Youghal to Dungarvan

Wind against tide made the Youhgal moorings a bit bouncy once the tide turned to run out against the wind around 8 this morning. The weather forecast suggested that the wind would increase to force 5 around lunchtime, but was less blustery than previous forecasts for the day. We decided to leave rather than spend a day on the mooring, but just head 20nm along the coast to Dungarvan. This has a drying harbour we would not be able to approach until 16:30, so there was no point leaving much before 10:30.
The swell at the moorings had quieted down as the tidal flow in the river increased; it had moved down river to the harbour entrance making a marked “bar” there. Since this was in over 5 metres of water there was no problem crossing it, but the short steep seas were uncomfortable and sluiced the foredeck a bit. Luckily Julian had already finished hoisting the jib and tidying the mooring ropes.
Once we were in clear water I throttled back the engine revs. Julian had seen gannets diving and wanted to see if he could catch anything. He ran out the mackerel line for ten minutes but nothing bit so he hauled it in and we got the sails up.

Mine Head

Despite the unpromising weather forecast we had a gorgeous sail east along the “Copper Coast”. The slight swell only became obvious round headlands, which just encouraged us to duck a little further into the bays once we were past, giving us some lovely views.

Helvick Head from the sea

We gybed round Helvick Head as the sun went behind a cloud, and after a few minutes the wind began to increase. The sun had gone, and we were heading too fast towards the entrance channel so we decided to get the main sail down where we were. The area we were in, just off Helvick, already felt shallow and contained a high concentration of crab pot markers. Between dodging the crab pots and eyeing up the depth it was difficult to keep Robinetta head to wind, and the sails came down in a bit of a mess (my fault, not Julians on the helm. It would have been a lot easier if I had remembered to remove the preventer before tying to centre the main..).
The cloud thickened and the wind continued to rise, then it started to drizzle which brought the visibility down. I pulled Worm in so she would not catch on any of the navigations buoys, then we picked our way from buoy to buoy in the Dungarvan approach channel which winds through drying mud flats for over a mile. We were at half tide, and never had less than 1.7 metres beneath the keel, but would probably have gone aground a couple of metres to the wrong side of a buoy.
The drizzle began to be driven by the wind, so we were glad to see plenty of empty moorings just outside the harbour. We would need at least an hour's more height of tide to get to the pontoons inside the harbour, so picked up a mooring to wait.
Conditions in the cockpit were nasty, with the wind gusting to force 6 and heavy drizzle being blown in curtains across the view, but inside the cabin was snug and dry so we went below and had a cup of tea. I called the Dungarvan Sailing Club, which owns the pontoon where we hoped to spend the night (and probably the mooring we were on) and asked for advice. The suggested waiting until an hour before high water to approach the pontoon, so we did.
I pulled Robinetta's bowsprit in and stowed the jib, then sorted out the mess I had made of getting the sail down, then Julian came up to help and we got fenders and ropes ready for the pontoon.

Perch marking Dungarvan harbour entrance

Robinetta was dancing round the mooring to the contrary demands of the tide and the wind gusts, so it took a while to free the mooring rope. The harbour entrance was well marked with perches, but the tide was setting strongly across it, so we took a ferry glide approach to the first pair. Once through those there were no problems.
We were tied up to the pontoon by 1815, with 2m below the keel. A quick call to the Sailing Club duty officer saw him appear with a key fob to lend us to let us off the pontoon and back.
Dungarvan is a good place to stop so long as your boat can take the mud. There was a good Indian restaurant and several pubs within 200metres of the pontoon!

Worn out shackles and snapped backstays...

Yesterday Butch, the owner of Tiger Moon, the boat we were moored up, on asked us to move onto a vacant finger berth so he could take Tiger Moon over to the slip way to dry out and get her keel pressure washed early the next morning. We moved happily, being pulled the short distance into the new berth on ropes.  We were left bow facing out, making for an easy get away today.

We prepared Robinetta and Worm to go, then rushed off to the Farmer's Market that starts at half nine every Wednesday. By ten we were back aboard and casting off.

Charles Fort, Kinsale

We got the sails up in Kinsale Bay and were sailing as soon as we got past the Spit Buoy. We put on the no 2 jib as the wind was forecast to increase in the afternoon. As we cleared Bulman Rock and turned on to course we put the preventer on for another day of nearly dead running with light swell from behind.

