I thought I was just a cruising man but had been persuaded to enter the round Anglesey race by a friend whose boat was not in the water this season. It was second year of ownership of Dansa and although I had been in her to Ireland and the Isle of Man I had not yet been all the way round Anglesey so the race seemed a good opportunity to remedy this deficiency. The morning dawned fine and we slipped away from the morning and sailed towards the start line in Menai Bridge at the appointed time. There was quite a scrum milling about by the line and we witnessed some close encounters and choice language. We kept clear and in consequence I think we were almost last over the line on the gun.
Previous passages through the Swellies had been carefully following the approved line but now boats were everywhere so we followed suit, the wrong side of Swellie rock and tacking far over to the Anglesey shore. It was quite an eye-opener. Between the bridges it was apparent I had made a wrong call on our foresail so we changed up a size in the midst of all this, not for us roller reefing. What with this and being I think the smallest boat in the fleet we were now last but one with only a trimaran for close company but that too soon went by so. Tacking down the Menai Straits towards Caernarfon we firmly held on to our last place.
The fleet was however still within sight when we tacked out over the bar and then taking a short cut over the sands we were amongst the backmarkers again. This was because the wind had gone and the fleet was becalmed off Llandwyn Island so we drifted about aimlessly for an hour or so. It was hot and sunny and as we sat sweltering in the cockpit clad in just shorts, we gazed at the Anglesey shore and thought that it should be ideal conditions for a sea breeze to build but we were disappointed.

Under spinnaker past South Stack

Gradually however the faintest zephyr of a breeze arose so we hoisted the spinnaker and started a slow run down the coast towards the Stacks It was a glorious evening as we rounded North Stack and we actually overtook a couple of yachts in Holyhead bay. It looked like we might just make it around Carmel Head before the tide turned against us and so it proved. I was back on a stretch of coast that I knew and chose the inshore course, it being the shorter. By now several of our competitors had abandoned the race, huh no staying power we thought. Darkness was failing as we approached point Lynas, and with the wind still light at 5 knots and the tide against us it took forever to round. Now I thought that perceived wisdom was not to carry a spinnaker after dark or once the wind was on the beam. We disregarded this and carried on into the night reaching across Red Wharf bay.

Around 02.00 we had the hand the spinnaker to pass through Puffin Sound and start the long and arduous beat up the Menai Straits. Now it is 7 miles from Puffin Sound to Menai Bridge and normally it takes around 3 hours if having to beat. This time it took us 7 hours such was the lightness of the wind and the strength of the tide against us. At some point in the dark we heard the sounds of a yacht going about behind so we still had competion and we tried to make every tack count. Dawn came and we were short tacking by Beaumaris. Now the channel here is narrow and the sandbanks steep and hard and the tide still against us and we were pressed hard by 2 boats in close company. 20 hours of racing and you could have thrown a (large) blanket over the 3 of us. We thought that we might hold our own till the line but it was tough going amidst the moorings near Menai Bridge and in our little private battle we were just pipped by 2 seconds but with a margin of 2 minutes over the next boat. Later we learned that the boat that piped us was in a different class with a start time 10 minutes before ours, so that made us feel a bit better. We came second in our class, never mind that there was only three finishers.

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