Unexpected meetings

I got up a couple of times in the night to check on the anchor. It was holding well and Worm stayed where she should, hanging off Robinetta's stern. There was some swell, but less than at Dunmore East and both Julian and I slept well.
When the alarm went at 0645 bright sunshine was flooding into the cabin in a welcome change from yesterday's fog. After a lot of discussion last night we had decided to go outside all the sandbanks, avoiding the 10 hours of adverse tide in the North Sheer. This meant being away from the anchorage by 0800 to make the most of the north going tide up the Irish Sea.

Dogfish on the foredeck

Julian went forward to haul up his crab pot before raising the anchor. It was much heavier than expected, as it had unexpectedly caught a 3' long dogfish! It managed to free its head as we watched it on the foredeck, and I lifted the rear of the pot to let gravity help the rest of it escape. Julian then picked it up close to the tail and put it back in the water where we watched it swim away.

Even with the excitement of the dog fish the anchor was on board by 0755, and we motored past Rosslare with the stay sail up. The forecast winds were variable, so we left the main down, especially as the morning's wind seemed to be from the North East, directly where we wanted to go.  Luckily it was also very light.

As we entered the South Sheer channel to get round the south end of the Holden Bank I saw a huge dolphin heading towards us. Julian was below frying eggs for breakfast, but I called him up to see. It stayed with us for about fivemminutes, but I only caught a glimpse of its head, just enough to be sure it was a bottlenose. With its size, and black back and sides it looked much more menacing than friendly; very like the one we saw off Achill Island.

Our decision to go outside the sandbanks proved a good one. George went on duty on the helm; there were hardly any crab pots and the tide gave us a steady 5-6 knots over the ground. The wind got up a little after lunch, letting us motor sail. We did try turning the engine off, but our speed fell to under 3 knots, meaning the tide would turn against us before we reached Arklow, which would make the last few miles VERY slow.

The wind died to nothing again by 1500, but by then we could see Arklow, so we got the main down neatly, then pulled in the bowsprit in a relaxed fashion. Despite the constant need for the engine we had had a lovely day on the water, and getting to Arklow by 1600, before the tide started running hard against us felt like success!

We went into the dock, and had a look at the new pontoons, but after tying up and going ashore decided to move to the visitor pontoon on the other side of the river, which we had seen was empty. The marina was on that side of the river, and the maritime museum we wanted to visit, so it felt more convenient.

We came out of the dock and were soon tied up again on the visitor pontoon. We filled the water tanks for the first time since Dingle, then I went to find the marina office and the showers. By the time I got back a twister (a classic bermudan design) was moored up ahead of Robinetta, then Mary, a Cornish Pilot Cutter 30 came in, closely followed by Polly Agatha a wooden built Channel Pilot Cutter replica used for charter. 3 gaff rigged OGA members almost makes a rally! We talked to Mary's owners for a while. They are based in Holyhead and were intending to go to the Traditional Boat festival there that we are booked in to for next weekend.

We went to see the film Swallows and Amazons at the local cinema, then dropped in to the sailing club, and had a drink with Polly Agatha's skipper/owner, before inviting them back on board Robinetta. A good evening.