We had an hour and a half of pleasant sailing before the wind failed us and went too light to use. The engine went on and we soon lowered the main and tied it off to stop it flogging in the swell.

A few minutes later I heard a bang, and looked round to see that the forward port shroud had come loose from its chain plate. This is the shroud that carries the wiring for the radio aerial, so securing it was urgent even thought there was no load on the mast. Julian went forward immediately, and much to his surprise found that the shackle and its pin were both still on board. He reattached the shroud, but decided he should replace the shackle anyway. The pin was half worn through, but even more alarming the thread was so worn that screwing it in did not hold the pin in place. There could have been real problems if the shackle pin had worked loose while under load in the swell.

As we rounded the headland west of Cork Harbour we really started to notice the swell building. There was a large ship anchored almost exactly on our route and every now and then the swell would swing Robinetta's bow round so she was aiming at the side of the ship, which was also yawing round by 90° on its anchor.

Once we were west of Cork Harbour the wind began to build again, so we raised the main and turned the engine off. We also had the tide with us and were making 5.5 knots over the ground. Then the swell began to get up too.

After a while Robinetta was making over 6 knots and the steering was getting rather heavy. It was time to reef so I lowered the throat and peak halyards before putting the engine on to  turn us ehad to wind. Scandalising the sails did nothing to de-power them on this point of sail, so Robinetta turned quickly into the waves and Julian pulled in the reefing line. I wanted two reefs in

Capel Head

Facing into the waves made it obvious how big they were for a small boat.

Robinetta's bowsprit went into one as she turned, but after that she rose to them easily. Going back onto course took longer, and 2 waves rolled Robinetta well over before I could get her stern on to them again.

Robinetta was much easier to hold on course with the reef in, but that course was almost a dead run. By the time we reached Capel Island at the headland to the west of Youghal Bay we were half a nautical mile further out to sea than planned, since I was making sure we would not gybe. Half a mile before I expected to turn I steered slightly too far to port, and accidentally gybed.

The boom bounced off the working backstay with such force that the backstay rope broke. Luckily that slowed the boom down enough that nothing else got damaged, not even the sail! I quickly made off the previously lazy backstay and we stayed on that tack. Our distance south of our route, plus the knot of tide helping us along the coast helped us make a good course to clear Capel Island.
Meanwhile Julian ducked below and fetched Robinetta's old topsail halyard from the spare rope locker. It was the perfect rope to bring the starboard backstay back into commission.

Moll Goggins Corner at Youghal

After the drama of turning towards Youghal we had a pleasant sail across the bay towards the river Blackwater. The swell disappeared as soon as we were round the headland and our new point of sail contained no threat of a gybe. We got the sails down just before cutting across the west bank. We were only an hour before high water so their was plenty beneath our keel. Julian saw gannets diving, so got out the mackerel line to fish, but we had no luck.

As we came onto the river entrance we saw 3 GP14 dinghies racing, accompanied by a safety boat. This came over to Robinetta, and told us there were 6 new mooring buoys, laid only last week. We went on one, despite the Pilot Book's warning that they would be subject to swell. After dinner on board I rowed us over to the landing stage in Worm, and we had a look round Youghal.

The tide runs quickly past the moorings and made for an interesting return to Robinetta on the way back!

Castletownsend to Kinsale

We woke to fog again, but by 9 it had burnt off, leaving us in bright sunshine. There was no wind, but we decided to up anchor and head for Kinsale anyway. Almost as soon as we were out of the bay we were back in thick fog.
With no wind and no visibility it was time to put George the tiller pilot on duty, and he performed admirably all day.

Every now and then we would motor into clear patches and be able to see the coast line but most of the morning the visibility was less than 2 cables. It seemed to be clearing as we reached Glandore, so we did not go in, but then the fog came down again. We would never have left port in those conditions, and as far as we could see no other yachts did!

One fishing boat appeared off our starboard bow then vanished astern, several rafts of guillemots with just fledged chicks sat on the water, and we saw low flying flights of gannets, immature and adults together. Just east of Galley Head we saw dolphins, bottle nosed rather than common. One jumped clear out of the water, but mostly we just saw their rounded backs and fins.

