Heading north in calm weather

We had been checking the weather carefully, as we needed to head home after the weekend, and it looked as though the wind would be a bit strong on Friday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. That made us wonder if we should head home early, and give Sails and Sounds a miss. Julian worked from boat yesterday, while I took a bus trip to Newtownards to get some laundry done. He was meant to do the same today, but he woke up with a very sore throat and a stinking cold; in no fit state to work.

We decided it made sense to start heading north today, as while Julian had no mental energy he was up to helming in the windless conditions we expected. We wanted to get diesel which meant a walk to the local filling station with our cans. The 16 litres went straight into Robinetta’s tanks, and Julian decided he was up to another walk to get more while I went to get my pre-booked haircut.

The tide to leave Portaferry started in our favour at 10:30, but we were not ready to leave until 12:20 and the tide was running strongly through the marina. I made a mess of backing Robinetta out of her berth, and had to go back in and try again. Luckily there was no boat beside us and I did not hit anything, although it was far from an elegant exit.

The tide was running hard through the narrows, and we could see the named whirlpool, the Routen Wheel, in motion. We stayed well clear, but there were minor rosts all over the surface trying to take us off course and we were making 7-8 knots over the ground.

What wind there was was coming from the North West, meaning any overfalls were slight, and we were soon clear of the Lough. We had the tide in our favour for an hour, but after that it was a steady motor at 3.5-4 knots in a straight line to Portpatrick. We got the main sail up, but there was no wind to fill it. The sun was out, the air was warm, and the sea state smooth. Motoring for hours on end is not really our thing, but with no way to mount our autohelm we were hand steering the whole time. We took hour and hour about, with Julian sleeping to recover between shifts.

We got the unused mainsail down and neatly stowed, then began to add clothes as darkness fell, with Julian piling on the layers, even when below.

Entering a harbour in the dark is always an interesting exercise, but we did have a cheat for Portpatrick, having been there only the week before. Our previous track was still on our chartpotter and I could follow it in with confidence until we were close enough to use my eyes.

Once we were in the inner harbour I looked round for the best berth. There was only one yacht in, which had taken the berth we used last week, but the one behind it was just as good. I heard a call from the quay side, warning me about a big black buoy. This distracted me enough that I had to make my approach again, but this was not a problem. There were young teenagers on the quay with their father, and they took our shore lines so we did not have to climb the ladder. There was also a call from the yacht “Are you OGA?”

It turns out that the yacht, and the grandchildren, belonged to a Dublin Bay OGA member. We were invited on board for a dram and stayed until after midnight. They were heading South, to Portaferry for Sails and Sounds before returning to their home port.