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.