Is it 3 yrs?

Doesn't time fly!  It's been three years since our last excursion to Llangorse Lake on the outskirts of Brecon and in the shadows of the Brecon Beacons.  It only feels like last year but saying that the Summer feels as if it was a year ago as well!
This time we took two boats with us.  Harry was learning to race a RS Feva with his friend Zac and they did rather well winning the General handicap Class whilst we spectated from the Bass Boat.  I use the term spectate broadly as for me it was almost a form of torture at some points.  This was due to the amount of weed in the lake.  It was awful at times and would just seem to suck you in and slow you right down making manoeuvring all but impossible without cheating with an oar to tack.
Sunday's sailing was better partially due to the amount of rescue ribs winding it up on their props like spageti on a fork and also due to us not venturing very far from the centre of the lake.

Pen y Fan

A pleased Harry and Zac

Air show spectators

Last weekend Swansea Bay hosted the Welsh Air Show.  Obviously one of the best vantage points to watch the amazing fete of skill and engineering was from the water.  The weather was absolutely perfect.  Glorious Sunshine, 25 degrees in the boat park whilst rigging and a cooling 10mph sea breeze which peaked at approx 14mph around 3 O'clock.  Grandad past his initiation test by managing to get himself into and out of the boat prior to launching.  Once on the water Harry and Elliot took the helm and we set off from the Knab Rock on a downwind course towards Swansea.  The fishing rod came out and within a minute the Mackerel were jumping onto the hooks!  The smaller ones were being thrown back in.

It took about three quarters of an hour to travel just under a mile distance in order to get a brilliant front seat view of the show.  The main was dropped and the jib furled, the coffee poured and the muffin lunch was all eaten just prior to the first act.  The Red Arrows started the show with pin point accuracy and jaw dropping aerobatics carried out at amazing speed just meters from each other and us!!  On numerous occasions they flew directly over our heads and seemingly used our mast as a turning pylon. WOW.

The Arrows coming round

On the nose

Pretty close!

After that superb display it was was time for the old ladies to do their bit.  In a more relaxed style but only slightly less noisy atmosphere the Lancaster, Spitfire and Hurricane made their debut, each time the Lancaster approached us to make a low pass myself the crew went into a rendition of the Dam Busters with obviously the appropriate goggle gestures bing posed to each other.  Both the Hurricane and Spitfire were so elegant and glorious to watch.   The sound of also those perfectly tunned pistons was just amazing and the encore was another sensory stimulant as the Lancaster swept over us for the last time she left behind her a really strong petrol fume odour which we really weren't expecting at all.
At this point I should make an apology for not taking a spare battery for the camera with me unfortunately there are no more plane shots but the show went on all afternoon with various acts and stunts being carried out.
As the tide had been on the turn for around two hours it was decided to start to make our way back.  It turned out to be a magnificent beat back with a 12mph sea breeze on one side and an outgoing tide on the other side of the boat and Grandad in the middle, beaming from ear to ear on the tiller.

It didn't seem to take long and we were nearing the moorings, another couple of Mackerel were caught just before crossing the start line of a Mumbles Yacht Club, dinghy race.  With Grandad still at the helm  we took off up the first beat.  Despite starting a little late, and bodging a tack we went to the right side of the course which paid dividends.  Only a couple of Oppies were in front of us!!  We did however round the windward mark with a couple of Toppers still behind us.  So before they had a chance to overtake  we graciously retired keeping at least a little dignity. The slip was quiet and Grandad managed to jetsam himself from the Lucky Lobster.  What a memorable day and all this prior to the boys playing in a small Tennis tournament and Swimming Lessons where Elliot went up a group.

Llangorse Lake

Over the August Bank Holiday weekend we went camping with some friends to the banks of Llangorse Lake. Llangorse is the largest natural lake in South Wales and nestles in the shadows of the Brecon Beacons and in particular Pen Y Fan the highest mountain in South Wales (886m). The lake itself isn't really that big only just over 2 miles long and .5 mile wide.


With 5 adults and three children on board it wasn't going to be a race around the lake but we did spend a very comfortable 2.5 hrs admiring the views with nearly everyone espiecally the children complying with their watch on the tiller.


The camping and sailing was a great sucess so now we are actively looking for venues for future explorations, so any advice would be welcomed?

