It was an early start on Saturday morning. In order to catch the tide correctly through Jack Sound and Ramsey Sound we needed to have left the mouth of Milford Haven by 0600. To allow me time to get up (and have my last shower in a while – so I thought) I got up at 3am and we were set off by 4am.

With little wind we motored down towards the mouth of the Haven with the sun rising behind us, picking up the 5am weather forecast on route. It was much the same as for the night before “South-easterly force 3 to 4, South-westerly force 5 to 7 possible force 8 in exposed areas later [after 12 hours – Met Office jargon]”. This should see us have a fair wind for most of the day and then into a safe port 6 hours before any bad weather.

We motor sailed all the way to Jack Sound in a southeasterly force 1 to 2 to ensure getting there at the correct time. According to the Pilot the north going tide starts in the Sound 3 hours after high water at Dover. When you are motoring north up the coast against 2 knots of tide this does not seem right, but I double and triple checked against the Almanac.

The pilot suggested making the passage at slack water or with the tide lightly with you. It is important not to get the tide going against you or strongly with you as at spring tide it can run at 7 knots. In Silverwind we can make 6.2 knots under engine, this would be like running up an ice surface or turning around and falling uncontrollably down.

As we approached the sound the tide started to slow against us, as suggested for our approach just as the tide should be turning north, and I was feeling better. The sound is only 100m wide so it is important to identify all the rocks. First heading straight for “Blackstones” which stands to the southwest of the entrance then turning northeast straight for “Tusker Rock” on the north side. This takes you through with “Crabstones” 40m to port, and “The Cable” to Starboard.

All this went well until turning up through the channel I felt some turbulence on the rudder, which signalled that there was some tide running. Checking our motion and double-checking against the GPS showed that there was 2 knots of tide against us. Making 6 knots through the water we slowly edged forward and were soon out the other side.

One down and it was now time for Ramsey Sound, with the wind building from behind I stopped the engine and hosted the jib. In slack water (no tide) we made 5 knots across the bay towards Ramsey Island arriving again just before the tide was due to turn north (4 hours before high water Dover). Ramsey Sound is wider and longer but with “The Bitches” a reef extending half way across from the West (Island) side. By keeping close to the mainland you keep clear of this and just have to worry about the “Horse Rock” straight ahead for which you bear to port to avoid.

Again the timing seemed to be wrong, this time the tide was running with us – at its height by about 3 knots. What made it worst was the eddy current behind “The Bitches” taking you off course. I could see water flowing at about 3 knots south only a few yards from the current which we was forcing us north at about the same rate. Where the two flows met in long lines were quite simply a mess and normally at home on a river rapid.

All the time with the chart on deck, once I was confident we were past “The Bitches” I pointed the boat northwest clear of “Horse Rock”. With tide in full flow we were now making 9 knots due north and we were off on our way to Fishguard.

At the same time as us there was a 35-foot yacht following us through the Sound. We had motored through the sound with the main up and jib ready to go just in case we last power, and I was please we did! They had motored 300m behind us except when I looked back they seemed to have lost power and were rapidly putting up sail (their two jibs and then the main). Only problem was they had motored close to the bitches and were in risk of being swept onto the reef.

There was little we could do but slow up as best possible and watch (if we turned around then could our outboard have pulled a boat possibly 3 times our weight?). They slowly crawled out into the tide and made their way. It could have been that there was nothing wrong (it was hard to see from the distance) but is it normal to stop your engine, raise sails in light winds, in a 200m channel with 3 knots of tide pushing you forward towards rocks!

We both made our way down the coast towards Fishguard before they headed off north. I tried to slow down to see if they were OK but I could not make Silverwind go slow enough without stopping or turning around!

With the wind building to a force 4 and the tide running north we were soon doing 9 knots again and after a short beat motored into Lower Town Harbour in Fishguard.

