A weekend with our Westray 16 Rachel

We had planned a long weekend on the Clyde but when we worked out the mileage, Anglesey beckoned.

We camped near Beaumaris on the island and used a good slipway at Gallows Point for launching and overnight storage ashore. This cost a mere £5 for three days.

The straits at this point are deceptively wide with most of the two or three miles being shifting sandbanks leaving only a winding, river like channel with fast streams at low water.

Our Saturday sail soon showed us the strength of the tide and with a F4-5 breeze also against us we didn’t make much progress towards the open sea. The other way would have taken us through the Swellies, which except for brief periods at low and high tide feature shallow water and very strong streams.

Our enjoyable boating exercise was shared by my brother and partner in their new Cruz dinghy. They found the Topper type reefing difficult to get balanced so that the dinghy was not overpowered but would still go to windward. Unfortunately the conditions proved too much and despite much previous sailing experience they capsized.

Much to all our surprises the Cruz immediately turned turtle and it was swimming time! The cold water meant she was hard to right and it was decided to take the crew ashore and then rescue the Cruz. Unfortunately she must have hit the sand when she inverted for both masts were damaged and we towed her ashore. Then it was afternoon tea on the beach and a tidy up. Fortunately the engine was able to be flushed immediately by the helpful boatyard.

With the Cruz out of use and only light wind the next day saw six of us in Rachel motoring to Puffin Island using tidal back eddies to help. We had lovely close ups of guillemots and puffins during the circumnavigation. The return was a delight under sail with a fair breeze and a good tide under us.

Our last day saw most of the crews visiting picturesque Beaumaris and a craft fair but my son Paul and I had a pleasant sail down to Bangor pier.

It was a long tow home but the interest of sailing in a different and beautiful area was well worth it.