A short day sail

We planned another shortish sail for tday, straight across Dublin Bay, past Howth, towards Skerries. The forecast was for south west winds at force 3-4 which would take Robinetta nicely up the coast. The tides suggested we should leave Greystones at about 11am, so there was no hurry and we got Robinetta ready at the pontoon before walking to the nearest filling station for diesel (and an icecream).

The wind in the marina felt more like a 4-5 when we got back, sending halyards slapping against masts, but the direction was still good. There was a cloud front coming over, obviously bringing the wind with it, so we were sure it would die away when the sun came back. We had a chat about Robinetta and Worm with the owner of a boat moored up near us, then he helped get Worm in the water and cast off our forelines for us. This made leaving very easy!

Only fifteen minutes after putting the engine on it went off again. We were sailing along on main, staysail, and no. 2 jib at 4.5knots on a run, with the preventer rigged, in bright sunshine. I could see the railway line which runs along the coast through tunnels and over bridges, and the local train in its green livery looked like a caterpillar as it threaded its way along the track through the sea cliffs.

The wind died to almost nothing in the cliff's wind shadow, so we used the opportunity for an easy gybe to head out to sea a little since our course was pushing us inshore towards Dalkey Island. On this course we crossed track with a catamaran dinghy, which looked very small to be where it was, but with two fishing rods hanging off the back was obviously being used for sport fishing.

Julian on the helm was finding the course hard work. We through the wind dying was due to the cliffs, but even after we gybed back onto the previous heading and were clear of the cliffs it did not come back. We put the engine back on, and began to motor sail.

Forty five minutes later the wind came back, and we were soon sailing across Dublin Bay at 6-7 knots. The wind had shifted direction as it rose, and Robinetta was now broad reaching, a lovely point of sail, only she was beginning to be hard to hold on course. A freighter coming out of Dublin seemed to change course to avoid us (it was really only turning onto its heading out of the bay) and as soon as we were sure we would not impede it we ducked head to wind for a minute while Julian put a reef in.

As soon as the reef went in the sailing became lovely. A fast cat ferry (the one we had travelled in last sunday) passed ahead of us, another freighter passed behind, then there were no more big boats to worry about as we headed for the Nose of Howth.

Julian went below to catch the new forecast at 1300. There was much more wind than had been in the 0705 forecast and we wanted to know what was going on. The Irish coastguard forecasts can be confusing as they often cover the whole coast line, on this occasion there seemed to be a total turn around in the wind speed, with a small craft advisory (wind at force 6) being issued. We already had one reef in, our intended destination was an anchorage with nowhere close to go if it got rough.... We decided to head for Howth and spend the night in the marina there.

Looking toward Dalkey from Howth cliff path

Half an hour later we heard the forecast from Holyhead, which made no mention of force 6 winds, and the winds we were sailing in seemed to be moderating, but somehow, with the decision to stop early already made, we ended up going to Howth anyway. It felt like a shame to stop after such a short sail, and we both regretted stopping early, but Howth is a lovely place to visit.

We had a chat with a local in the Marina, who advised walking along the cliffs round the headland, so we did that, then had a very nice pizza in a small Italian restaurant, before heading back to Robinetta. We need to leave by 0600 to get to Carlingford in time to get into the lough, so an early night is a good idea.