After a quick phone call to he Harbour Master on his mobile, (he was on holiday in Spain) he guided me to a mooring in the middle of the harbour. I motored Silverwind up the harbour and secured the front mooring. As happens from time to time the ropes of the mooring rapped around the keel. After trying to pull the rope free free, I decided to sort the boat out and then lift the keel, which would clear the problem – or so I thought. 

The keel came half way up but them it jammed – this had never happed before and I went to investigate. It seamed that the link rope that connects the two ends of the mooring had got itself wedged between the keel and the hull possibly when I pulled the rope to “free” it. The hydraulics that can pull two tons would not lift it and the keel’s ton of weight would not let it fall! I decided not to force the hydraulics in fear that something would break or propel the ram through the bottom of the boat (not good!)

After a few phone calls to Penzance to see if anyone had had this problem before (there are 6 other Hunter Deltas at Penzance) I realized I would have to do something quickly as the tide was falling and Silverwind would fall on her side. First I tried poking a rod (one of the spare rudder pins) down the side of the keel but where I thought the rope was trapped on the forward of the port side there was just too thin a gap.

Plan B was to use brut force so I grabbed one end of the offending rope and put 4 turns around one of the jib winches – I stopped when the winch moved (bigger washers for the winches next year!)

For Plan C, I decided more purchase was required so I lead the rope over the bow roller and attracted it to one end a 4:1 block and tackle (carried as a spare main sheet, spare kicker or for Man over Board recovery) the other end was attracted to the steer mooring cleats with the end of the rope lead around a jib winch. Again I stopped before ripping the deck off.

The keel had touched the bottom by now and the bow was starting to rise. I jumped into the water and went out under the boat with swimming goggles to investigate. This was to no avail as the water was not clear enough and I did not want to loss fingers!

With Silverwind leaning over I did not want the mast to collide with the boats alongside so I lead a 50m rope (I knew the rope would come in handy) from the top of the mast to the pier. By this point the locals were started to think a mad man had been let lose in the harbour as I waded though 4 feet of water!

My next move was to find something thin enough to go down the keel box and push the rope out of the way. I was lent a long hacksaw blade but it was not quite long enough.

Now with the water nearly all the way out and the bow of Silverwind 3 feet higher than it should be, I carefully climbed back on board and used the hydraulics (along with the weight of the boat) to slowly lift the keel. This worked and stabilised things but could have jammed the rope even harder!

With six inches of the keel still to be put back in place it was time for Plan E. I lined up the block and tackle on the harbour bed in order to get a straight pull between the harbour ground chain (6 inch chain across the harbour which holds all the moorings in place) and the offending rope. The end of this rope was lead via mast to the deck winches but not an inch was gained. I was still convinced that if I applied enough force to the offending rope it would move. The only problem was applying the force without breaking something (or snapping the rope).

I was temped to use a tractor being used to launch a boat but first thought a rope system might still work. Therefore Plan F was going to be the full works. I used the 4:1 block and tackle again but this time an extra 2:1 purchase was applied by adding a spare pulley block from the toolbox making 8:1. On the end of this I attached the dismantled Main Sheet, which is a doubled up to 6:1. By my reckoning this made a 48:1 purchase! With one end attached to the ground chain and Silverwind sitting her 2-ton hull in the mud, something had to give or it was going to cause a very expensive trip to the chandlery!

I attached a long rope to the main sheet, as I was not going to be close when this lot went off. After some fine-tuning of the system there was a lurch – was this it? Well no this was not the rope moving but the harbours ground chain moving 3 feet forward (about ½ a ton of metal that had been sitting in the mud). I gave it one last go and ran at the rope. I knew something had gone, as I was now flat on my face with a lot of tourist trying to work out which mental home I could have escaped from. It had worked and the offending rope was about 10m clear of the boat.

After checking the boat over and finding I could have a shower in the local sailing club I slowly put things back to normal! The evening was spent aboard the Yacht “Caraid” moored alongside the harbour wall for drinks.