Two great passages to Holyhead, electrical issues, family, and lots of engine trouble as we travel from Beaumaris to Porthdinllean on the Llyn Peninusula and then on to Holyhead.

The weather was at least calm, which meant that we could at last leave the safety of of our mooring in Beaumaris and venture down the Menai straights. As Beverley had navigated the Swellies last time, it meant that is was my time to navigate this particular stretch of water, so I was on the helm, and it was I who told Beverley to slip the moorings at the correct time, taking into consideration the wind and the tide at that moment. I had of course watched our video on Navigating the Swellies so I was as informed as I could be. It was a fairly easy motor all the way down to Beaumaris, with the only thing of note being my first attempt at ferry gliding into the marina.

As soon as we were moored up, it was time to get on with stuff as we had a fairly busy day ahead. Beverley, got on with tidying the Lass, while I went to the local laundrette with a huge pile of washing which we had accumulated over the last week. Once I had left the washing for a service wash it was on to the harbour trust offices to pick up the mail, then back to the Lass, meanwhile Beverley had secured the Lass and gone up to the harbour office to pay for the night and pick up the latest buoyage marks for the channel.

I had only been back at the Lass for a few minutes when my family turned up, so once everyone was there, we went out for lunch at a local restaurant. We were inside, but on the benches outside someone had left their dinner so all the food was being eaten by the local seagulls. I wish I had my camera out at the time as one of the seagulls took a piece of steak in his mouth, at least one or two mouthfuls in my book and the seagull just swallowed the lot. One of the most impressive things we have seen for a long time. Once we were stuffed I went for a walk with my family while Beverley went and did the shopping as we were well down on supplies.

My family and I went for a walk along the coast, so that I could look at the buoyage in the channel. If I can look at buoyage before a passage I will as it helps with the passage and make you get a better understanding of the distances involved. While, I was there, I tried to get a sassy comment from my mother, which of course I failed to get.

On the way back to the Lass, I picked up our washing then had a cup of tea and a biscuit with my family before they left us to get on with stuff. So the first thing we did way enter all the way points for the bar, this is a very important job as the buoys get moved on a regular basis and the charts are not updated as quickly. Although we show just how far C1 moved in the video it was C2 which was the most important shift as that had moved onto what was once drying sands.

Then it was time to open our mail and the all important item in the mail as far as I was concerned was my voyager book, as I have decided to do the Yachtmaster qualification as part of my voyager badge. So hopefully, people will want to join us on our journey as we complete that qualification.

The next day, Beverley took us through Caernarfon Bar, as I had done that passage last time, so it was her turn. Our plan had been to go to Greystones in Ireland, but the wind was straight on our nose and was causing more chop than we like, so we went to our alternate destination which was Porthdinllean on the Llyn Peninusula, having an alternate destination is always a good idea as things seldom go to plan. The great thing about our alternate plan was we could sail, rather than motor, so it was a reefs in the main and genoa and a great sail. While we were sailing we investigated the position of the traveller, we have not got it sussed yet but that part of our learning curve has begun.

That night we anchored as the moorings were a little too close inshore for our yacht, but it gave us an opportunity to set the anchor and decide scope and things like that. Hopefully we did our calculations right but we had a high tide of 4.3, so that added to our additional depth of 1.7meters makes 6m, so we put out 30m of chain. If we had swell or other factors we would of put out more chain.

The next morning was a great day for sailing, so we decided to continue our journey to Greystones. However, when we started the engine we noticed that the lights were flickering so we decided that we would go to Holyhead instead. Now we only had five hours of tidal assist and the most crucial part was around South Stack which we would get to as the tide was changing, so we really needed to get a shimmy on.

We brought up the anchor, successfully and got ourselves established on a port tack before we switched the engine off. When Beverley did that all the electrics died, so I told the viewers about that and we had to stop filming part way through as we had a near miss with the lobster pot. We had a great sail across, but we were a little bit too tense to really appreciate the sail. For example, as we had encountered a problem, we contacted Holyhead coastguard giving them out situation. This was not a Pan Pan, it was just us informing them, where we were and what our intentions were so that if the situation got worse, they at least they were aware of our issues. As the situation was minor, I only had to contact them every hour.

We made good time with our sail, but we were so tense, as we had a lot on our mind.

• What was wrong with the engine,
• Would we get around South Stack in time
• Would we need assistance etc.

It was such a lot to process.