Brian Lux - author
Caernarfon to Porth Dinllaen
(Sailing Today magazine)The tide streaming out from the Menai Strait into Caernarfon Bay provides a handy southwards conveyor belt that you can ride for several hours. Porth Dinllaen on the Lleyn Peninsula is directly on course- a beautiful and sheltered destination.
I sail a Westerly Pageant, a great little 23 footer, with enough room on board for me and my two crew to live in relative comfort. I’ve done this short cruise several times and it’s certainly become one of my favourites.
The only hazard to watch out for is Caernarfon Bar which has a bad reputation and has prompted such comments as: ‘Caernarfon Bar is without question highly dangerous in certain conditions…impassable during or after fresh or strong onshore weather.’ (Royal Welsh Yacht Club). But with a forecast of F3 or 4 from the southwest or northwest and a sunny day on the horizon, make your preparations and off you go.
Leaving Caernarfon it’s imperative to go along the buoyed channel which appears to take you from one side of the Strait to the other. Your chart will show you why: sandbanks everywhere. I do a rough sketch on a wipe and dry board so that the crewmember on the tiller can quickly spot the various buoys and pass them safely.
Fort Brelan, a Victorian structure, is passed to port. There are some moorings there, but access by road is not easy. Further on, on the starboard side, is Abermenai Point. A popular picnic spot, you’ll probably see a few yachts moored there.
A short distance away, the Mussel Bank buoy is visible. Until this point the buoys are where you would expect to find them, but from here on the channel can alter from year to year. Contact the Caernarfon Harbour Trust well before your first trip of the season to obtain an up-to-date position of buoys C1-C6 (inc).
When you finally pass between the last two buoys into the bay, you can be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss was about: you probably didn’t even notice crossing the bar.
The Lleyn Peninsula now stretches before you, and it’s a wondrous sight with its rambling range of peaks. Knowledge gained from my first trip leads me to suggest two courses the first timer can take. The direct route from the bar entrance is shorter, but land features will be faint until the anchorage is neared.
If mist or fog descends there might be problems unless you have absolute faith in your navigational skills or the GPS.
My suggestion would be to lay a course for Trefor and the Black Pier, which is quite conspicuous, especially if you begin to keep a good lookout with binoculars when the course suggests you are near.
Having identified Trefor, follow the coastline until the rocky headline of Porth Dinllaen appears. You may even see other boats entering before you identify the beacon guarding the off lying rocks at the far end of the bay. As you close the shore, masts of anchored yachts will be visible.
Approach from the middle before turning into the anchorage, to avoid a line of rocks to the southern edge of the bay. If you have a bilge keel boat like mine, you can obviously come closer to the hamlet, though all the guides suggest anchoring in not less than 2-3 metres.
The total journey is about 17 miles, of which five will be spent passing through the Menai Strait. It’s a trip I can thoroughly recommend, the only criteria being wind strength and direction. If you do decide to give it a go, I hope you have a good sail and enjoy these waters as much as I do.
Stop Thief!
On one trip, when I decided to stay the night at Porth Dinllaen, I awoke the next morning to find my water tank empty. It had been checked only a week before, and consternation was followed by a typical rallying round by nearby boats.
Someone rowed across with two empty lemonade bottles filled with the precious liquid, while another boat sent across a huge collapsible water carrier to get filled on shore.
I later came to the conclusion that the thief must have thought he was stealing diesel. The inlet to my diesel tank is under the washboards in the cockpit. I was happy to visualise the scene where he would get his come-uppance, in the middle of the Irish Sea when his engine decided that diesel and water wouldn’t mix!