Lord Nelson is reputed to have called Milford Haven the “finest natural harbour in the world” and, certainly, the Milford Haven waterway of today offers superb opportunities to the dinghy cruiser.

The ‘glossy yotti’ press usually gives the area bad or negative publicity for the following reasons:

strong local tidal streams large tidal range pollution from oil refineries

Yes, there are strong tidal streams: it’s quite common to see dinghies and quite large yachts broad-reaching with all sails set and going backwards, when the owners could have had a cup of tea and waited an hour or two, sailing through the same place at 7 knots — it’s just a matter of common sense really.

The tidal range is not as great as elsewhere in the Bristol Channel. The range at springs is mostly around 6 m or less, and in the Upper Haven it’s somewhat less again. However, the combination of A and B is rather a problem for the average fixed ‘reel’ glossy yotti, so very large areas of the Upper Haven are undisturbed and, since this is probably the best part anyway, the dinghy cruiser can have it to himself!

As for pollution, this is not a problem nowadays. I have encountered polluted water in certain predictable places, but it is not as bad as elsewhere in South Wales and certainly most of the area is much cleaner than the Solent and surrounding rivers, in my experience.

To sum up, the Upper Haven offers good sailing to small quiet villages, with waterside pubs, oak woodland to the water’s edge and medieval castles and a tide mill to explore. The middle bit has all the dockyards, oil refineries, tanker terminals and general industry and the Lower Haven, or Western Haven, offers better sailing, cliffs, beaches, islands and 19th century forts and a couple of villages with waterside pubs. Its an ideal place for a DCA rally and possibly a DCA cruise over a Bank Holiday weekend.

I would be pleased to arrange an itinerary and low cost launching, recovery and parking facilities for a weekend if there is sufficient interest by members. If you like the idea, please write or telephone me and if I have a possible five or six boats to arrange for, I will have a go.

The weekend would be ‘organised’ on a sleeping-aboard basis, with access to water and toilet facilities nearby. Anyone who wished to sleep ashore would have to make their own arrangements. All I need to know initially is how many people and in what type of boats?