Setting off from our swinging mooring at Rudders boatyard, Burton, in Pembrokeshire, we have to travel the length of the Cleddau estuary to reach open water. With the wind and tide in our favour we get whooshed along towards our destination, northwest of the mouth of the Milford Haven waterway. It’s an impressive stretch of water; a deep, wide natural ria that is home to the second-largest port in the UK. As we sail past oil and gas tankers parked up at the refinery berths, we are dwarfed by their immense proportions; 200m long and several storeys high they create a wind shadow that brings us to a near standstill. Holding our nerve, momentum carries us their length and we drift back into the wind as the sails fill and we’re off again. We know to stay alert to incoming tankers and the Ireland ferry, both of which have priority in the main channel and can appear at speed.
After a two-phase renovation of our Westwind 35, we are new to liveaboard life and in ‘shake down’
