A bad day on the water

Is better than a good day in the office or so they say.

I've had some very good days in the office. Today wasn't really bad but it felt that way at times. The mooring at Dunmore East was very rolly and we have had better nights.

When we got up the threatened fog hadn't materialised in the harbour but Hook Head was in it. At least we could get across the shipping lane in Waterford Harbour ok. But by the time we had breakfast it had got worse. We layed in a course on the plotter so we would have something to steer by.

We dropped the buoy and as we motored out I bent on the no 1 jib. The boat was pitching a lot and it was hard work.

By the time I got back to the cockpit the visibility was terrible and Alison was struggling to steer a compass course to match the plotter route. There wasn't much wind but I got the main sail up and it gradually filled. Motor sailing was a bit better but the wind was SE and we had to put a tack in to clear Hook Head.

We did see the light house, once we were very close. We could make the course now and the wind strengthened enough to turn the engine off. We had 10 miles to go across the bay to Kilmore Quay and all we could see were three shades of grey, one for the fog and two for the sea, so at least we could make out the waves. The sea state was ok and I thought about using the autohelm but decided to put the effort in. After an hour Alison suggested the autohelm and I gave in and we set it up. Steering with nothing to look at is tedious.

I have a new toy. A collapsable creel. As we were intending to anchor tonight I needed bait, we were going quite fast over the ground but a lot of that was tide so I got the mackerel line out. After a while the wind died and we decided to put the engine back on so I hauled the line in. It felt heavy so I was hopeful but I didn't say anything. Yes. We got two nice mackerel. I filleted them and we put the filets below for dinner and kept the heads and backbones for bait.

Off Kilmore Quay are a group of islands called the Saltees. There is almost a causeway to them called St Patrick's Bridge. A marked channel crosses it with 2.4m minimum depth. We never saw the Saltees, or the Kilmore shore but we did see the buoys (except one which we had heard was off station on the radio).

The next leg was to Carnsore Point. Then we would be in the Irish Sea. Alison heated some soup for lunch as it was cold and grim in the fog and then stayed down to wash up. She missed the only patch of blue sky we had all day. As we got near Carnsore Point the clouds broke a little and I spotted Black Rock and the shore. it really felt like it was clearing up and I saw brightness where the sun must be.

But it lasted 5 minutes and then closed down again. We never saw Carnsore Point itself or even the wind farm.

I needed to rest my eyes and Alison took over the watch - George was still at the helm. One of the bad things about the new chart plotter is that it snaps way points to bouys too readily. I usually change it but I had forgotten to do the one called Splaugh. The line from Fundale to Splaugh avoids rocks and banks on either side. We were ok until the tide turned but sometime around 4pm we found ourselves in nasty overfalls and a ridiculous amount of foul tide.

One moment we would be on course, the next going backwards or heading straight for the rocks. At least the rocks were not scarily close.

We fought our way north east, rarely making 1/2 knot over the ground. That got us out of the overfalls but all we could do was hold station. I phoned Rosslare and found the next ferry was coming in at 17:30. So we needed to keep out of its way too. At least we were at the edge of the channel and the visibility was improving. The tide gradually slackened and we could head in the South Shear at 1/2 knot, then a whole knot! The ferry came past with plenty of room and we started to relax. It had been a stressful hour or two.

We made our way past the harbour to the recommended anchorage in increasingly benign conditions. Another yacht was already at anchor looking comfortable. We dropped the hook well west of it. A little fleet of Walker Bay sailing dinghies came out of the tiny harbour nearby and used us as their race mark. We exchanged greetings. I got the new creel out and tied it to the chain of the dinghy anchor, put one of the mackerel remains in the zip bait pocket, tied the line to Robinetta and dropped the assembly over the bow.

I put some rice on and skinned the filets and fried them gently in butter with the remains of our garlic and then dumped a jar of balti sauce in. It wasn't exactly a gourmet meal but the fish was tasty. We finished off with cheese and biscuits.

Then we started planning. Today's tides had scared us. The route north from the anchorage leads through the North Shear. The pilot says the tide runs south 10 hours out of 12. Tomorrow, the favourable two hours started at midnight and noon. North of there the favourable tide would be from 8am until 2pm. The only way to make it work was to leave at midnight, get through the Shear and anchor north of Raven Point until 8am. We were too tired to do that!

The next best option was to head back out of the South Shear and north outside the sands. That looked ok.

We went to bed.

On the plus side, we got to where we planned to, nothing bad happened, we had couple of hours pure sailing, we caught fish and we tried out the creel. On the minus side we never saw this section of coast - we might as well not have been in Ireland and we failed to understand the tides..

New Ross to Dunmore East

It rained in the night, but we had left the cockpit cover on so the cabin stayed dry. The rain did mean we had to fold the cover away wet, but it would have been any way since Julian wanted to wash off the “message” left by a sea gull.

The tide was supposed to turn about 0945, but it seemed quite slack at 0900 so Julian backed Robinetta out of the finger berth where she had spent the past four weeks, and we re-moored her facing up river on the outside hammerhead of the pontoons. This would make leaving later a lot easier.

Then we headed off for a tour of the Dunbrody replica.