By one o'clock we were heading across Clonakilty Bay in bright sunshine, having seen no trace of Galley Head, which remained shrouded in fog. There were yachts visible now, one well out to see and motoring west, and one almost directly on our route. This one was behaving oddly, going round in small cirlces, and we wondered if there was anything wrong so changed course to look. As we approached they straightened up and motored past us, waving happily, then went back to their circling in our wake. We decided they were probably fishing.
Fog hung over Dunworthy Point and Seven Head, so although I caught glimpses of the coastline west of them we could not see the headland. The wind freshened slightly, right on the nose; luckily there was still not much of it as we now had the tide with us and wind over tide can be uncomfortable, especially going round a headland.

cave entrance on the Old Head of Kinsale

Once past Seven Head the wind went back to light again and the fog lifted, Looking back the whole coast line was in bright sunshine, but looking forward to the Old Head of Kinsale revealed nothing but another fog bank. We had got the main sail up before leaving Castletownsend, but put it down as we began to cross Courtmacsherry Bay. The wind was too light to use it, so all we were doing was damaging the sail. It had made us more obvious in the fog, but we were in sunshine again.

Rounding the Old Head of Kinsale

All at once the fog lifted from the Old Head of Kinsale and we got a great view of it as we rounded it quite close to. We could see Kinsale entrance ahead, with a yacht coming out, and then the yacht vanished abruptly behind the thickest fog we had yet met. We got the foghorn out, and began sounding it at two minute intervals while we both peered ahead, trying to make out any boats coming towards us. Twenty minutes of nervous motoring later we were through the fog bank, with bright sunshine and the entrance to Kinsale obvious ahead.

Blackbird

On the way through the bay to the town we saw a lovely lug yawl dinghy, called Blackbird, that reminded us a little of our own sailing dinghy Tiki, and a huge motor yacht. Its accompanying pilot boat asked me to take Robinetta out of the channel to give them the most possible space.

Kinsale Yacht Club marina visitor berths are on the outside of the pontoon, and they looked very full as we motored towards them. I phoned the yacht club, and when the marina manager heard Robinetta was only 7m long he found us a nice sheltered berth, rafted up on a resident boat on the inside of the pontoon.

We tied up in bright sunshine, wondering when we would next encounter the fog. 

Fog or not fog

About 10:30 Julian put his head out of the cabin for a look and thought that the fog was lifting. When I checked at 11am I was not so sure, but we decided to get ready to go anyway. We cast off Robinetta's lines from Aoife just past noon and motored slowly out past the moorings.

The new chartplotter gave me reassurance that we were not straying off our route along the buoyed channel, and the fog as definitely lifting. We could see from one channel marker to the next, and the white pillar, called Lot's Wife, showed well on the hillside above us. Then we were through the harbour mouth, to discover that the fog was not merely thinning; the sea ahead was blue and the coast line eastward showed clearly.

We got the sails up, shaking out all the reefs, and turned off the engine to sail on a reach so broad that I asked Julian to put the preventer on against the chance that the swell would roll the boom across the boat. We had a lovely sail in light airs, with the swell rolling under us and the tide helping us along at 3.4 to 4 knots. Three yachts came past in the other direction, heading west under motor. We saw one sail across our bows, coming out of Castletownend or Glandore and heading south.

The Stags off Toe Head

As we passed between Toe Head and the Stags the wind shifted and almost died. The main tried to gybe across but was stopped by the preventer. Once we were back on course and there was some slack in the preventor line I undid it, and gybed the main across properly. Soon after this we rounded Toe Head and gybed the main again, then hardened up to sail into Castletownsend Bay.

We sailed through a line of numbered buoys, uncertain what they were for, then say another abiout 200m away and realised they were lanes for a race.
We turned round head ot wind and lowered the main, then motored slowly into the harbour area, looking for a place to anchor. As we did so 5 or 6 racing skiffs came out, with safety boat escorts. Julian steered Robinetta carefully through the moorings just off the town quay to leave the race course clear.

We dropped anchor just up river of the town, near a 35' gaff rigged yacht. “That's a Wylo,” said Julian. The couple on board waved, and invited us over for a drink, saying “We're OGA too!”

Granuaile at Castletownsend

Once Robinetta was properly tidied up with her sail covers on we rowed Worm over to Granuaile, and had a lovely evening talking to her owners Richard and Eilish Wylie, who plied us with wine, and fed us dinner. Richard built Granuaile,  and their travels make Robinetta's look tame.

