Back home to Topsham

Soon after I caught the train, Dave set sail from Falmouth on his own. The wind was still blowing NE Force 5, dead on the nose. The sea was pretty choppy leaving Falmouth but after 10 miles, both the wind and sea started to moderate, with less water coming over the deck. Instead of heading into Plymouth, 35 miles away, Dave decided to carry on. He passed outside the Eddystone Lighthouse, by which time the sea had calmed right down to a F3.
He reached Start Point around nine in the evening and had a good passage around the headland in calm seas with less than half a metre swell. He arrived at Brixham just after midnight and moored up for some sleep.
In the morning, Andy Voysey and his son Jamie joined David for the last leg home. The wind was still on the nose but only F2-3 and the sun was shining so they had an enjoyable trip back to the Exe, with Jamie on the helm most of the way. They went as far as Topsham, watched the start of the raft race across the river, then picked up the mooring and went for refreshments at Turf.


Since the boys didn't take any pictures, here's my Mum and sister after finishing the half marathon in Nottingham. Well done both of you!



The ‘Ros Ailither’ now has her sail covers back on and looks as if she’s been there all summer. In fact we have traveled 1,490 nautical miles at an average speed of 5.6 knots. We have thoroughly enjoyed the trip despite the inclement weather, especially meeting up with all the people from Ros Ailither’s past and discovering bits of her history. Thanks for giving us a good welcome in Ireland!
There are no more trips planned at present but we hope to be reviving ‘trawlertravels’ sometime in 2010.

Around Land's End

Ted Davenport joined the crew in Bideford. We had an evening meal ashore with the French crew on ‘Ambrym’ next to us, and even persuaded them to relive their youth on the bumper cars at the funfair! The next morning, we were very nearly ‘neaped’ on the mud but Dave got us off with a bit of oomph from Mr Gardner (the engine!). We headed out over Bideford Bar, where an impressive swell was rolling in, and headed for Hartland Point.



Ted was put straight to work hoisting the sails and we were soon cruising along at 6 knots. This increased to 10 knots as the tide swept us around Hartland Point, kicking up messy seas, but once away from the headland, the sea settled down again. We had a good Force 5 from behind so poled out the staysail and goosewinged our way down the north coast towards Lands End. There was barely a cloud in the sky and it felt great to have the wind in our favour for a change.



We dined on chicken curry before watching the sun go down, still not a cloud in the sky. This was our first overnight trip since arriving in Ireland and we were expecting the seas to pick up around Cape Cornwall. As it turned out, the wind dropped a little and we had a lovely sail around Lands End with a clear starry moonlit sky. There were plenty of lights on land, flashing buoys at sea and lighthouses to identify and a constant stream of ships passing in the distance.



We decided to carry on around the Lizard while the going was good and passed it three miles offshore with a ship either side of us heading in the opposite direction. From that point on, we lost the shelter of the land and the wind soon picked up to a force 5 gusting 6 from the NE - right on the nose! Our speed dropped to under 4 knots as the gusts kept stopping us dead so we decided to take the easy option and head in to Falmouth.

It is typical that we have been fighting westerly winds all the way to Ireland and now that we need them, we are faced with strong easterlies for the next few days! At least we have the sunshine…

Ted set off home soon after we anchored up, filled up with pasty, beer and lots of ideas for his forthcoming novel. We caught up on a bit of sleep before meeting local friends Graham & Heather in the Chain Locker pub, along with Ed & Maria, who happen to be holidaying in St Mawes! Sadly, our friends have to work today but we have spent the day relaxing in the sun with the Twittons, Archie and the bump.





I will be abandoning ship tomorrow to watch my sister run the half marathon in Nottingham, so it’s up to Dave whether to wait for better weather or bash through the seas back to Topsham.

Last leg in Ireland

Arklow harbour

The harbourmaster in Arklow recognized the boat straightaway and said ‘It’s a good few years since she fished from here’. He gave us a berth in the fishing harbour, which suited us just fine. We were right opposite the old Tyrrell’s Boatyard, which built many of the Ros fleet in the 50’s and 60’s, and Dave couldn’t resist the temptation to go and look around. This boatyard has now passed into different hands and is now mainly reduced to decommissioning these fishing boats.



