Wild Weather in the West


After three days in Neyland Yacht Haven, we think that George (our self-steering) might be happy again, complete with a replacement control panel.  He is so old (probably early 1990ties) that we had to find a second-hand panel to suit him.  Luckily, the local electronics firm, Neyland Marine Services Ltd, have come up trumps.  They diagnosed the problem and then did us a good deal on their old workshop test unit.  Later today we will run sea trials, with bated breath.

Meanwhile, we visited Pembroke Docks heritage museums, to discover the maritime and flying boat local histories.  This involved a decent walk in pouring rain and a glass of hot chocolate.  The weather is not very friendly, at the moment, which allows all sorts of indulgence.



We have been struggling to predict a weather window to visit the local islands of Skomer and Skokholm (some Viking influence here) but the winds are highly variable and often strong, making any anchorage dangerous.  The surface pressure map below (Friday's prediction) shows all sorts of chaos.  There is a nasty low pressure heading towards us (SW of England, on the chart) but it's fast moving and we hope to nip out after it, and continue our voyage.





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