All was fine and dandy when I got up at 5am, the sun had just come up and there was a light but steady wind from the Southwest. After sorting out all the normal last minute checks, I cast off the mooring lines just after 6am.

Motoring out just after high tide made negotiating the harbour channels a non-issue. Soon we were making our way out towards the “Patch” cardinal mark west of Aberystwyth. We could have taken the inshore passage (all the local fishermen were cutting inside) but this dogleg took us safely offshore avoiding all the shallow areas to the north (its all about making life as easy as possible!)

The sails were up by now and we were making 6 knots over the ground on the last of the north going tide. We could have taken advantage of more fair tide by starting earlier, however the neap tides and forecasted fresh winds convinced me not to deprive myself of any more sleep than necessary!

With 25 miles to go until Pwllheli and the sun shining it was looking like being a quick and hot trip. As with many of the legs on this trip so far it was all going well until the wind slowly died. On each leg I challenge myself to make Silverwind go faster by racing the clock. In this case I wanted to get the “distance to go” (to Pwllheli) on the GPS down to 15 miles by 10am, as time went on it became 10:30, 11:00, 11:30…13:30, 23:00! There was now no wind; the only movement on the water surface was the ground swell.

With the sails flapping and a trawler waiting on us to move on, there was only one (painful) answer – the engine! At 6 knots we motored into Pwllheli, except for the last 3 miles when; just to annoy me; the wind filled in to a force 4!

The last few miles were quite spectacular with the wind coming straight from Snowdonia whose mountains seemed to surround the bay. Thinking ahead I texted Ed (my friend from Swansea) to see if he was interest in exploried some mountains at the weekend.

After a couple of phone calls it was all sorted and he would meet me in Pwllheli later that evening. It was now low tide and we gingerly crawled up the channel to Pwllheli Marina with about 30cm under the keel. It is stated in the Pilot that Pwllheli can be entered 24 hours a day by “yachts of a moderate draft”. What does “moderate” mean? I am not sure but I would not have done the same approach at low tide springs.

After negotiating the pontoons, I tied up and went to sleep setting the alarm for Ed’s arrival.