There was a lovely looking black trawler, a similar size to ours, in the process of being decommissioned. The hull was in perfect condition as the owner had looked after the boat, keeping it on a mooring all its life but the deck, superstructure and bulkheads had all been ripped out. Even in this state, the boatyard were not allowed to sell her, despite her being unfit for fishing. Under the current rules for decommissioning, they have to chop up the whole boat, including the keel and provide a photo of every stage of the process. A 65-footer was still floating but reduced to a similar condition. It is a real shame as these boats will never be built again and there are plenty of ‘madmen’ like Dave willing to convert them for pleasure.




We had a visit from a fisherman, Dermot Green, who had seen us arrive and taken pictures. When he saw the name of the boat, he had to come and introduce himself as he had been on board in the 60’s. The ‘Ros Ailither’ was apparently the first boat to commercially fish for crab in Ireland and the BIM (Irish Fisheries Board) had provided the ‘Ros Ailither’ to the owner for this purpose. On the weekend of the Great Train Robbery in 1963, they were taking the boat from Baltimore up the west coast towards Killybegs when the engine blew up, throwing a piston through the bows. They had to wait 14 hours for the lifeboat to come out and pull them in to Valentia. Dermot didn’t hear what subsequently happened as he joined another boat, but he thinks the owner (James Haydn) was given another boat to crab with. Presumably the BIM fitted the ‘Ros Ailither’ with a new engine before she went to fish from the Aran Islands.

The south of the east coast of Ireland has a large number of wind farms, including one offshore on Arklow Bank. The boat we were moored next to, ‘Windcat II’, had the job of heading out to Arklow Bank every day to take engineers out to service the seven wind turbines. The boat alone was burning 175 litres of fuel an hour so this can’t have been a cheap operation for the electricity company. The guys on board were very kind to us, helping with our ropes even in a torrential downpour, and Peter Burne made us a lovely bell-pull for our ship’s bell.



We stayed in Arklow for one wet and windy day, amusing ourselves by taking Katie swimming but when the weather was still unsettled and looked like it might be for a long time, we decided to leave. We headed out with a forecast of W winds 5-7, but our internet sites had shown the wind easing that afternoon. They were wrong! We had a good sail to start with, as the wind was off the land. Then it turned more SW and we had to motor-sail. We passed Rosslare, and got to the bottom corner of Ireland, which the pilot book describes as ‘challenging’. They were right! The wind was still blowing a F5-6 and we had 2 or 3 knots of tide with us but against the wind, kicking up big seas. Tuscar lighthouse kept disappearing in the 3-metre swell and the decks got washed with spray. Katie, thankfully was down for her afternoon nap and slept through the worst of it. We were very glad to finally pull away from Carnsore Point and see the big bank of wind turbines on the headland slowly move aft of our beam. Finally, we got some lee from the Saltee Islands (aptly named!) just south of Kilmore Quay and the motion calmed down. We took the shallow short cut across St Patricks Bridge and were soon moored in Kilmore Quay.


wind turbines on Carnsore Point

It was worth the effort as we then met up with the family of the very first owner of ‘Ros Ailither’. Jim Campbell bought the boat brand-new in 1954 for his four sons, Jim, Jack, Dermot and Fred to fish. From the original crew, only Dermot is still alive and he came down to relive a piece of his past. Even though the boat has changed so much, you can definitely tell that Dermot had spent a lot of time on board, and he pointed out three of the bunks he had slept in from our photos. They used the boat for trawling (mainly herring) and always felt that the original engine, a 88hp Kelvin, was underpowered. They had lots of problems with it and, despite many requests, BIM refused to change the engine. This was the main reason they didn’t purchase the boat in full and it went back to BIM after 8 years.

After a while, Dermot told us that his wife Kathleen was waiting in the car. She didn’t think she could make it on board with two artificial hips but she hadn’t reckoned on Dave McCabe’s help! He soon had her on board, along with their nephew John, wife Suzanne and family, and a local fisherman who recognized the boat.

