Got the long train journey south from Ilkley via Manchester, heading back to Milford Haven to continue the second leg.
Stan boarded at Newport and we did the shopping at Tesco before getting a taxi to the marina. Cryptic was in good nick - had a slight smell of diesel but she was as dry as a bone. Sorted her out, then had dinner, after touching base with the marina staff. Then we went to the local pub to watch England in Sofia - good result against Bulgaria - 3-0.
Slept well and next morning, (it was blowing and raining), we had a full English breakfast then bought the Irish Imray chart folio for the Dublin area and approaches.
The lady who served us said something to the effect of "I'm glad I am not out in this!". The Shipping Forecast was something like thisWind - West, backing southwest later, 5 to 7.Sea State - Moderate later becoming rough or very rough. Weather - Squally showers, then rain.Visibility - Moderate, occasionally poor.
Dennis Turner, one the Habourmasters, on the Marina staff, seemed confident that we would be back too. Told us we could use the same berth! We set off after breakfast and fueling up - 24.3 litres - at around 10:30. Motored down the Haven until almost the last unloading/loading pier, then decided to turn back when Stan found a train departing at 15:10.
The wind had been buffeting us under bare poles whilst we motored down a safe channel - inside the Haven. At sea it must have been v. rough. As Stan said "If we escaping from the Nazis with the invasion plans, we would press on ... but we're not!"
We tied up, (after I berthed her well - right up until I decided to reverse a bit and almost pulled Derek into the water!). Then we got a taxi to the station, where we boarded the train but not before Stan got involved with a widow! Good customer service received from the train conductor and, in spite of the weirdos we met on route, we landed safely in London and I had a welcomed stay at Stan & Jane's.
Next morning I bunked off earlish to get to Alison and Peter's so we could drive down to visit her and Margaret's cousins.
Back home and with some time to look at matters - Wednesday 10:30 - the latest forecast for the Irish Sea is Wind West, backing southwest later, 5 to 7. Sea State - rough or very rough. Weather - squally showers, then rain. Visibility - moderate or good, occasionally poor.
http://easytide.ukho.gov.uk/EASYTIDE/easytide/ShowPrediction.aspx?PortID=0494&PredictionLength=7
Leg Time 1 day 18 hrs 24 mins
Rhumb Line Distance: 192Nm (bearing 18°)
Safe Sailing Distance: 212Nm
DEPARTURE: MILFORD HAVEN 51°40´·13N 05°08´·16W
HW 6.8m 04.52
Moonrise 04.53
Sunrise 06.12
LW 0.9m 11.08
HW 7.2m 17.11
Moonset 17.16
Sunset 18.10
LW 0.6m 23.36
DESTINATION: MARYPORT 54°43´·03N 03°30´·38W
LW 0.4m 05.57
Sunrise 06.10
Moonrise 07.46
HW 10.0m 11.15
Moonset 17.50
Sunset 17.59
LW 0.7m 18.11
HW 10.2m 23.32
I went down to Milford Haven on Sunday - 09:21 from Ilkley - changing at Leeds/Manchester Piccadilly and arrived in Milford Haven on a blustery wet night at 19:30.
Tesco's closed at 16:00 on a Sunday so I bought some milk at the garage and took a taxi to Neyland's Marina. No one about, but luckily I remembered the pontoon pass code and got on the boat, made a drink and slept!
Next day I aired and cleaned the boat, bought some extra derv cans, and filled up. Then went shopping, timing the finish to the train arrival. Then Stan and I took a taxi back at 16:30ish.
Found out the marina club doesn't cater Mondays(!), so after a pint, we slipped and set off. Our plan was to blitz the passage and end up offshore Maryport ready for an entrance just after lunch on the morning of 28th - after two nights a day and a morning sailing
Stan set a good safe margin using way-points that took us well outside to the west of The Smalls. This is the most remote light of Trinity House.
(the picture, by Catherine Davis, shows what we might have seen in daylight!As it was we saw only the light flash - 2 flashes of 12 seconds' duration every half minute, at position 51° 43'.23 N 05° 40'.10 W - about 20Nm west of St David's peninsula; the setting for a gruesome lighthouse story. So again thanks to the necessary late departure we missed Skomer Island, The Bitches and Horse Rock etc. ... as a passage through Jack Sound would have entailed. But safety first ... and nothing other than slack water and sound daylight would tempt me there!
The northerly way point too, was some way off west of Anglesey for clearance of that coast.
The Irish Sea was disturbed but we made decent progress through the early part of the night. In the late night (about midnight) the tide shifted against us and slowed our progress until about 5am in the morning. It was slow and boring going for most of the day and it wasn't helped by the fact Stan was tired and feeling queasy. We sailed with the jenny for about 7 hours and the auto-helm was used almost non stop most of the night and day. The only relief sea-wise was a couple of pods of Dolphins accompanying us for a small part of the journey twice.
At Stan's instigation we refueled after 24 hours - using 3.5 X 5 litres of derv. We motored more than we wanted to - given the sea state, wind and weather. For my part I think I must have dropped off a few times but did the helming on the last section as we decided to call it quits and head into Holyhead. Overall we probably covered 200 Nm in about 40 hours.
At about 11:30 or midnight the engine gave out. We were about 4 miles west of Holyhead breakwater. I panicked given that we were in a shipping lane (the Irish ferries) and I thought I had under-fueled her. Stan was not as certain, fancying he heard the engine stop quickly rather than splutter. I put 2.5 to 3 litres in then she overfilled ... so it wasn't lack of derv. The wind was too variable and light to let us sail in ... as Stan's immediate reaction was - i.e. to put the sails up. My worry was that there was no wind and we were in the Irish Farry lane - these boats are FAST.
So we called the Coastguard who launched the Holyhead All-weather Life Boat - a Severn class
RNLB 'Christopher Pearce' The Lifeboat reached us within 15 minutes or so, and took us under tow. We had drifted a fair bit but got in and tied up at about 2 am. I was tired and cold - Stan had recovered and was quite buoyant. The tow was exciting (though I was too tired and cold to appreciate just how much fun it was!). The stern wave was something to behold! After mooring up we hit the sack and we slept until about 0900 the next day!
Craig SteadmanNext morning Craig Steadman got his wet suit on and cut off the net repair - we took a photo of the troublesome beast then dumped it in a bag in the waste!
After sorting out the marina etc. and Stan chatting to Tom (!) we quit Holyhead and headed for home. 
The start of our rail journey was memorable for Stan leaving his wallet at the buffet (probably my fault for carrying his rucksack as well as my gear as we set off!). Thanks to Arriva's excellent staff this was only an inconvenience as Stan returned and picked it up and caught a later train. He was home for 21:45. I only just beat him - 20:15 - thanks to problems on Leeds to Ilkley train!The rescue is on the latest shout page of the Lifeboat though the seas weren't rough - we just had no power and were drifting a lot so still very grateful to the crew. See the archives of the Holyhead Lifeboat web page ..... start from here http://www.holyhead-lifeboat.co.uk/
This is the actual entry
32 28th Sept 2011 23-40 PM
Holyhead Coastguard requested launch of Holyhead ALB to assist a 32ft sailing vessel 2 pob 4 miles west of holyhead breakwater ,the vessel had a large fishing net wrapped around its propeller and was unable to make her way in rough seas .the volunteer crew arrived and successfully passed a tow and the vessel was towed to holyhead marina lifeboat was refuelled and stood down at 02-30 am, Holyhead coastguard mobile unit assisted with casualty at the marina many thanks for your help Holyhead coastguard co-ordinated the call
