Aberystwyth to Fishguard

Monday 21/7/08
Nick has arrived as the new crew, and we leave Aberystwyth into some swell and wind good enough for motorsailing after a little playing about with the rigging.

Nick is impressed by the course kept by the Navman autopilot, although he does like to helm very now and again. We see a couple of dolphins pass us by, but not in time to get the camera.
I was slightly worried about the facilities that we might find at Fishguard, the Almanac the the Pilot where not very detailed so I phoned ahead the the harbour master for the lower harbour. I did not want to dry out, as we had to leave at a specific time the next day to round St David's Head.
He indicated that the yellow mooring buoys were in deep enough water and should allow us to get away at any time, and these were obvious once we got into the bay. I had previously purchased a bosco mooring hook and this failed to grab the mooring buoy again ( I must have my technique wrong ) and so we grabbed the buoy by hand. To get to shore we inflated the tender and rowed to the slipway past a huge group of Sea Cadets afloat learning new skills.
Our first stop was the very friendly Yacht Club, and then up the steep hill into town to find a great choice of restaurant.

All in all, Fishguard was idyllic, waking up to a quiet mooring is wonderful.