Dave, Kathleen & Dermot Campbell

Since we were staying put for a day (yet more strong winds), Dermot and Kathleen picked us up the next day and drove us to their home town of Wexford. This is where the ‘Ros Ailither’ originally fished from but we were unable to enter due to a difficult and shallow channel, which was risky without local knowledge. They took us to the Irish Heritage Centre, where they have recreated typical dwellings dating from the first settlers in Ireland, spanning the Stone Age up to Norman times. Katie enjoyed running around between each ‘settlement’ and hiding in the huts!



We were then treated for lunch and completely spoiled for the day; even Katie was given a new teddy. Back on the boat, we had a visit from Dermot’s son Jim, a photographer for the local paper, along with a fellow journalist, so it looks like the ‘Ros Ailither’ may appear in print yet again! Later that night, another nephew Colm, brought his family for a quick look onboard.

Dermot had hoped to see the boat sail away but we weren’t sure exactly when we would be leaving. The winds which were forecast to drop hadn’t done so by nightfall so we got a few hours sleep and set off in the early hours. The wind had dropped but we still had a good force 5 on our stern quarter and a sizeable swell. We averaged over six knots the entire trip. Another sailing boat set off at the same time as us, a 35-foot Hallberg-Rassy design, and we both entered Milford Haven harbour within five minutes of each other. Not bad for an old fishing boat!

So we were back in UK waters! We anchored in the little bay called Dale, just off the entrance channel. It seemed strange to go ashore and hear Welsh accents after two months of Irish tones. The following day brought strong southerly winds which turned our peaceful spot into a very rolly anchorage so we spent most of the day ashore - playing on the pebble beach, having a roast dinner in the yacht club and picking blackberries in the hedgerows.

The following day, the wind died almost completely and we motored across the Bristol Channel to Bideford Harbour. After two false attempts at mooring (once in a fishing boat’s spot), we were given some local advice and moored alongside the traditional schooner ‘Kathleen & May’ in a soft mud berth. A French yacht, ‘Ambrim’, who had come across with us from Dale, moored outside of us. We are both hoping to set sail on Wednesday morning and if the weather holds, get right around Land’s End.

Dublin to Arklow

We were hoping to moor on a pontoon right in the middle of Dublin but unfortunately it was impossible to reach as a new swing bridge was being built but didn’t swing yet. So we ended up in Poolbeg Marina, a 20-minute cycle from the city but right on the edge of the shipping zone. This was amusing at first but less funny
when we were woken at 3am by a huge cruise ship turning round (with the help of two tugboats) about 15 feet from our boat!



Anyway, it was a convenient base from which to explore Dublin. We took a tour on the open-topped bus, and couldn’t believe it when two friends from the Ardglass festival, who had moored in a completely different marina, appeared on the same bus.
They probably couldn’t believe it when they got dragged along with us for a tour of the jail, Kilmainham Gaol. It had been highly recommended by the bus driver and was actually very interesting, just an awful lot of information to take in. As our guide took us around the prison, he gave a series of lectures filling us in on the last 200 years of Irish history, the famine, the struggle for independence, the fate of the martyrs, (many of whom were put to death in this prison), and of course the appalling treatment by the Brits.



Katie was very patient throughout it all, especially as food had been specifically forbidden during the tour! One thing I had never realized was the significance of the colours of the Irish flag. The green represents for the ‘true’ Irish, the orange is for those Irish descended from the British and the white symbolises peace existing between the two.

So, back on the bus for some well-deserved snacks and the return trip through Dublin. We passed the statue of ‘sweet Molly Mallone’ and Dave was dismayed to discover that she was not just a vendor of cockles and mussels but a lady of the night. Or, as the driver put it, “the trollope with the scallops”. An illusion shattered!



We got a more agreeable tip from the driver about where to go for lunch. He pointed us to an old-fashioned pub, or ‘drinking emporium’, just off the busy O’Connell Street where we had a delicious meal at reasonable prices without the crowds. After escaping from the guilt of the prison, we had to relax with a pint or two… Here we parted ways with Dicken & Pam, who are sailing back to the Bristol Channel with their lovely pilot cutter, ‘Peggy’.

The next couple of days we wandered around at our own pace. We found busy shopping streets, quiet market stalls, street entertainers galore, beautiful old buildings, ugly new buildings and all the things you expect in a city. We visited the National Gallery, Dublin Castle and managed to break a smile from a harassed-looking waitress in the tourist area of Temple Bar. We crossed the river Liffey on the new Millenium Bridge and back over the old Ha’penny Bridge (much more elegant).

