Ireland at last

Yes, we have finally left the shores of England and after a 35-hour sail from the Scilly Isles, arrived in Baltimore harbour. The weather was kind to us for our first overnight journey, blowing a steady 3-4, perhaps a bit stronger near the Irish coast. We sailed all the way at an average speed of 4.5 knots, hardly setting a speed record, but proving that the old boat will sail...
We're now planning to spend some time exploring the beautiful coastline up and around Bantry Bay. We took the dinghy to explore the islands of Roaring Water Bay and up the river as far as Skibbereen yesterday - a five hour adventure. And to dispel rumours of constant rain in Ireland, I can confirm that the sun DOES shine here, at least occasionally!

Scilly Isles

Scilly
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

After Looe, we spent a few days of poor weather up the Helford river, a remote and peaceful spot, then motored around Lizard Point in a flat calm - but still some swell! After a night in Newlyn, we had a wonderful sail to the Scilly Isles, which were utterly stunning - white sandy beaches, clear blue water, huge tropical flowers growing everywhere and hundreds of birds. We saw several seals, plenty of shags and oystercatchers, and one puffin. Wonderful!

Looe lugger race

Looe lugger race
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

We managed to get a new tree from Powderham and shape it into a boom in time to take part in the Looe lugger race on 11th June. Sadly, thetre wasn't much wind on Saturday so despite the best efforts of our faithful crew (all the way from Topsham)we didn't manage to finish the course. The weather was fine though and we enjoyed a pleasant drift around Looe bay in the sun with a few beers to lighten the mood.
On the Sunday we had lost our crew, but were joined on board by the last-but-one owner of Ros Ailither, Bob. He'd never sailed before and never imagined he would be doing so in his old fishing boat. There was more wind and we were able to finish all three laps of the race, the third from last boat to cross the line! The winning boat, 'Guide Me' finished two laps in the time it took us to finish one. But good fun was had by all and we were glad to have completed the course without mishap (despite a few near misses). Apologies to those we cut up!

broken boom

broken boom
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

Anybody got a spare boom?

close encounter in shipping lane

close encounter in shipping lane
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

We have been on a little jaunt across the Channel this week – to Alderney and Cherbourg. We had a lovely flat crossing on the way over but not enough wind. We managed to sail most of the way, but when we found ourselves drifting across the shipping lanes at less than 2 knots, we decided it was time to start the engine. It took us 18 hours in total, our slowest crossing so far.

We spent a relaxing day in Alderney, wandering the misty coast path and window shopping (half day closing to Dave’s delight). We were looking forward to pub grub in the evening but were too shocked by the prices – average meal £12, chips or salad extra!!

We fared better in Cherbourg. We arrived in perfect time to go through the swing bridge into the inner basin where we were delighted to find that it was free to moor.
I had been hankering after some mussels so we tried a ‘lunchtime special’ in one of the waterfront restaurants - for €10 (£6) a head. The mussels were delicious but I was a bit disconcerted to find tiny crabs inside the majority of the shells, sometimes inside the mussels themselves. I’d never encountered this before but the ‘patron’ assured me that it was perfectly normal in this region. Hmmm!

We had plenty of wind for the sail back on Saturday – a good force 6 from the west. With all sails set, including the topsail, we were steaming along at top speeds of 8 knots (with the tide, admittedly). Then, as we were crossing the first shipping lane, there was a big bang and the end five feet of the boom snapped off. We had to haul down the topsail before we could drop the main sail and gather up the flogging bits, including the end of the boom that was threatening to come in through the wheelhouse windows. We motor-sailed the rest of the way back to Torquay.

Topsail up

Topsail up
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

Brixham trawler race

Brixham trawler race
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

There was a great buzz of excitement in the air at Brixham in the run up to the trawler race – the town quay was packed with classic boats of all sizes spruced up to look their best and flying colourful streams of flags and bunting from the rigging.

Our crew of fifteen arrived in dribs and drabs throughout the morning, and most of us turned up to the ‘skippers’ briefing’ to learn the race course and rules – basically 3 laps of a 5-mile triangular course in Torbay. We then decided to fortify ourselves with a big breakfast, a decision we soon regetted after nearly an hour’s wait in the local café.

Eventually, we let go the ropes and headed out into Torbay for a quick practice and some warm-up tacks before the real race. The wind was blowing a good force 6 to 7 and most boats were well reefed down with not a topsail in sight. This was a big disappointment to us after having spent two hours the night before painting up our new topsail with the boat’s name.

There was plenty of wind to get us going and we were storming along at over 7 knots with the boat heeling well over when disaster struck. Ten minutes before the start of the race, the shackle on the peak halyard block (right at the top!) broke and we had to start the engine and lower the mainsail. Miraculously, Dom managed to clamber up and lash it together with rope, we reset the sails and reached the start line just eight minutes late.

We were extremely pleased with the way ‘Ros Ailither’ performed. We overtook five boats in total, touched nearly 8 knots top speed and pointed as hard on to the wind as the other gaffers. We managed to tack and gybe successfully, although having a dedicated crewmember for each rope obviously made a huge difference!

Unfortunately, it all went wrong at the finish line. We couldn’t point far enough to clear the finish mark so had to tack back, at which stage the roller furler refused to furl and we found ourselves sailing along the finish line (without actually crossing it) right in the way of the winning vessel, the Brixham trawler ‘Vigilance’, who was about to lap us. After a near miss and a moment of indecision, we managed to gybe round and cross the finish to the firing of a gun.

We didn’t win any prizes but thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and learnt a lot in the process. We are even tempted to take part in the forthcoming Looe Lugger race on the weekend of the 10th – 12th June.

Cherbourg

Had prepared a great blog complete with photos from the trawler race - which was great fun - but the only computer I can find (in la Poste) doesn`t read CDs. Such is life. Thought we`d better actually go somewhere after failing to reach Ireland so here we are in Cherbourg eating croissants....