By 1115 we were back on board our own old wooden boat, with Worm in the water behind her, held nicely by the current. I was on the helm, with the stern line in my hand as a return, while Julian was on the pontoon, letting off the spring and bow line. I was supposed to hold her in place against the current with the engine, but the bow swung out as soon as the lines were off, and I had no chance to control her. I could not get her to steer back in, so Julian threw the bow line on board, while I pulled the stern line out of the water.

For a moment I was afraid I would not be able to make it back to the pontoon against the fast running ebb, but once I gave Robinetta full revs I was able to ferry glide back to the pontoon where Julian stepped aboard.

The damp early morning had given way to a warm and sunny day, making it possible to admire the river Barrow at its prettiest. It is a haven for waterfowl, with wet lands and mudflats, as well as woods and farmed land. It was quite a shock to round a bend and see a small cargo boat tied against a dock!

I had given the Barrow Bridge an arrival estimate of 1315, but the tide took us along even quicker than I expectd and we were in sight of it by 1245. My phone rang, and it was the bridge operator. “Is it you just came round the corner?” He told me we would need to give him 15 minutes to move the bridge as he had to walk across to the control tower in the middle, so we turned back into the current and put the engine into higher revs to hold station on a red channel marker.

After five minutes of doing that we decided to turn round, and take up station on the next green down the channel for a change, but almost as soon as we turned towards the bridge I could see it begin to move, so we did not need to wait again.

The river Suir felt very deep once we entered it, with the main channel 8-15 meters deep rather than the 3-5m of the Barrow. A coaster overtook us as we headed towards the ferry crossing at Ballyhack, then we saw a French Briganteen, La Malouine moored up alongside the quay there, obviously allowing visitors aboard as she dried out alongside.

We carried on close to the north side of Waterford Bay to get a good look at Duncannon, a drying harbour with a surprising number of quite large fishing boats in it.

Then we followed the channel as it ran quite close in along Duncannon Strand. The wind was stronger here, right on the nose, and set up a nasty short steep sea with wind over tide in the shallow channel. Half an hour of this had me wondering about heading back up river, but then the waves gradually got further apart as we approached Creadon Head, and once we were round it and heading straight for Dunmore East we just had a light swell.
We headed for the anchorage, just off the main beach, but it felt very narrow and close to the swimmers by the time we were inside the 3m depth area recommended for anchoring. Instead we turned back towards the harbour and the moorings just outside it. There were no visitor moorings, but plenty of vacant named ones. Most looked too flimsy and close together for Robinetta, but there were a few larger ones, so I headed for the one with the most space around it. When Julian picked it up he found a good heavy rope with an inbuilt bridle. It looked well cared for and with no strong winds in the forecast seemed sturdy enough.

There was an uncomfortable amount to swell, and as usual Robinetta was swinging very differently to the yachts around her, so I wondered about moving onto the new pontoon we could see inside the harbour. The boats on that were moving a lot too, so we decided to stay put, and rowed Worm to the pontoon instead.

Dunmore East is a busy place, with an active fishing fleet as well was plenty of tourists. We spent a lovely evening ashore, wandering through the village and its scenic park, looking out across Waterford Harbour. We ate an enjoyable dinner at the Spinnaker pub/restaurant before heading back to Robinetta, over full with food and drink.

Back to New Ross

Our trip back to Ireland started early, since we were driving to Holyhead to get on the ferry. We left home just after five, and were in Holyhead by ten. This gave us plenty of time to park the car in the Marina car park, then walk to the ferry terminal with our bags.

The fast ferry got us to Dublin in plenty of time to catch the 1545 bus to New Ross, and we were on board Robinetta by seven.

Robinetta felt quite dry inside, although there was mould growing on the frying pan again... We got Worm off the foredeck and re-instated the bowsprit, then headed out for fish and chips, and to do some shopping, but were in bed before 2200. It had been an early morning!

Plans

We will be back on board on Sunday. Dividing up the route north back to Ardglass and then over to the Isle of Man and Holyhead into 30 nm stages might look a little like this

New Ross	Kilmore Quay	33
Kilmore Quay	Rosslare	20
Rosslare	Arklow	33
Arklow	Greystone	25
Greystone	Skerries	28
Skerries	Carlingford Lough	29
Carlingford Lough	Ardglass	25
Ardglass	Peel	32
Peel	Port St Mary	15
Port St Mary	Holyhead	46

If the weather isn't kind to us we can cut across from Dublin to Holyhead - it's only a little farther than from the Isle of Man.

There are several more places to stop - Wexford, Wicklow, Dun Laoghaire, Dublin, Howth and Drogheda all look sensible. 30 nm is a very comfortable day sail with some time ashore. We can do more, especially on calm days. We also might want some days ashore - maybe Glendalough although that might mean hiring a car.

Map updated

Click on the image to go to the navigable map.

In the last fortnight we covered 264 nautical miles in 71 hours, spread over 10 days. We were moving under wind power for 30 of those hours, while the rest of the time we were motor sailing or under motor alone.  

Two rivers and a bridge

Waterford Dawn

I woke really early, and noticed a reddish tint to the light coming into the cabin, so stuck my head up to have a look. Julian asked what I was doing, then got up to take some pictures. while I want back to sleep.

