LILLEBOLERO’s late winter cruise of 2022.
It was Thursday when I realised that the many weeks of strong winds was going to pause. I immediately booked leave and suspecting that my fellow MAX TOO crew Matty Riley and LYC member could be free messaged him if he was interested in a week’s sailing in the Irish Sea aboard LILLEBOLERO, a Westerly Konsort Duo.
On Sunday 27 February, LILLEBOLERO and I were able to escape the Mersey assisted by south-southeast force five to six with occasional exciting gusts. I slipped out at 0825 hours and ten minutes later the genoa was up, and the engine was off. With the ebb tide and the wind up-the-chuff, swift progress was made.
As I cleared the docks, the clouds cleared which meant I had wind and sun, champagne sailing. I took the main channel and as the distance from the land increased so did the wind. Between buoys C2 and Alpha, I hopped over the wall and took the shortcut across Taylor’s Bank. Once clear of the bank, I set a course for north and put a reef in the genoa.
Less than five hours later, after passing Lennox Oil rig, the River Ribble’s Gut Channel buoy, and Blackpool, I was at the Shell Wharf buoy entering Lune Deep. I set a north-easterly course and with the wind on the beam, I put another reef in the genoa. With a double reefed genoa and no mainsail, the boat was still achieving over 5.5 knots through the water.
Ten minutes after passing the King Scarry buoy, the engine was on and the small amount of genoa I had out was furled away, ready for Fleetwood channel. It was an interesting approach as I had arrived earlier than planned; meaning there was only 3 metres of tide and two of the buoys were missing. They had broken their mooring’s during the previous week’s storms. I learned that one buoy was found 20 miles away in Grange-Over-Sands. Buoys were back in place later in the week.
I anchored off the marina at 1716 hours to wait for the tide. Fleetwood is accessible about 1.5 hours either side of high water. After eating a pizza, listening to the radio, and reading the paper, I called the lockkeeper, weighed anchor, and headed into the marina. Pleasantly, Fleetwood use free-flow when the marina is open; so, no locking-in just straight through. At 1955 hours, I arrived at my berth and a lockkeeper was there to meet me and give me my ‘visitor pack’ with gate key fob. He was very welcoming.
On Monday morning, Matty Riley arrived after an early start and not too much sleep. He had been down south attending the RYA Dinghy and Boat show at Farnborough on the Sunday. At 0928 hours, we slipped out of Fleetwood, again on free-flow, and back into Lune Deep. As the wind was a southerly force four to five, we motored to Lune Deep Buoy. Once there, we turned north, set the genoa, stopped the engine, and wallowed in a following sea accompanied by drizzle. We passed Barrow, but did not see it, and the Lake District, but hardly saw a mountain.
In the afternoon, the wind veered, and we set the mainsail for a pleasant reach which then became close hauled. By teatime, the wind was force two; so, we put the engine on, motored past Sellafield and Saint Bees Head, and arrived at Whitehaven at 2015 hours. The lock at Whitehaven is wide and easy to navigate. The lockkeeper came out of his office, walked around the lock to talk to us and then shined a bright light onto our nominated berth so we did not have to look for it. To celebrate our fifty-mile passage we had steak and tatties.
Whitehaven is a lovely marina with good access (up to four hours either side of highwater) opening straight onto the sea. Like Fleetwood, the staff were welcoming. I spoke to one yacht owner who lives on the Wirral but keeps his boat at Whitehaven. He likes the scenery and that the harbour opens straight on to the sea with a good tidal access range. However, he did advise the there were more storm bound days than when compared to the Mersey.
Tuesday arrived with frost and clear blue skies which made everything that much better. After trips ashore to shower and buy stores, we locked out 1212 hours and set a north-westerly course for Scotland. It was a force four wind from the north for the passage across, we were close hauled enjoying the sun. Again, it was champagne sailing with the boat sailing along at five knots. As we were going to Scotland, we celebrated the conditions with Irn Bru.
When we were about six miles from Kirkcudbright Bay, we were called up by the firing range safety vessel and asked to alter course to the west. As the wind was easing, we handed the sails and started the engine, not wanting to be a target for the army for too long. Half an hour later, the range safety vessel was alongside, and he asked us to follow him into Kirkcudbright Bay. As we approached the bay, we could hear the firing from the range. Once in the bay, our escort departed to await the next potential floating target.