More Fog

We woke to fog for the third day in a row, and looking at the satellite overview we might still have it tomorrow.... Some of the larger boats are moving round the area despite it, but with no radar or radar reflector Robinetta and Worm are safer staying put.

We had hoped to sail along this coast in short hops, viewing the lovely scenery, and with another week before we have to fly home we still just have time to do that, so long as the fog lifts soon. Otherwise we'll have to do longer passages, and miss out places since our days ashore allowance is running out.

Cape Clear

Another foggy morning. Too foggy to contemplate leaving but we didn't want to do nothing with the day so we decided to take the ferry to Cape Clear. The ferry acts as the local delivery service for all provisions to the island as well as passengers and has quite a decent crane fitted to lift heavy goods on and off. A van comes from Skibereen with people's orders which are loaded on to the ferry. Waiting in the queue we heard that today they were holding a family 'run' on the island. The ferry was full. Heading out into the bay the fog seemed to get even thicker. We could only just make out the Lousy Rocks south cardinal.

 We sat inside for most of the trip. After a while we could tell that we were sailing along the north side of the island towards the north harbour but we could only occasionally see land.

Then, suddenly I saw a mast go past the window. A sailing yacht was heading east only metres away from the ferry. I was really glad that we were not out in this weather.

The visibility was a little better in the harbour and there were a surprising number of yachts in there. Four or five. We walked along to the shop and café and Alison bought a postcard and we had a drink. Quite a few people were signing on for the 5k run. We had a little map showing the walking routes so we headed off towards the south harbour. There was also a yacht anchored in there, and a lot more room than it looked like in the pilot book pictures. From south harbour the well-marked path heads south to the point. I'm not sure where this picture was taken, but I'm sure that normally the views are stunning.

 The path then heads north again back to the road and then off the road into the woods. It was brightening up a little and the the light was really interesting.

 The fog was condensing on everything - my hair was quite wet. So were the hundreds of spider's webs.

 Once we left the woods something went wrong and we got quite lost. Eventually we found we had gone around in a circle back to the road. We couldn't work out what we had done wrong so we kept to the road, which we knew wound around to the Heritage Centre.

The Heritage Centre has a number of good exhibits. For me the most interesting one was about Conor O'Brien. I have a book of his on dinghy sailing and knew of his yacht Saoirse which he went round the world on. It turns out that Saoirse was built in Baltimore and has a larger, near sister ship Ilen also built there. Ilen was commissioned by the Falkland Islands as a transport ship because Saoirse had been much admired there during O'Brien's visit. Ilen has been brought back to Ireland and restored.

 Back at the north harbour we could see a little more than before. We had a good lunch at the café and met a group who were paddling around the area in currachs. They had come over the previous day and camped overnight. The had planned to visit the Fastnet rock today but didn't feel safe going in the conditions.

Sea kayaking is a popular activity in Ireland. It's nice to see people choosing to do it in traditional craft.

We also met a Breton family who had been on the other side of the pontoon for a day or two in Baltimore. They had made the trip in their own yacht. I'm not sure if they have radar or not. I hope so.

On the return trip on the ferry I noticed a card on the wall advertising a pub with music. It was quite a way out of town but we walked up there in the evening and had a really fine meal. The music was low key but there was an elderly banjo player who was really excellent. A group of German tourists listening included one chap who had learned some jigs on the flute and he joined in, playing beautifully.

New chartplotter

It was raining when we went to bed, and Robinetta's topsides were leaking slightly. There are fewer leaks this year than last though....

Then this morning we woke to fog. Visibility was under 100m, and it did not look as though it would improve. Julian and I agreed that this was not a day we should leave port, so we had the first enforced day ashore of the entire season.

We caught the bus into Skibbereen, and went to look in the chandlers there. Julian had done some checking on the internet for replacement chartplotters, and since they had the most appropriate one, an EchoMAP CHIRP 45dv in stock I talked Julian into buying it. He was happy with using the Navionics charts on the tablet, but I prefer the Garmin charts, and now we have both again.

Back on Robinetta Julian installed the new device. It only has one NMEA 0183 port so it won't drive the tiller pilot yet and the cable had to be replaced as the connector is different but thanks to the work he did rewiring this spring it all worked first time. Luckily Garmin haven't changed the position of the screw holes for the mounting bracket so Robinetta has no new holes in her.