From Land’s End at the southwest tip of Great Britain, it’s only ~150nm to Ireland. With good summer weather aboard Oso, that would be less than a full day and night of sailing, and it’s a trip we did, in the opposite direction, in a gap between gales at the beginning of last winter.
But this summer’s weather has been a bit different from typical – steady winds out of the northwest have replaced the more typical southwest breezes. And of course Ireland is directly to the northwest of us, making a sailing trip there a series of tacks straight into the wind.
While Oso is a good boat for sailing upwind, we decided to split the trip into three long tacks, with anchorages in between each. The first leg is a ~60nm jaunt straight west out to the Isles of Scilly, where we anchored in our favorite spot amongst the natives, a colony of curious seals. After a night of rest, the next day was straight north ~110nm to Milford Haven on the southwestern corner of Wales to wait for weather to move on to Ireland.
What a nice spot to wait it is. Dale Bay is a broad, shallow indentation in the western end of the larger Milford Haven, and it’s home to a sailing club and an excellent pub. And just like the rest of the UK, the shores are lined by walking paths so that we can stretch our legs between checks of the wind forecast.
And like in so many other places, a random stop leads to meeting fantastic people. Ian, Vivienne, Joanie, and Gary are moving Ian’s boat Rosamund Jane from Scotland to his home in Bristol, and a chance encounter on one of the walking paths led to drinks at the sailing club, and then tea onboard Oso the following morning.
