneteau during my Competent Crew RYA course in 2017 and again in a Wayfarer dinghy in 2019 the latter being a bittersweet experience: shroud coupling broke and mast bent. My fault should have been more vigilant.

This time Tarka will I am sure be the right middle ground for me compromise between size and toughness with comfort and a lot of joy. Also the ability to single hand and now with an optimised towing and launching rig I am keen to try out.

Packing on Friday 13th

One great thing about Tarka is that you can literally throw gear into the cabin without having to put waterproof bags on everything and lash it all down.

On arrival I met up with Paul Constantine pictured below who had been invited to meet up and have a look and possibly a short sail with me on Tarka via John Hughes a mutual friend and DCA senior member. Also here pictured are Mark O’Nions and Norman Drinkwater the latter who organised this DCA rally.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/wRw3gp8V6SJyYYDZ8

The weather was against us initially and the decision was to wait a while to see how it developed. As it turned out the forecast had been F3 to F4 on at least one of the weather models available and as I arrived there it was just that, and blue skies amongst cloud but it soon turned into F5 to F7 and skies darkened  as we rigged our boats. At high tide the wind died a little and we all felt confident that the worst had blown through with the tide.

We all helped each other launching and as Tarka needed the car assisted launch Mark took charge of the electric winch after a brief set of instructions from myself and I drove the boat away from the trailer once afloat. One problem at this slipway is the lack of adequate mooring facilities there not even anything to tie up to and care must be taken to avoid damaging boats if they were allowed the come alongside the ramp and there are large concrete onbstacles jutting out of the sides that seemed quite treacherous. It seemed the only way would be to motor away and stand off until the other boats had launched. Mark was very kind taking care of this and also in parking the trailer and car afterwards so thank you Mark.

It was a mere 0.6nm across to the Anglesey shoreline where our destination awaited, a quit back water in the form of a disused quarry that floods at the top of the tide, then dries out until the next high tide. There is a short window of opportunity to get into the quarry as the entrance is both shallow and narrow. I had issues with weed getting wrapped around the propeller, but was able to  reach over and free this off with my boathook.

While there was water available I tried out the yuloh again and found the extra handle I added recently worked very well. I practiced turning to port ons starboard and even a little reversing, now possible since adding a latch on top of the oarlock, this being made of rope embedded inside a leather cover, which when lashed to the oarlock then forms a circular oarlock instead of a u-shaped oarlock that prevents the yuloh accidentally coming out of the lock.

The short cruise to the quarry meant there was plenty of time for going ashore for a walk around the quarry, or for dozing, eating, sharing stories, and for me, playing a little music on the banjo. The new blow up dinghy proved useful for a short time while there was water under the boat, but it soon became evident that all the water would drain out of the quarry and if I lingered on shore too long I would be faced with a very muddy walk back. So I paddled back and stepped back on board Tarka and resigned myself to stay on board for 24 hours.

Also a first outing for the new fisherman’s anchor that I deployed off the stern while the bow was tied off to a chain on the quarry’s edge to make anforenand aft mooring.

Next day, also plenty of time before water returned to the quarry. Mark cooked sausages for lunch on the open fire, and although I had had a cooked breakfast on board Tarka, he was kind enough to send me a special delivery of a sausage bap in a bag tied to a line to ferry it across for shore to ship withou getting it wet. Very tasty it was too. Deliveroo, who are you!

The wind was again a little more than predicted so for the return leg I kept two reefs in that was all that was needed to propel Tarka against the last of the flooding tide.

Recovery was straight forward, utilising the front towbar and winch making it easy to let the trailer out underneath Tarka at the same time as winching Tarka onto the trailer, chaining off and then winching back up to the car, re-hotching aidednby the new hitching guide to save time.