We spent an hour practicing manoeuvres under engine before attempting to get over the bar that is the entrance to the river Dee. At just under four hours before high water, there was enough water for us to bump over the bar and cautiously head up the well buoyed narrow channel to Kirkcudbright where we were all fast at 1956 hours. For me entering a new harbour, especially on a dark night, is exciting as it is a fun challenge.
On the way across, I had called the Harbour Master who had advised us where to moor and provided access codes to the gates and shower block. With regards to payment, he said there was an honesty box in the shower block to leave our mooring fees!
We went ashore, found a takeaway, where I had a very good fish and chips. It was then to the pub for a couple of drinks before heading back to the boat.
Wednesday morning arrived with grey skies and a potentially iffy forecast. The Harbour Master phoned to say that the Range Escort Vessel was reporting unpleasant conditions at the mouth of the bay. We took the hint and chose to make it a rest day. After another fine breakfast prepared by Matty, the rain started and did not stop. Later in the morning, the Harbour Master came to say hello before continuing with his duties. The day was spent reading and resting, after all we were on holiday. We did go ashore to buy stores wearing our oil skins, it was a proper ‘dreich’ day.
On Thursday, after another full breakfast prepared by Matty and the Harbour Master had come by to say hello again and update us on expected traffic on the river, one fishing boat, we departed Kirkcudbright. We headed south towards Isle of Man hoping the wind would fill in after the front had passed; however, it never really developed. We turned to the southwest and motored all day and 12 and a half hours later arrived back in Fleetwood with more rain. Passing Barrow in the dark, the offshore wind farms were a forest of lights. Going into Fleetwood it was spring tides, this meant we had up to 30 degrees of set on going up the channel.
Friday was a new day with a clear blue sky. We slipped at 1120 hours and once clear of the Fleetwood channel set a reefed main and full genoa and sailed close hauled out of the Lune Deep in a northwest force five. Once clear of Lune Deep we bore away and set a southerly course sailing on a broad reach. We passed Blackpool Tower at 1400 hours and Liverpool Bar Light Vessel at 1721 hours. As we headed south the swell developed and the autopilot often sulked when the stern was caught by a wave; accordingly, we hand steered for the latter part of the day.
We were passing Liverpool Bay wind farm when I realised our progress had been too good. We dropped the sails and spent over two hours stemming the tide with the engine before passing HE1 buoy and entering the Dee. We anchored a mile upstream of Hilbre Island. As the northwest swell had yet to moderate Matty and I split the night keeping an anchor watch. Once the tide dropped below the level of the sand banks the waves disappeared.
On Saturday, after the obligatory look at the seals on the sand bank with our binoculars, we weighed anchor at 0834 hours and headed for the Mersey under engine. We passed through the Rock Channel with the spring tide and northerly wind boiling the water off Perch Rock. At 1126 hours, we had locked into the Marina with the lockkeeper calling down to ask about our trip and where we had been. Once we were all fast, we wandered up to the Yacht Club for a meal and drink with friends from MAX TOO.
It was a great week exploring the Irish Sea. We were made welcome at all the harbours we visited; I suspect because we were probably one of the first boats of the season given the previous run of storms. Thanks to Matty for being great company and a competent crew.
| Passage | Log through water | Distance over ground | Reeds Almanac distance | Hours underway | Engine hours underway |
| Liverpool to Fleetwood | 38.2 | 43.2 | 46 | 8.9 | 1.4 |
| Fleetwood to Whitehaven | 50.2 | 51.5 | 47 | 10.8 | 4.8 |
| Whitehaven to Kirkcudbright | 26.0 | 30.1 | 23 | 7.7 (4.1 hours to Kirkcudbright Bay) | 5.0 (2.5 hours waiting for tide, in the bay, with engine on) |
| Kirkcudbright to Fleetwood | 66.4 | 75.4 | 68 | 12.5 | 12.5 |
| Fleetwood to Hilbre Island | 45.0 | 50.0 | 11.4 | 5.1 | |
| Hilbre Island to Liverpool | 15.1 | 18.1 | 2.9 | 2.9 | |
| Total | 241 | 268 | 54.2 | 31.2 |
Alistair Roaf
