30.06.11 Lundy Island to Milford Haven

Date:- 30.06.11 Name: Morgen Crew: RD (Richard Dempster), From: Lundy Island To: Milford Haven Wales Comments: Great days sailing, escorted from firing range.

Wind Strength / direction: Force 3 Sea State: slight Distance: 43.08 nautical miles Time Taken: 8hrs 46mins

I was sad to leave Lundy Island as it was such an interesting place and so friendly, and at last the various destinations were really living up to expectations. I was also extremely tired because I can not sleep very well when at anchor or tied to a buoy. I think I woke up every half hour just to check Morgen wasn’t drifting.

After another early start I set off for Milford Haven. Milford Haven is in south Wales, so I would arrive in a different country. This made it feel like I was getting some proper sea miles under my belt.

I had the normal hassle of getting the cruising shute up, ie, having to lead lines back to the cockpit and untangle knots etc. but it is getting more sorted out and I find I deploy the shute with more confidence each time. Its worth it because we can really cover ground quite fast with the shute up.

A pretty uneventful trip all morning with Lundy Island slowly disappearing from sight. Until I heard a broadcast on the VHF which was asking for an unidentified boat which was 2 miles from a buoy. I couldn’t catch the whole broadcast because of wind noise etc but I thought it was roughly in the area that I was in!

Anyway I thought to myself no one could be after me on the VHF. I carried on as normal. About an hour and a half after this I could see a pilot boat with a bright orange roof leave what must have been the entrance to Milford Haven and come racing out at 20 to 30 knots on a big curving course. I could see it getting closer and closer and I thought to myself it would pass me really quite close. As it came up near my port side I thought I would wave as he passed as boaters normally do this out of politeness. As soon as I waved the pilot boat reduced speed and turned sharply cutting in immediately behind me and then slowly came up on my Port side. There were two people on board one at the helm and the other out on deck. The one on deck shouted out to me. Did you not hear me us on the VHF which I replied no. He ordered me to turn directly west and keep on that heading for at least 2.5 miles as I was in the middle of a live firing range! I did what he said. A short time later he came on to the VHF again and told me to follow him and he would show me the quickest route to Milford Haven. I could tell they were not sailing men because they obviously didn’t know that I couldn’t sail directly in to wind which they were. Not only this but after a short time they accelerated to a speed that I just couldn’t match and they slowly sped off and lost me. I decided to carry on as normal. I had checked the charts and knew that there was a firing range in this area, but according to the charts and almanac boats had right of way unless flags were flying and there was a safety range boat on patrol. So as far as I was concerned I had done nothing wrong. ( I think they just wanted a nice fast boat trip out to sea)

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful arriving at the river mouth and following the Laterall markers up the river to Milford Marina. Past all the big oil tankers and refineries. Not the prettiest place on earth.