Pwll-Du Picnic

At last both the weather and tides coincided. A picnic at Pwll-Du was planned, we had the boat rigged and launched at 11:15hrs, low tide (quite springy) was around 14:00hrs so that should have helped us down the coast and the wind was at max 5-6 mph from the south west.
Harry took the helm as soon as the transom touched the water and he proceeded to steer us out past the end of the Peir towards the Scarweather south cardinal mark. Unfortunately, due to the time of our departure we couldn't take the short cut through the outer lighthouse sound as the causeway had completely dried out. So it was a case of sailing around the Mumbles Lighthouse and over the surprising calm Cherry stones. After almost an hours sailing we were on our third tack and had passed Braclet Bay but had yet to get properly beyond Tutt Head and Limeslade. Both Clare and I reluctantly thought it wise to start the engine before we had a mutiny on our hands so we ended up motoring the rest of the way. Harry was now very pleased as at the moment motoring is better than sailing and he does enjoy steering close to other anchored fishing boats to show them who's in charge, much to Dads amusement.

I guess we would have arrived at Pwll-Du at around 13:00hrs, our friends who had left earlier were already settled and the BBQ's were cooking nicely. We left the FBB anchored with a little rope ladder hanging over the side just in case we had to swim out for it . Although, we needn't have worried as when it was time to leave there were plenty of taxi offers.

As is so often the case the sail back was absolutely lovely to the extent that it all goes by too quickly. The light wind hadn't changed direction so we had a run all the way back, when we were off Caswell we gybed the main leaving the Jib and Mizzen on a starboard tack to sail by the lee. When we arrived at the Lighthouse there was now enough water to cut through the sound and gybed all the sails on to Port! This is often the case at the Mumbles corner of Swansea Bay, the wind was South Westerly in the Bristol Channel but Westerly behind the Mumbles Head, moorings and slip, so rather than beating we put on the engine and motored our way to the end of a perfect day on the water.

Gower Cat Challenge

Not quite action photo's but some very modern, great looking Catamarans

A beautiful day on the BB

So the sun was shining, the neap tide was
coming in and Clare was in work. Couldn't
go racing so what should I do to keep myself
and the children entertained.
Yep......get the boat hooked up and off down
to Mumbles, met some competitors for the
Gower Cat Challenge and then off round the
Mumbles head and down the Peninsular.
I wasn't expecting to be faster than the competing
Catamarans but there again no one was really
expecting for the wind to drop from 5mph to 0mph.
I guess we were lucky that we had the egg whisk
on the back! As you can see it really was a fab day
and after 3 hours and no complaints from the
crew I decided it was time to return to dry land
for Ice Cream.
Directly behind me in top photo is Ilfracombe, North Devon and in the bottom photo it is Limeslade

Sept 27th

Today there were more boats leaving the water than on it. As Summer draws to a close the little day boats on the moorings are slowly being taken to the Village Lane slip where they are taken up to the Promenade for their Winter hibernation.
It was extremely quiet in the Bay. The Mumbles Lifeboat briefly disturbed the peice for a few moments during a launch and subsequent recovery but even this was a corporate event and not a mercy mission. The Bay itself was as flat as a mill pond and with only 1-2mph of wind and sunny intervals it was an extremely pleasant 3hrs pottering around under motor. Both Harry and Elliot helmed and although Elliot hasn't quite got the knack of keeping us going in a straight line it was very amusing watching him try!
Unfortunately, the camera was left at home but the fishing rods were kept pretty busy, in total we caught six fish, 3 Pollock and 3 Red Gurnard. Although, 1 of the Pollock was pretty small so was put back for another day. On the way home we stopped for some charcoal and you can guess the rest.

Sept 12th

We went for the quick get away today as The Mumbles Yacht Club was
hosting a Topper Nationwide Event. There were 184 Toppers in and around the boat park so we decided to leave the sails behind and just go under motors (plural). Clare did mention 1 motor and a pair of oars but lets just say I knew who would be doing the rowing if something had happened, hence 2 motors.
Well... a woman's intuition prevailed! I managed to break a part of the starting mechanism on the 4 stroke Honda whilst afloat but still at anchor. So we spent the next 3 hrs pottering with the spare 2 stroke (Yamaha Malta) What a great little engine, very light and pushed us along quite happily. In fact this little engine has really opened our eyes and will
probably be our second choice of propulsion from now on,
sails obviously being the first.
I started the day by taking the boat down to the boat park prior to the Topper crowds and had a good chat to an owner of a Drascombe long boat (21'). He comes from Hereford but makes the trip to Mumbles quite regularly. This was the first time we had met, they were off down the coast to Three Cliffs and as the owner rigged his crew were digging for bait. With this in mind I decided it was time to purchase my first fishing rod (not a brothers hand me down whilst in my early teens)
Too cut a fairly long story short we had an excellent afternoon in Swansea Bay getting close to the Topper racing coupled with a quick jaunt through the outer sound (gap between the lighthouse and middle island) to Limeslade and back. For tea we had Gurnard and Mackrel which were both caught by Harry using his £5.99 rod and reel!!