After breakfast we went to the Medieval Museum, which was well worth the visit, with some interesting stuff about the trade rivalry between Waterford and New Ross. As we wandered round the town it began to drizzle, so we took our sandwiches back to Robinetta to eat. The weather did not help my end of holiday feeling!

The tide was due to turn at Dunmore East (the entrance to Waterford Harbour) just before 3, so there was no point leaving Waterford before 2. The tide was still ebbing rapidly at Waterford then, so we had to think hard about how to leave our berth safely. There was plenty of room in front of us, but the tide would soon sweep us down onto the next boat along... I thought we had enough room once Julian pushed Robinetta off at the bows and we swung out into the river, but then the current pushed the bow back in and I had to reverse in a hurry. That was the perfect manoeuvre as it made the stern swing out, and we were soon clear of the pontoon and all the boats without hitting anything. If only I had planned it...

We were soon heading down river in poor visibility due to the drizzle, with the engine hardly above tick over; just enough to give us steerage way. We were making 5 and a half knots. My calculations had told me that with at most an hour and a half to low water there should have been less than a knot of tide with us even at springs, but I was obviously wrong.

I had phoned the Barrow Bridge yesterday to advise them that I would want a opening today, and now I phoned again to give an hours notice. I felt slightly silly, we were at low water springs and there was every change that Robinetta could just about fit under the bridge, but the Barrow Bridge is on a disused railway line, and opening it does not inconvenience any trains!

Barrow Bridge

The bridge began opening while we were still in the River Suir and as I turned Robinetta towards the bridge, and into the ebb tide from the River Barrow her speed dropped from 5 knots to 1. Even when I throttled up to maximum we were making less than 3... The bridge operator came out onto his balcony and watched Robinetta slowly pass through.

The river Barrow is shallower than the Suir, and at low tide we had barely 2m beneath the keel. Plenty for us, but the river is buoyed for big ships. It is very pretty and looked totally rural, with wide muddy banks fringed by reeds. After about half an hour the ebb had ceased, and the drizzle cleared away, leaving us with a bright hot afternoon.  Once the decks had dried Julian asked me to make a start on greasing the shackles (a necessary job before leaving Robinetta) but the tide was hurrying us along again and I did not finish before New Ross came into view.

We saw a small freighter tied up to the far bank, making it obvious that the river is still used for commercial traffic, and the town quay side had the Dunbrody, a ex-working replica of a famine ship. The Three Sisters marina at New Ross is mainly used by motor boats, which can pass under the bridge in the centre of New Ross and gain entry to the entire inland waterway system of Ireland. It was only half full, so there was plenty of room for us to leave Robinetta there for a month.

We put Worm upside-down on the foredeck again. The tide current sweeps though the outer berths of the marina, bringing rubbish with it, so Worm is safer up there than in the water. She also acts as a good cover for the leaking hatch, and can not fill with water herself, so Peter at Dingle did us a good turn when he insisted Worm would fit.

Up the river to Waterford

Robinetta grounded at about one in the morning. Unfortunately I had left the stern line on too tight, and as the pontoon also grounded we were pulled over slightly towards it. The tilt woke me, and I realised what was happening, so went up to release the line. Julian and I have slept on the slant before, and this was not nearly as bad as the first time we dried out at Maldon, but it was still a nuisance. Julian did not sleep well, and as soon as he felt there was enough water to support Robinetta again he went on deck and pulled her upright. When I woke at 04;30 Robinetta was upright again and floating.

Dunvargan in the sunshine

We wanted to be away from the pontoon early, so set the alarm for 06;15. By 6:50 we had cast off and were motoring away in plenty of water. The tide was still running in, so we made slow progress until we were clear of the channel, but once in the bay the tidal streams were much less.

We got the sails up, and managed to sail some of the time, but we also motor sailed, or just motored as the winds were light and variable. We did get some good views of the coastline, with their identifying marks, put up long before the days of GPS when it was essential to know where a long a coast you had made landfall.

We used the tiller pilot for most of the day, even when sailing, and "George" coped with the gentle swell nicely. It is really helpful to have such a third crew member after an early start, but we did need to keep a careful eye out for crab pots.

Dunmore East

We followed the coast as it curved round past Swines Head and headed into Waterford Harbour past Dunmore East. We had thought about stopping here, but it was only just past lunchtime so we decided to keep going all the way up the river Suir to Waterford.

We turned the engine off for a while and sailed slowly towards Duncannon, but the wind died away again, so we got the main sail down and went back to engine.

The channel is well buoyed, but there some big ships come down it. It was an interesting trip, with some fun tidal effects where the Kings Channel and the Queen's Channel rejoined at the eastern end of Little Island. I saw an actual whirlpool here, only 1m across though!

I phoned the marina when we still had an hour to go before we got there, and were told to go on pontoon C, which is the third (and last) one along the river side before the bridge. The marina manager was waiting to take our lines when we arrived, which was very useful given the strong current in the river. I had forgotten to pull Worm in close, but Julian saved the situation and we were soon moored up in the centre of the town.