Not much to post about this, after leaving Bangor in a fanfare on Sunday afternoon we motored to Ardglass, the wind was on the nose and tacking to windward would double the journey time. We also knew the wind was increasing that night and were keen to get safe as soon as possible.
Prescient decision, the wind did come up and from a bad direction of course, we ended up stuck in Ardglass for three nights! But this was good in a way as it gave time for a better prepared proper departure. And as Shirley and I live about 6 miles from Ardglass she could come for tea on the boat with John and I - she brought crumble!
In fact I cheated and spent one night at home while John boatminded. This allowed us the car the next day as we needed to use someof the tools in my garage for last minute modifications to the new anchor locker lid - John had covered this with nice Iroko strips.
So the journey South continued on Wednesday morning at 7am, we arrived in Howth at 17:15 having had two hours really good sailing before the wind came around onto the nose and increased to a gusty force 5. We motored into it. <sigh>.
Here is a photograph of my last view of the Mourne Mountains for a while.
We arrived in Howth and got an expensive berth for the night and fuel. Leaving at 10:30 for a leisurely sail to Wicklow, 25 miles to the South. Of course the weather gods conspired again and we ended up motoring into rain squalls and 28 knots of wind. Crossing Dublin Bay meant avoiding three ships and the new AIS unit proved its worth - ships come up as green triangles on the chartplotter and are tagged with the time and distance of closest approach - it even colours them red and draws a little shipwreck symbol if it computes Shadowmere and a target will occupy the same piece of Sea at the same time. Smart!
You can exit the south side of Dublin bay by going between Dalkey Island (the photo above) and the mainland - nice narrow channel and very scenic. The houses around there are a bit expensive...
So, off to go to Wicklow, I have very fond memories of calling in here, with the Kannebergs when John Henshaw and Alan Doyle and I escorted them South at the start of their adventures of cruising the Med. The harbour has wooden planks arranged horizontally on the vertical face of the harbour side - a bit like a pallette and you can moor to these and climb up and down easily. Makes Donaghadee Harbour look pathetic with its rusty ladder and awkward steps. We also enjoyed great craic in the sailing club last time I was here. However this time around the harbour was a bit run down, we ended up being the only yacht there. 15 years ago we used to raft up in the harbour with lots of other boats, maybe everyone uses marinas now.
The sailing club was only open on Sunday, when we did have a really nice time. My cousin Pete and his wife Marion came down for a pint, it was lovely to see them.
We did observe three cargo ships coming and going so at least the harbour is in use.
always worrying when they do three point turns very near you
John also took time to feed the ducks up the river, it being too windy to do anything else.
ans we did see the sailing club put dinghies out in a force 7 - count the ones up and the ones down
Anyway, with three days spent in Ardglass and four days spent in Wicklow we were keen to get underway. We plotted to depart at 4am on Monday 12th June as several sources of data showed west winds initially strong but declining. How we laughed at 5 am when we were heading to Wales instead of the Isles of Scilly - the wind had not read the forecasts and done its own thing. We could have tacked backwards and forwards all morning but decided instead to motor 14 miles up the coast (to avoid the ignominy of turning back) put into Arklow marina for 5 hours kip and re-emerged at 13:00 to try again. <sigh>
So Monday 13:00 depart Arklow, arrive Isles of Scilly at 02:00 Wednesday, at one stage we were tacking backwards and forwards into a 3.6 knot current and basically not going anywhere for three hours but we had some good sails too, by the end we were motoring in a smooth sea and no wind. The porpoises came and went a lot as we neared the Isles of Scilly which was a delight.
I am typing this in very bright sunshine on a wall outside the (closed) marina office in Cameret. I will leave it here with a view of the sunset as we approached the Isles of Scilly (the locals don't like you using the word Scillies by the way). Next post will cover them and the trip to Cameret, then we might have little Wifi for a few days - the Glenan Islands, the Isle de Groix, the Isle de Yeu and Belle Isle beckon... bye for now
Prescient decision, the wind did come up and from a bad direction of course, we ended up stuck in Ardglass for three nights! But this was good in a way as it gave time for a better prepared proper departure. And as Shirley and I live about 6 miles from Ardglass she could come for tea on the boat with John and I - she brought crumble!
In fact I cheated and spent one night at home while John boatminded. This allowed us the car the next day as we needed to use someof the tools in my garage for last minute modifications to the new anchor locker lid - John had covered this with nice Iroko strips.
So the journey South continued on Wednesday morning at 7am, we arrived in Howth at 17:15 having had two hours really good sailing before the wind came around onto the nose and increased to a gusty force 5. We motored into it. <sigh>.
Here is a photograph of my last view of the Mourne Mountains for a while.
We arrived in Howth and got an expensive berth for the night and fuel. Leaving at 10:30 for a leisurely sail to Wicklow, 25 miles to the South. Of course the weather gods conspired again and we ended up motoring into rain squalls and 28 knots of wind. Crossing Dublin Bay meant avoiding three ships and the new AIS unit proved its worth - ships come up as green triangles on the chartplotter and are tagged with the time and distance of closest approach - it even colours them red and draws a little shipwreck symbol if it computes Shadowmere and a target will occupy the same piece of Sea at the same time. Smart!
The sailing club was only open on Sunday, when we did have a really nice time. My cousin Pete and his wife Marion came down for a pint, it was lovely to see them.
John also took time to feed the ducks up the river, it being too windy to do anything else.
So Monday 13:00 depart Arklow, arrive Isles of Scilly at 02:00 Wednesday, at one stage we were tacking backwards and forwards into a 3.6 knot current and basically not going anywhere for three hours but we had some good sails too, by the end we were motoring in a smooth sea and no wind. The porpoises came and went a lot as we neared the Isles of Scilly which was a delight.