Club Racing in June

What did I get up to?
Approx 18 knots

Blue Water sailing!

13th June
Elliot's first sail this year. We decided to go on an adventure. With plenty of food and fuel packed we headed of from Mumbles on an ebbing tide, destination Pwll Du Bay. The weather was pleasant wind approx 10mph south westerly and sunny, temp 18deg C. After sailing around Mumbles Head we started to harden up onto a beat, passed over the choppy Cherry Stones and made our way out further in to the Bristol Channel on a starboard tack.
Once on a transit between the Mixon mark and Langland we
tacked onto port to head inshore, the out going tide helping to push us down the Gower Coast towards Caswell. At Langland Point we tacked back out to sea but it wasn't long before we thought it necessary to start up the outboard furl the jib and motor the rest of the way. This decision was welcomed by the crew as it cut over an hours sailing time from our journey. On our arrival at Pwll Du we lowered the anchor, tidied up the sails and finished off what little food still remained. Harry and Elliot did a little fishing whilst Clare and I snoozed. That didn't last long!!
They soon realised fishing didn't mean you automatically caught
fish so I dropped Clare and the boys off just behind the Needles to
explore the beach and rock pools. The tide turned at 15:16hrs so at 16:00hrs we decided it would be a good time to head back to Mumbles. I expected the journey to take up to 2hrs of sailing but on a beam reach and a following tide we were back at the Mixon mark in 50mins. The 4-5 foot swell was now breaking at times over the sand banks and all the other craft and us included took the inner passage between the sandbanks and Braclet Bay. We passed Mumbles Light house at 17:00hrs, gybed on to port and made or way back towards the moorings passing the Mumbles Pier.
The tide was now covering the bottom of the Knab Rock slip so it
was an easy job to get the boat back onto dry land and packed away.
The very last job was to wake up Elliot who had slept for the
majority of the return journey.

April 22nd

The forecast was Southerly 6mph veering Westerly
12mph by 16.00hrs. Unfortunately it remained around
6mph all afternoon and out of the Bay it appeared to be
a lot less.

Clare, Harry and I had an enjoyable sail in the
lightest conditions we have sailed the 'Lucky Lobster' in.
Even if I had spent some time tweaking the sail shapes it
would not have made any noticeable difference to our speed.
Maybe a burgee and perhaps a tell tale or two on the jib
could prove worth while but I must remind myself that
this is a Day Boat and not a pure bred racer which I am
more accustomed to.

The internal fit out is pretty basic, there is an aluminum
luff track adjacent to the seat, hull moulding, this is what
the cushions are supposed to slide into so they don't get blown over board.
A forward and aft locker with a bilge pump located in the
rear, teak centre thwart and maghony rear seat and floor
boards, a RWO mainsheet pulley/cleat and a roller
furling jib. I am planning on fitting some fabric pockets
each side of the centre board casing just to put small
items and halyard tails in.

First sail of 2009

Today Harry and I had our first sail of the year. It was an Easterly wind approx 12 gusting 15mph and we just played in and around the moorings at Mumbles. After a while we took on board another two crew members who had sunk their Oppies and Harry appeared to be very proud that our boat wasn't even close to sinking. Harry even offered the new crew some of his crisps! Ronan and Olivia both thought the FBB was much better than an Oppie.

Falmouth Bass Boat 357

FBB 357 "LUCKY LOBSTER"
Clare and I bought Lucky Lobster last July. Unfortunately due to the disappointing weather we only managed to sail her on two occasions last year with the great help of the Skipper, Harry (4) and First mate Elliot (2). I also managed to take her out under motor with the help of Paul Lienti from Chattanooga USA whilst running a warm up race for the F16 Catamaran World Championships being hosted by Mumbles Yacht Club. We are planning to start sailing in earnest during the next week or two.
FBB 357 had been well looked after by it's two previous owners, the first lived near Hereford and the second near Mumbles, South Wales. FBB 357 is a De Luxe model and was originally built by Mike (I'll check out his surname etc). She came complete with a white cuddy & sails, thick 'fender rope' to protect the hardwood gunwhales, oars & rollocks, 3.5hp 2 stroke Yamaha engine and a 5hp 4 stroke Honda engine and a fishermans anchor. Not forgetting a galvansied trailer built by Lizard Trailer Services, Helston, Cornwall (date plated 19/8/88).