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Heading through the Menai Strait from the marina in Caernarfon involves navigating the infamous Swellies.  The Swellies have a bit of a reputation.  The tide runs in from both ends of the Strait but have different tide times and levels.  This creates an atypical tidal stream with a slack tide that does not occur at high or low water.  The tidal stream is also rather zippy - up to 8 kn on springs * ! Legend has it that Lord Nelson was the first to sail through the Strait and used the area as a training ground for his sailors.  There is even a rather large statue of him jutting out from the Anglesea side of the Strait!   The Swellies - bridges, rocks, narrow channels, shallow water and huge tidal currents Navigating The Swellies requires going under two bridges and squeezing through narrow channels.  Because of all the rocks and the strong tidal currents, it is recommended to go through at high water slack.  This is when the current is ch...

Sunrise on the Welsh Coast Good planning and good luck came together to provide us with an easy night sail across the Irish Sea, back to Wales.  We approached the (sand) bar just as dawn was breaking, giving us reasonable visibility and, more importantly, slack tides to make our way through this notorious, sand-shifting entrance to the Menai Strait. The channel markers were not exactly where they were supposed to be on the charts, but we put our hopes on the supposition that they had been moved to match the current entrance ... and we were right. A dolphin leads us in.  It's understandable how seagoing folk can become superstitious when this sort of thing happens to us. After an hour of winding through narrow, sub-ten metre deep channels, we approached Caernarfon.  What a sight! Wowsa! A very impressive castle, right on the waterfront! Once again, our timing was impeccable.  The marina, which is right outside the castle, has a sill that must be crossed in...