Round Achill Island

When we anchored in Ellie Harbour Robinetta had 5m under the keel, so using 30m of chain felt safe. When I checked at 0045 we had 7.2m of water under the keel. Despite the wind feeling strong it was never more than force 4 and Robinetta was solid on her anchor. The wind held Worm astern nicely so I turned in and slept solidly until 06:55 when the alarm went.

We aimed to be away by 08:00 to get round Achill Head before noon since the wind was due to freshen in the afternoon. Robinetta was lying to the wind, so we raised the main sail while at anchor before Julian went forward to haul up the anchor. We had the engine on, but the anchor came up so easily that we just sailed off. The contrast between motoring upwind into the chop last night and braod reaching down this morning was extreme. The sun came out as we passed Blacksod Pier, and a mile further on we gybed round onto a very broad reach towards Achill Head 10 miles away.

We saw a yacht heading north, far out to sea, the first we've seen sailing since we reached the Republic. We had heard a yacht called Evenstar calling up the coast guard earlier so I assume that was who we saw.

We shook out all the reefs to make the most of the wind, and that also let us put the preventer on against accidental gybes. Julian had a play with the big blue sail. We did not go any faster, and it cut off my view of the coast, so it soon got put away again.

Cliffs of Croaghan

Just north of Achill Head are the Cliffs of Croaghan, at 664m the highest sea-cliffs in the British Isles. The seas were calm and it was easy to hold the run at 4 knots. As it was so calm we decided to take the inside passage round Achill Head. The channel is 4 cables wide, but there is a rock called the Priest Rock in the middle. It is 2.9m under water so on a calm day like today we could ignore it.

Once we gybed round to aim at the gap we picked up speed; the waves were directly behind us, taking us up to 6 knots as they rolled beneath us. It was an exhilarating ride. Once clear of the head our speed dropped back to 4 knots, but strong gusts started to cone at us off the cliffs. On the helm Julian found it difficult to hold the course in the gusts. We were still too close to the rocks to be able to go head to wind to reef, so I furled the jib away and let down the throat and peak of the main. This de-powered the rig a lot and also meant it was now ready to reef once we had enough room. Five minutes later we got the reef in and were sailing properly again. Gusts kept coming off the cliffs and taking us from 3 to 5 knots then back again. Then the wind died completely and we drifted with the tide at .5 knot for 10 minutes before reaching the next piece of wind to take us across Keem Bay.

After another glorious beam reach along the Achill Island shore with Clare Island on the starboard bow we got to Achill Beg, a small island on the south-west side of Achill Sound. The wind funnelled through the sound and by now we were fully reefed and the wind was still too strong, so again we furled away the jib and dropped the peak to depower the rig. At this point a couple of large fishing boats came past, heading for shelter faster than we could! One helmsman waved at us in a friendly fashion.

Julian was still finding holding the course in the gusts a challenge, but suddenly I spotted something in the water. Dolphins! They crossed under our bow and rode alongside the beam repeatedly for 5 minutes. As they left Julian commented that it was much easier to hold the course with dolphins as a distraction.

A couple of miles short of the next way point te wind died again. We shook all the reefs out, but when the wind came back it was on the nose. Reluctantly we put the engine on and the sails away, and motored for the last hour into Calum More harbour. There were dinghies sailing in the approaches and a couple of motor boats and a yacht heading out for an evening sail. The couple on board waved at us. We were suddenly back in a sailing area.

We had expected to anchor, but the Mayo Sailing Club had 4 visitor moorings rated for 15tonnes so we picked one up. We ate dinner aboard and then rowed ashore in Worm and were warmly greeted by a member of the Sailing Club who told us how to get into the building to use the shore facilities. Unfortunately the showers were cold. On a Tuesday night only the cadets race, and apparently they don't shower.

The adults race on Thursday evening, and we were invited to join them in the club for meal after if we were still around. We stretched our legs for about half an hour and met another couple from the sailing club on the way back. They were recently addicted sailors, and had been on the yacht that passed us going out for an evening sail. They offered us a lift into town to shop, but we really wanted to get back to Robinetta for a cup of tea.