To Dublin

We spent two days in Portavogie. There was surprisingly little ashore so we were pleased of a chance meeting with another wooden boat enthusiast. Nick had a 68-foot fishing boat in nearby Bangor, which he was in the middle of revamping as a charter boat. He drove us up to see his boat, ‘Dundarg’, which was in remarkable shape, especially after a weekend of celebrations for her 70th birthday!

The following day we set sail for the Isle of Man, the seas were big to start off but soon settled down and gave us a good sail, if a little bouncy. A dark fin lurked in the water as we approached the island, it turned out to be a large basking shark that soon whipped off when it seemed we must run it over! We had no expectations of Peel Harbour so were delighted to find a picturesque harbour overlooked by a castle, a perfectly shaped hill and the town and beach.



We moored in the inner harbour where we could float at low tide inside the sill (a new and controversial development which is already malfunctioning). After Katie’s nap, we set off to explore and climbed the hill for fantastic views over the well-preserved castle and surrounding sea. We also met up with Mike Craine, editor of the 40+ Fishing Boat Association, who took us for a drive around the top of the island, told us some local history and showed us the thatched cottages used in filming ‘Waking Ned’.



Yet another unpromising forecast kept us in Peel for an extra day, so we were able to peruse the shops and buy some kippers, a local speciality. We discovered that the herring for these kippers has to be imported from Scotland as only 2 Manx fishing boats retain the right to catch herring! Katie enjoyed time off sailing on such a lovely sunny day and had a good time playing on the beach and flying her 99p kite.



We heard about an Old Gaffers Festival that weekend in Ardglass so headed there the following day in calmer seas. The poor weather had put off some of the regular comers but the eight or so boats there had enough crew for a very jolly night at the local pub. There was music and singing, with a variety of instruments from guitar thru squeezebox to spoons.
We had been told to make up a limerick beginning ‘There’s not a Tall Ship in sight at Ardglass’. After formulating 2 verses, I forgot to take the piece of paper I’d written it on and had to read out something half remembered and half made up on the spot! It sufficed to win us a pair of insulated mugs, and like every boat we were given a bottle of locally brewed wine, an Old Gaffers Special Reserve called Vino Calapso!



So one big gale and two hangovers later, we were finally ready to head south again. With the wind straight on the nose and squally showers, we decided to cut the trip to Dublin into two hops, stopping for the night at a place called Drogheda, that I can’t pronounce properly. (Apparently there’s no ‘g’!!??) It was a pleasant detour up the river Boyne and we moored for the night next-but-one to yet another sister ship, the ‘Ros Einne’.



Next morning we had a lovely sail in sunshine and flat seas down the coast to Dublin. We cut inside the privately owned Lambay Island, which has a population of six people and a large castle, then rounded the Ben of Howth and entered the busy shipping area leading into Dublin. We are moored in Poolbeg Marina right near the city and with a great view of container ships coming and going!

Across the top

From Killybegs, we moved up the bay to Teelin in order to get the boat ship-shape again. It turned out to be a beautiful anchorage, surrounded by green hills but with the same dark brown water as in Killybegs. Maybe caused by fresh water running down through the peat?? It looked like we were in a bay bounded by two long sandy beaches until we tried walking to one and ended up on a wild goose chase up the side of a river. A local man saved the day by allowing us through his garden to the narrow strip of beach behind and Katie was finally able to paddle.



The next day we had some pretty strong winds pushing us up the coast, along with fog, visibility was down to less than half a mile. We passed the famous Sleive League coastline but the clifftops were hidden in clouds and their magnificence was hidden in the grey drizzle. A lifeboat overtook us briefly in the mist then disappeared again, we later found out they had steamed around from Killybegs. As usual, Katie didn’t seem too bothered by the motion!



The lighthouse on Arranmore Island finally appeared through the mist and once around Torneady Point the swell dropped immediately. After anchoring, we went for a wander ashore and Dave spotted a similar boat to ours ashore on the slip and badly affected by gribble (worm). Later the owner came out by RIB and confirmed it is indeed a sister ship, the Ros Oirthir, his father fished her for years and he is considering the huge task of rebuilding her, replacement keel and all. Another sister ship, the Ros Ard, is apparently still fishing here and in immaculate condition but she was moored way around the south of the island and we didn’t get a chance to see her.

The weather was perfect the following day, blowing W3-4, and we had a great sail up the last of the west coast and around Bloody Foreland. We passed several islands - Tory island, Inishbeg and another Inishbofin and anchored for the night in a place called Portsalon, halfway down Lough Swilly. There was a long sandy half-moon beach but we were rather disappointed to find that the ‘village’ consisted of bunches of identical modern holiday homes. Not a single old stone cottage in sight. Were they all knocked down to make way for this or was it uninhabited before? Either way, the boat looked pretty at anchor and the holiday-makers seemed to be having a grand time.

