Solva moorings

The above drawing is one I used for a painting of Solva in Pembrokeshire. Solva is a lovely little Haven in St Bride's Bay. We have sailed there and anchored on several occasions.

On the first occasion we sailed there was in our 26 ft Golden Hind. This was a lovely looking boat very traditional with a lot of wood. It sailed like a bit of a pig to be honest as the rig was not properly balanced. She could have done with a short bowsprit as she had a tendency to broach (this effectively means with the wind behind or near she could without warning turn at right angles never a good idea!) . She was also very awkward to steer going particularly going astern (in reverse).

Now Solva is pretty crowded with moorings and when we first went in there we had no real idea what to expect. There was a strong tidal stream and we had to weave through several boats with hearts in our mouths. Alex was at the helm and it was my job to pickup the two moorings one fore one aft joined by a pick up rope.. Surprisingly all went well and I got them with a boat hook. But then decided it would be better if we were facing the other direction. I threw the mooring buoys back in and asked Alex to take us around again. I had a somewhat animated response accompanied by verbal abuse but nevertheless she did a good job weaving in and out of the boats and not hitting anything. When we got to the moorings again however I missed the pick up and we went over them. The rope got wrapped around the propeller. The propeller freed us as it cut the mooring rope in half.  I managed to get hold of one of the buoys and tied us up.

When the tide was out I made the best repair I could and then went to apologise very red faced to the harbourmaster for shredding his mooring ropes.

Yesterday we watched the British and Irish Lions and went to a barbecue so pretty successful all around.