Sailing the Irish Sea
Published 12:03 on 14 Sep 2023
We left Salcombe on the 17th August heading for Kilmore Quay ( south east tip of Ireland). We had a great sail in a 10- 15kt Easterly and sped along at 7- 8 kts flying an asymmetric and quickly settled into our watch system of three hours on and five hours off. Suddenly, out of nowhere Storm Betty was approaching fast. The forecast changed dramatically. Instead of force 4-5 the forecast was predicting gale force 9. A change of plan with a diversion to Newlyn to sit out the storm, as we didnt fancy meeting the storm in the Celtic sea.
We arrived in Newlyn at Midnight and were told to raft up against trawler. Luckily there was another yacht rafted. Although they were leaving at 5.00am!! The harbour master was very friendly and after releasing the other yacht from the raft we moved around to the hammerhead, where we sat out the storm literally as we only ventured out to visit a bar and buy some mussels and fish which I cooked onboard.
On Sunday 19th we slipped our mooring. The wind was westerly so we motored through moderate to rough seas to Lands End. Eventually we rounded the Tall Ships lighthouse and we were able to set sail for Dun Laoghaire in Dublin Bay some 220 nm away. We had a great sail in moderate swell and averaged 6.3 kits over 30 hours. Dun Laoghaire was a welcome sight and we spent a rest day doing lots of minor repairs to the boat. The Autopilot had been playing up and we managed to get it repaired overnight!! A beautiful evening with great hospitality resulted in a relaxed start north the following day……. To be continued!