The wind had pretty much disappeared the next day but we hoisted the mainsail in hope and motored out to Malin Head. This was the northernmost point of our trip, though not of Ireland, as we cut inside the island of Inishtrahull. Having seen very few pleasure boats at sea so far, we were surprised to cross paths with two right at the top of the Emerald Isle! One was a yellow RIB who stopped for a moment to take in the scenery, snap a couple of pictures and exchange a friendly wave before disappearing into the distance. We wondered for a moment if it was Ed William-Hawkes reliving his round-Ireland adventure from several years back!



We also crept up on another blue boat with tan sails, this one a highly unusual junk rig. We exchanged hellos as we passed by and ascertained where each other was going. We had planned to stop in a fishing harbour called Greencastle but after a quick recce Dave decided there was precious little room so we motored on and joined the other yacht at a place called Coleraine up the river Bann. They were a British couple who had cruised down from Scotland with their newly aqcuired boat, and hadn’t been near ‘civilisation’ for over a month!
They certainly found it in Coleraine (pronounced Coal-rain), in the form of a busy town centre and a shocking amount of traffic on the road - we had obviously slowed down to the pace of life in Southern Ireland! Here we had crossed the border into Northern Ireland and it was just like being in England, with a big Tesco’s down the road and prices in pounds sterling instead of euros. One of the bonuses was a big swimming pool in the town, complete with water slides, which we all thoroughly enjoyed.


Strong winds were forecast for the next three days so we realized we weren’t going to make it the 25 miles to Ballycastle where we were hoping to meet up with Pat Nolan, who wrote ‘Sea Change’, a book about the 50-foot Irish fishing fleet. As it was, he came down to meet us and took us for a drive along the coast as far as Ballycastle. The road followed a stunning coastline dotted with castle ruins, lovely beaches and busy holiday towns. We passed the world-famous Giant’s Causeway, a geologist’s heaven of natural lava rock formation but sadly it is not visible from the road and the queue of waiting cars put us off actually taking a guided tour to see it. The same applied to the wobbly rope bridge across to an island so we had to be content with the view from above. It was great to see the coastline we would soon be sailing along and get to know Pat a little better after our brief meeting in Killybegs.



The following day we took the train to Belfast for the last day of the Tall Ships celebrations, arriving just in time to watch the fleet departing. They made a spectacular sight, especially the majestic ‘Europa’ with her square sails set. A man from GMTV overheard us say we’d come from England and wanted to interview us but Dave, ever camera-shy, declined.
We had promised Katie a visit to the funfair but we couldn’t believe it when a 3-minute ride on the carousel cost £6!! They were certainly making the most of the masses of people visiting.



Before we left, we spent a sociable evening in the local yacht club where we caught up with our neighbours on ‘Moonshadow’, who we had first met in the Azores last summer! We all looked back fondly on the glorious weather we had experienced there… but, as we keep reminding ourselves, we didn’t come to Ireland for the weather!

We left the next morning to find the strong winds had turned to no wind. This was much preferable as the NE corner of Ireland has some of the strongest tides, running up to six knots through the Rathlin Sound and Northern Channel, and causing strong eddies and a whirlpool so dangerous it has a name - ‘Slough-na-more’. It was harmless when we passed through, being whizzed along at speeds over 12 knots on the GPS!! We had a brief glimpse of the Mull of Kintyre in hazy cloud but that is the closest we’ll be to Scotland on this trip. We took advantage of the flat seas and fair tide to get as far as we could and made it to Belfast Lough by 10pm. We anchored for the night in Ballyholme Bay then were off again at 6am to reach a sheltered harbour before the forecasted southerly wind picked up again.



So here we are in Portavogie, amongst a fine fishing fleet, mostly wooden boats. There seems to be little ashore apart from a chandlery, a shop and a pub, but the harbour is bustling with industry. As usual in Ireland, the harbourmaster is very accommodating and seems more keen to actually help us out rather than charge us. A novel experience after the south coast of England!
Considering the constant boat traffic, we were amazed to see a large number of seals, apparently fifteen of them, who actually live inside the harbour, fearlessly popping up between the moving boats. This is a boat maneuvering in the narrow entrance with a seal’s head just visible behind. Four of them followed him in at a distance of just a few feet!

Hauled out in Killybegs

Things moved quickly after our arrival in Killybegs. The local paper did a big write-up about our visit, featuring a photo of us with a group of former workers from the boatyard. Most of them came aboard for a look but sadly one or two were unable to get down the ladder, including one man, Columba Cunningham, who started work in the boatyard in the 1950's. Here he is holding a book about Killybegs showing him working at the boatyard at the tender age of 14½!

Brian McGillowry, Patsy McGowan & Columba Cunningham

Michael O’Boyle had arranged for us to get hoisted out for free by Mooney’s Boatyard, where the Ros Ailither was originally built back in 1954. So the following afternoon we took her over to the lifting bay, built on the site of the boat railway where she would originally have been launched..



It was a historic moment that obviously brought back lots of memories. The foreman at the yard, Patrick, came in specially on his day off to operate the container hoist. His father, Patrick, was foreman when Ros Ailither was built, and his son, also Patrick, works there too. Michael O’ Boyle was there with his son Martin and little grandson, as were former workers Pat Cunnahan, Jackie Neehan and Josie Murran. Pat Nolan, author of ‘Sea Change’, a book about the BIM Irish 50-footers, had driven down from Northern Ireland, and representatives from the Marine Times were there to take pictures.


