The fleet arrives back in Conwy
Position 53° 17.50 N 003° 50.33 W Conwy Marina, North Wales
The fleet is now back safe and sound in North Wales. And so ends this MBM cruise of the Irish Sea.
Cruise leader Neale took the decision to depart from Douglas a day earlier than planned after piloting Calm Voyager to a point about 15 miles off the east coast of the Isle of Man. After assessing the conditions, he radioed the rest of the fleet and told them to start moving out of Douglas Harbour.
The reason for nosing out into the open sea was to check if conditions has calmed sufficiently after strong winds overnight. It was rocky, and far from ideal, but force 4s on the beam was preferable to chancing that Sunday would stay as forecast given the variable nature of the weather in the Irish Sea in recent days.
So at 4pm, the fleet moved out and began the roughly 50-mile passage back to Conwy. It was rough going at first, but soon all boats were pushing along at about 18 knots and making good time back to where we started this cruise two weeks ago.
Thanks to all five boats and crews that took part, as well as Paul Fareham, a friend of MBM and former cruise staffer, who treated the Calm Voyager crew to a home-cooked meal in Douglas.
Next stop: the West Country, where, in a few weeks, Neale will lead the last MBM cruise of the year.
Photos:
The preparing for the off in Douglas’ outer harbour
Sea O2 playing
Calm Voyager moored in Conwy Marina