Ha’Penny Bridge

There was a lot of building work going on, particularly on the north side of the river, so lots of cranes, dug-up roads and scaffolding barriers, which I’m sure will be lovely when it’s finished. We got rather lost on our bikes and ended up the wrong side of a huge basin off the main river. Rows of restaurants bordered two sides of the water but we ended up at a dead end where somebody had set up home in a caravan right in the middle of the street, with kids toys scattered around the road. We had to drag the bikes across two sets of lock gates to get back to the main road to the marina.


Chloe came out to visit and after one last night among the throngs at Temple Bar, we set off down the coast to Wicklow. We had a good sail with the wind off the land, crossed one fleet of racing yachts near Dalkey Island and another further south near Graystones. Chloe did a great job at entertaining Katie, doing a 2-hour stint of painting at sea! By lunchtime, grey clouds had taken over the sky but in between showers we had great views of the coastline and the pointed peak of ‘Great Sugarloaf mountain’.



We had to dodge a colourful fleet of sailing dinghies outside Wicklow harbour, then went in and moored on the quay wall. The first thing we noticed were the paintings of ships the length of the harbour wall. Before long, a man on a bicycle arrived to say hi and he turned out to be the artist, named Pat. As well as being a postman (yes, Postman Pat), he is a ship enthusiast, and seems familiar with all shipping movement along this stretch of coast. He knew the name of the cruise ship that ruined our sleep in Dublin and often travels to nearby ports to see and photograph unfamiliar ships arriving.


Wicklow harbour with Great Sugarloaf Mt behind

Pat pointed us in the right direction for the town centre and we went to stretch our legs and treat ourselves to an icecream. Wicklow seemed a nice little town, with lots of stylish clothes shops, a vast selection of pubs and several Chinese restaurants, but we couldn’t find a bench to sit on and ended up eating our icecreams on a deserted doorstep!

Pat with one of his paintings

The forecast for the whole week was pretty uninspiring, winds between SE and SW and varying from moderate to gale force. There was a possibility of heading 15 miles down the coast to Arklow the following day but we managed to miss both the late night and early morning forecasts and so assumed the forecast of SW 5-7 that we had heard was still valid. (Our dongle for getting internet on board has gone from excellent to intermittent to not working at all.)


Instead, we took the train to Dun Laoghaire (pronounced Dunleary), where there was a Festival of World Cultures. There were rows of stalls offering foods from all over the world, but at a price – crepes for €5 seemed a bit steep, but we couldn’t resist the German pretzels or American muffins. Sadly, the rain came down in earnest just as lunchtime approached and we didn’t fancy sitting in the rain to eat African food, however authentic. Instead, we wandered into the town and happened upon a lovely little café that did us a fantastic lunch in the warm and dry.



Once the rain eased off, we wandered back and took a very excited Katie on the Ferris Wheel. This gave us an amazing view over the town and harbour, where a fleet of small boats were barely moving in the breeze. It certainly didn’t look like a force 5-7. Of course, this was the sheltered shore, but even so…! Anyway, the train didn’t go back until 7pm, so we had no choice but to re-immerse ourselves in music and watched a flamboyant display of Brazilian dancing.



The next day really was wet and windy. The harbour was sheltered from most of the wind but we could feel the boat surging in the swell and the lifeboatman’s opinion that “it’ll be dirty enough out past the headland” settled it for us. We had a last wander ashore before the rain came in, then cooked a roast chicken dinner before waving Chloe off on the train back to Dublin.

The next day, we headed out towards Arklow. Again, the winds seemed light in the harbour and just outside, but we only realized how much shelter we were getting from Wicklow Head when we got to it. It was blowing a good F5-6 on the nose and against the tide. The lifeboatman was right, it was pretty dirty! Olaf, at the end of our bowsprit, was well and truly submerged in the swells, and our topsail mast got bent up and broke. (Our fault for not lashing it better.) Two hours later, we arrived in Arklow and moored in the fishing basin. We will be here to wait out another gale before heading south to Kilmore Quay.