Michael O'Boyle, Pat Nolan, Patrick the foreman, Martin O'Boyle

We all watched as the Ros Ailither slowly came up out of the water and was set on chocks next to the hoisting bay. Everyone remarked on what good condition she was in for her age. Lee Mooney, owner of the yard, came over for a good look inside once he could get away from his work. His father worked in the BIM yard prior to taking over the boatyard and it was obviously still a thriving business. It looked deceivingly quiet from the road but two brand-new (aluminium) boats were under construction in the huge shed, not to mention several boats out of the water for repairs.

Lee Mooney on board with Dave

For the next four days, David worked hard on getting the topsides and bottom rubbed down, filled and painted. It was a great spot to work, uncrowded and with a lovely view over the harbour entrance, shame about the annoying rain showers! Dave had several visitors who were all able to add more snippets of information of how the Ros boats were built.

Mooney’s yard was instrumental in making Killybegs such an important fishing harbour back in the 1950’s, building 37 wooden fishing boats during the 1950’s alone. They built two or three boats simultaneously, each with a team of 19 shipwrights working on them. Surprisingly little was available in the area so all the nails and steelwork, for example, had to be specially made and shipped in.



Hazel and Katie spent the days exploring Killybegs. It is a small town (with no coffee shop!) totally dominated by the large fleet of enormous fishing boats on the quays. We happened upon St Catherine’s Well, a source of natural spring water dedicated to the town’s patron saint, and still used as a place of prayer. Our arrival coincided with the street festival weekend and Katie was very excited to see the funfair setting up. Obviously she is a bit small for the ‘Drop Zone’ ride but enjoyed clambering up the inflatable slide!

longest carpet loom in the world

I was surprised to discover at the Maritime & Heritage Centre that Killybegs was also world famous for carpets. This was the site of Donegal Carpets, makers of high quality hand-knotted wool carpets. We were shown a video of women at work in the 60’s – it is a slow business and took a team of women four months to make a single (large) carpet, each one individually designed for its destination. We saw the largest loom in the world (42 feet long and weighing over 4 tons!!) and were allowed to put a couple of knots in a ‘show’ piece of carpet in-the-making. The factory is now only a fraction of the size and was not in use when we were there but still goes into operation when a commission comes in.



On Monday morning, Ros Ailither was looking much the better for a lick of paint, and we had even painted the original (trademark) shamrock back on the bows. Lee Mooney himself lifted the boat back in the water with Michael and Martin O’Boyle who came to watch and take photos (and video for u-tube!).



We moved back to the fishing quay for a short while then made a move the 10 miles down the bay to Teelin in order to get the boat straight for sailing again.
We would like to thank Lee Mooney for the free haulout and use of all his facilities, and to Michael O’Boyle for setting it all up, and for all the background information. Thanks to everybody who gave us such a warm welcome and sorry we didn’t hang around for longer. When the weather’s right, you’ve got to keep moving!

To Killybegs

Our next stop after the Aran Islands was in nearby Roundstone Harbour on the mainland, a beautiful anchorage with the Connemara mountains as a backdrop. Made all the better when Dave spotted one of our sister ships in the harbour, recognizing the shape despite there being no name visible. She was soon identified as the ‘Ros Beithe’ when the new owner popped out to introduce himself – and check out our conversion.



The next day we had a bumpy ride around Slyne Head to another island, Inishbofin, where we spent three days waiting out more gales, up to Force 9 this time! I could well believe it after our first night spent rolling wildly on a mooring in the middle of the harbour. The following day we moved into the pier, having lost any reticence of taking the delivery ship’s berth! We had to move to make room for the supply ship the next morning but it was worth it for the stiller motion. And the view of the islanders latest acquisitions being unloaded – nice quad bike!
Inishbofin was very quiet, the landscape more hilly than Inishmore, a bit like a piece of Dartmoor set down off the coast of Ireland, sheep and all – we even found them wanderering on the beach!

Inishbofin Harbour

When the winds finally abated, we made a long day’s run around Erris Head to Ballycastle, a sheltered anchorage in pretty surroundings but with little to offer in the way of civilization. There was a great deal of boat movement as they are building a controvertial gas pipeline here and boats seem to be permanently whizzing crews back and forth. Still, a quiet and non-rolly night for us as more gale force winds came through…

We finally made the last long hop to Killybegs on 4th August, over a month after leaving the Exe. There was just the right amount of wind in the right direction (S force 4-5) for us to have a great sail up Donegal Bay at average speeds of over 6 knots.



We were met outside Killybegs entrance by a boat carrying local press and Michael O’Boyle, one of the original workers in the Killybegs boatyard and they escorted us in. When we tied up ashore, we had a welcome party waiting for us of people who either fished on board or had a part in building the boat right here back in 1954. Welcome home, Ros Ailither!