After recovering from the sail from the Scilly Isles to Ireland, and sampling the local brew Guinness (although I actually prefer the competition, Beamish Stout!) there has been some very enjoyable sailing up the coast of Ireland, then across to The Isle of Man, then back to Northern Ireland.
First we sailed up the coast to Arklow and it was my turn to be skipper for the passage. The Round Britain Experience as the trip is marketed is not just to have a hopefully enjoyable sail around the country, but to learn how to sail, and sail to a high level. My fellow crew members, Jacob and Graham are planning to take the commercially recognised qualification of Yachtmaster in the couple of weeks following the end of the trip. I am not planning to take Yachtmaster but hopefully will anyway gain the qualification of Coastal Skipper which is one level below. The Coast Skipper qualification is enough to charter yachts and undertake long Coastal passages - so family and friends had better start thinking of excuses now if a sailing trip doesn't appeal !
Anyway, being skipper for the day on this Round Great Britain trip involves planning the passage using charts and the Almanac. This latter document, a large book published annually has information on tides and pilotage at ports, berthing / anchoring etc. Also and importantly we listen to the weather forecast, usually from the Coastguard on VHF.
The sail up to Arklow was in sunny weather with a 15 to 20 knot wind from the South West which was ideal for our passage, so we made quick progress on flat seas. It is quite incredible how the conditions at sea change depending on whether the wind is blowing from the coast, or from out at sea, together with tides, currents, swell from the ocean if there is no land in the way. On this occasion the sea was flat and in such circumstances the boat goes quickly, making 8 to 9 knots for much of the time. When we arrived in Arklow unfortunately there was no space on the town quay so we had to go into the commercial port and moored alongside a disused trawler that had seen better days, see photo:
We decided there was nothing to hang around in Arklow for so made an early start the next day, see photo of us motoring out of the harbour at sunrise:
Our destination was Howth, a port on the outskirts of Dublin where there is a nice marina and an easy train journey into Dublin itself (Dublin itself is primarily a commecial port, not suitable for yachts). We managed to sail for half of the passage, but had to motor the rest as there was not enough wind. We arrived early and in the afternoon I went for a bike ride along the coast to a cliff path which is really only designed for walking - certainly not for a folding bike with small wheels, particularly given the cliff dropped hundreds of feet at the edge of the path no wider than a few feet. The next day we went up to Dublin itself by train and did the tourist open top bus tour of the City - most attractive Georgian squares in parts of the city, and off course we got off the bus for a tour of the Guinness brewery, including free pint!
After Dublin the next destination was Warren Point (with sad memories from troubled times in Ireland) at the end of Carlingford Lough. There are very strong tides, up to 5 knots, at the entrance to Carlingford Lough so we had to time our arrival for when the tide is rising so we can go in with the tide. A most beautiful sail up the Lough and our first sight of mountains, or maybe tall hills! The actual sailing was different from anything previous as we had the wind directly behind us - so we only put the genoa up (the sail at the front of the yacht). This makes the sailing comfortable and it is anyway almost as quick as as with both sails because the mainsail would just pinch the wind that would drive the genoa.
From here we had a fantastic sail at great speed and in moderate sea conditions (ie fairly comfortable) across the Irish sea, some 65 miles on the yacht log (but note this is distance through the water which is affected by tides and will therefore be greater than as the crow flies!). At one point the boat reached 11.1 knots on the broad reach - quite a speed for a 13 ton yacht. Apart from the fantastic sailing, we were also very lucky to see several basking sharks as we were nearing the Isle of Man. We were heading for the port of Peel on the east coast. We arrived in the bay and had to wait until 10pm for the lock gates to open (they only open for 2 hours either side of high water to keep the water at a sufficient height in the marina / river). Whilst we waited we cooked supper and enjoyed the sun setting.
The next day was a rest day to explore the Isle of Man and we were fortunate enough to have nice sunny weather. I was up early to journey around the island on the various forms of land based transportation, much of it from the Victorian era, on a tourist one day pass. The journey included normal buses, a steam train, a horse drawn tram, an early electric tram and a mountain railway. The final bus journey back also went along some of the motorbike TT circuit. The Isle of Man seems to have much to offer - rolling hills, cliff tops, quaint harbours, must come back one day.
The final sail for this section was back to Ireland, but this time Northern Ireland and an attractive harbour town called Bangor (which is in Belfast Lough along the coast from Belfast) We were having problems with the engine so we decided to get back to Bangor early to give maximum time for the engineers to take a look, and therefore we sailed overnight, which also meant we had favourable tides. Also, we had to wait until 10:30pm for the lock gates at Peel to open to begin our journey. The sail turned out to be one of my favourite passages even though we had to motor almost all the way due to lack of wind. The water was flat, the sky was partly cloudy with a near full moon. I was on the 2:30pm to 6:30pm watch and I got my IPod out and just enjoyed the experience - tremendous.
A couple of days in Bangor the next day, including 2 hours in the launderette washing three weeks of clothes (I am using every old t shirt I have, purchased extra underwear and loads of cheap white socks - so if you are wondering, don't!). I even ironed all my t-shirts!
At this moment I am trying to finish this blog having just eaten our evening meal. Our new skipper for the West Coast of Scotland has just arrived - Tony. He started as a paid skipper in the 1970's and I believe has been full time since 1986 - so you can imagine his experience is extensive. We have four skippers in total taking us around Great Britain - it is great to have the chance to learn from the different styles and techniques. Tony has just briefed us about the planned destinations for the next few weeks sailing the West Coast of Scotland, sounds tremendous, and includes many remote anchorages.
Until next time ..
ps : many of you have commented on my suffereing from sea sickness - thank you for your kind thoughts but don't worry, altough it is horrible it only lasts for a short while ..... and anyway my presciption for patches which I believe you stick on your neck has just arrived in the post so maybe I have a solution - although they are sleep inducing so I may fall asleep on my watch and crash the boat into something ...
