Sailing Trilleen

Sailing Trilleen changing the face of disability sailing

Trilleen lay to a buoy under the ruins of Peel Castle overnight waiting for the tide to rise sufficiently to enter the m...
09/10/2025

Trilleen lay to a buoy under the ruins of Peel Castle overnight waiting for the tide to rise sufficiently to enter the marina in which the water is impounded by a flap gate, inside the drying inner harbour. The castle formally "Cashtal Phurt Ny H-Inshey" in Manx. The castle was first raised as a wood fort by the Vikings on the site of a Celtic monastery. By the 14th century the main walls were in place but fortification continued until the end of the 1860s. For a time after the Vikings ceased the rule the island the castle came to serve as the seat of the Bishop of Sodor and Man.

The view from the harbour is unique - the castle was built to command the harbour and the view is excellent from the four large mooring buoys are available for arriving and departing craft. The excellence of the view would likely be less than ideal if the castle was hostile to the visiting craft - but fortunately for this fortification at last those times are past.

Peel harbour is protected from the south and west by the vast bulk of Peel Hill. I've never seen it from this perspectiv...
08/10/2025

Peel harbour is protected from the south and west by the vast bulk of Peel Hill. I've never seen it from this perspective before - it's certainly more imposing from seaward than it is from the town. The tower on the top of the hill is a folly - or more specifically a memorial tower to Thomas Corrin and his family some of whom are buried around the tower. The tower was completed in 1806, and it remains a prominent day mark for identifying Peel.

up the coast of the Isle of Man on the west side is Port Erin, which is a credible first stopping place for yachts inb...
07/10/2025

up the coast of the Isle of Man on the west side is Port Erin, which is a credible first stopping place for yachts inbound from the south. Today though I was in a rush north, and had no reason to explore Port Erin. The entrance is pretty well sheltered by a ruined breakwater and the hook shape of the bay.

The breakwater was an attempt to create an all weather port of refuge in the late 1800s - part of a nationwide obsession with all weather strategic ports - but unfortunately it was not sufficiently engineered and collapsed during a severe storm in 1874. Ooops.

Closing in on the Isle of Man, from the South the Calf of Man is the southernmost point - which has a funky sea cut arch...
06/10/2025

Closing in on the Isle of Man, from the South the Calf of Man is the southernmost point - which has a funky sea cut arch in the rock that I'd never noticed from the shore as well as the imposing offshore lighthouse. The tidal streams round the Calf can get super strong and are in formal terms 'a bit weird'. After consulting the excellent tidal stream atlas for the Island I decided to take a wide track past the Calf before narrowing in towards Peel on the west coast.

On the way up from Milford Haven to Peel it was calm enough to contemplate photo ops up on the bow of Trilleen. I normal...
05/10/2025

On the way up from Milford Haven to Peel it was calm enough to contemplate photo ops up on the bow of Trilleen. I normally try to stay off the bow when underway unless its remarkably calm becuase on on a little boat like Trilleen the pitch motion can get pretty big quickly, the bow very wet and slippy. The slippy bounciness doesn't work very well with my disability...

Trilleen is under way here with jib, staysail and full main. In the background you can just see the little red beastie, my which is steering as I clown around up front.

I'm seriously behind with the videos... Latest live in comments
05/10/2025

I'm seriously behind with the videos... Latest live in comments

Trilleen passed South Bishop Light on 25 September sailing north from Milford Haven to Peel in the Isle of Man. The nigh...
04/10/2025

Trilleen passed South Bishop Light on 25 September sailing north from Milford Haven to Peel in the Isle of Man. The night had fallen away, into a dusky dawn over a calm seas, with the wind beginning to fall away between systems. At the time we were sailing well at 4.8 knots with 12.8 knots of apparent wind and all was well on board. The light marks the westernmost point of a group of rocks known as the Bishop and (his) Clerks - this curious name arises from their nearness to St David's Cathedral build in the 1130's on the site of a monastery dating back to 589. Anyway, more importantly for mariners it separates the vast embayment of Cardigan Bay with few if any safe anchorages from the Bristol Channel which offers many, and at the head of which was the important trading Port of Bristol.

South Bishop Light is operated by Trinity House, which with the Northern Lighthouse Board maintain the main sea marks and of lighthouses of the United Kingdom.

Trilleen came up river from Old Kea to Malpas which is the effective head of navigation for most vessels. Trilleen stays...
02/10/2025

Trilleen came up river from Old Kea to Malpas which is the effective head of navigation for most vessels. Trilleen stays afloat here on the pontoon extension. There's an excellent bus into Truro, or it's an easy walk for the fully abled. I was able to take my wheelchair into town too and get a resupply of groceries to equip Trilleen for the next phase of sailing to go north to Milford Haven.

Malpas pontoon is run by Cornwall Council whose staff are lovely and patrol the river as well as the marina.

Trilleen and I spend many happy days anchored off Old Kea Church in the Truro River waiting out a succession of violent ...
01/10/2025

Trilleen and I spend many happy days anchored off Old Kea Church in the Truro River waiting out a succession of violent depressions which were being fired up the western approaches like bullets from a machine gun, without even sufficient spacing for a slow little boat like Trilleen to make passage to Milford Haven across the Bristol Channel in Wales.

At times I was thinking about cutting my losses and heading east again to pass up the east coast on route to my wintering grounds, but I persisted and have been rewarded. Apart from the several other yachts, including this delightful UK flagged replica of a dutch heritage Lemsteraak (barge), which was ideally suited to both floating in inches of water and sitting high, dry and comfortable on the mud bank, the river was mainly occupied by a heronry, buzzards and the occasional little Egret.

Trilleen is still in the Truro River above Falmouth. I’m waiting, like a lot of other boats here for some sort of a weat...
11/09/2025

Trilleen is still in the Truro River above Falmouth. I’m waiting, like a lot of other boats here for some sort of a weather window to go west or north. I’m currently anchored by Old Kea with a Dutch heritage sailboat an american flagged yacht and a host of others.

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Truro
TR3 6

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