BLUE AIR TRIP TO WALES AND IOM JUNE 2007 On Saturday 9th June 2007 at 9am, Sam Sheils, Connie Bisset and myself, Brian Lennon, set sail on "Blue Air" (Moody 29) from Skerries hoping to do a two-week jaunt around the Irish Sea.  An hour and a half later all we had done was trace an interesting Celtic design on the GPS screen in the vicinity of the Perch.  Reason: fog!  Anyway it eventually lifted and we headed off for Holyhead.  Three hours out and we were surrounded by dolphins, fabulous!  Holyhead Marina was excellent and the welcome in the nearby Holyhead Sailing Club was a great start to the hollier.  Next day in sunny calm conditions we headed down the coast of Anglesey towards Caernarfon Bar.  An early arrival meant we anchored in Pilot Cove, a wonderful place to spend a lot more than the two hours we had there. The Bar is interesting.  They recommend you check the latest positions of the buoys in the marked channel prior to entry.  We did on the internet and noted that one lateral mark at the entrance was reported as not in its proper position.  The other had vanished without trace.  When we arrived at the bar we found the situation to be different again.  Recommendation: although not normally accurate enough for pilotage conditions, a GPS route is a useful backup reference for the Caernarfon Bar.  The bar turned out to be in a good mood and we soon snugged into Victoria Dock in Caernarfon.  The welcome in the local Royal Welsh Sailing Club, the oldest sailing club building in the world, turned out to be as warm as promised by the marina staff.  Other things we liked about Caernarfon:  the old-worldish atmosphere of the town, people speaking Welsh, the Welsh Highland Railway and, last but far from least, Molly's Restaurant! Next task, to venture through the Swellies!  This narrow rocky and dangerous section of the Menai Straits turned out to be very pleasant.  Pilotage through it is akin to playing one of those computer adventure games: get the white pyramid in line with the centre of the right arch of the bridge, then line up two posts, look for the boathouse (hidden by foliage) and so on.  As we cleared the second bridge I foolishly told Sam and Con that we had now left the three most dangerous parts of the trip behind us:  Anglesey's South-west coast, Caernarfon Bar and the Swellies.  At that time none of us had heard of the Langness Monster! The weather was breaking (and stayed broke for the rest of the summer) when we wound our way into Conwy.  Both marinas are a good walk from the town where we visited the castle.  The next leg of the trip was to Douglas, Isle of Man.  The British forecast promised easterlies, force 4 to 5, sometimes 6.  If you remember Hurricane Charly you will recall that they sometimes underestimate.  We reckon we got 5 to 6 and sometimes 7.  Anyway, the boat and crew handled it well.  As we closed on the Manx coast we realised that the stronger winds had brought us in too early for the opening of the gate in Douglas marina.  Checking with Douglas Harbour they confirmed that the outer harbour was untenable in a strong easterly and suggested Castletown Bay as a refuge until Douglas Marina became accessible.  We duly sailed into the relative calm of the bay and dropped the hook.  As we approached gate-opening time I decided to head for the security of Douglas as the forecasts were not improving. The charts I used were good at pointing out overfalls all over the place but not at Langness Point.  We encountered a churning cauldron of angry sea.  None of us ever want to be in that again!  After a very long fifteen minutes or so we were back in more "peaceful" force six conditions heading north-east towards Douglas in what was now darkness, a darkness that suddenly got blacker when the GPS screen went pop!  It did recover but at least this coast was clean and the Douglas Head light would guide us in.  Abandon traditional navigation at your peril! Douglas marina has a strange herring-bone layout that makes berthing uncomfortable and the easterly swell manages to rock the pontoons about when the gate is open.  But we did feel safe, wet, but safe.  Next day we caught Sam drying out his jacket at an artificial hearth in a home applicance shop in Douglas.  The little sailing club in Douglas was a buzz of sound, warmth and welcome.  We never succeeded in working out the political status of the island but its residents don't seem to care too much. Having the sea around them is all they need! Weather-bound in Douglas we made land-trips to Port St. Mary and the atmospheric Port Erin.  We also had a day's excitement watching the power-boat racing in Douglas Bay. With no end in sight to the bad weather we decided to cancel plans to visit Whitehaven (England) and Kirkcudbright (Scotland).  Instead we opted for a sail to Peel on the other coast of the island and then a home run to Ardglass.  Here it is appropriate to mention the wind!  Heading south-west from Douglas the wind was south-west and when we headed up the north-west side of the island the wind turned to north-east, right on the nose at all times.  We all loved Peel and got a calm night to moor up in the bay.  As I leaned over the stern to tie to a visitor's mooring buoy I called back to Con that he was kneeling on the rope.  "I'm not kneeling on it", says he, "I'm standing on it!"  That and Sam's suggestion to "give her full throttle" reminded me not to go down the stern ladder in future with those two boyos on board. Next day we sailed for Ardglass.  Well, due to a minor misinterpretation of a tidal flow diagram on my part we were initially heading for Stornoway.  Anyway, we got a beautiful wind for a change, probably because we had fooled the wind god into thinking we were heading for Scotland. Sam and Connie took advantage of this to fly the spinnaker on Blue Air for the first time in my ownership of the boat.  Ardglass Marina turned out to be a very positive experience.  All facilities worked well, the best we found on the trip.  Full credit to the small committee that undertook this project and keep it running.  However we were stuck there for three days and got to know Mannie's Bar and the local Chinese very well.  Eventually there was a break in the bad weather and we headed straight home for Skerries.  Such was the weather that we did not see the Mourne Mountains even when sailing under them! Will the rain stop us cruising in future?  No, but I'm adding to the ship's supplies, the book "623 things to fix in a rain-bound boat", a few tins of varnish and a set of brushes, a "Guide to Gourmet Food Aboard" and an onboard cinema!  Barring my little traumatic experience at the visitor's buoy in Peel, Sam and Connie were great sailing company and more than made up for the bad weather!   BLUE AIR The boat is a 29 foot Moody with bilge keels. Theoretically there is accommodation below for seven people.  This translates into moderate comfort for five.   The boat is powerd by a Bermudan rig and a Bukh 20 hp marine diesel engine.