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| Roaringwater Bay |
We meet up in Baltimore and Tiernan leaves his van there. We drive over to Roaringwater where Tiernan has borrowed a mooring. As we approach the pier the heart rate accelerates. Are we really up for this? I start thinking about rocks and hazards and tides and the steep learning curve ahead. I've never sailed a gaff rigger. I calm down a bit by reminding myself that the weather is good and Tiernan is coming with us.
The small concrete pier is used mostly by fishing boats and mussel farmers. Not much activity on a Sunday morning. I'm looking around and all I see are commercial craft, nets, cranes, barrels, and equipment. Not a pleasure craft in sight. Tiernan points to a speck way off in the distance and says "There she is!". Talk about building up the anticipation. We don't have a dinghy yet and Tiernan generously offers the use of his punt. I'm thankful because it will allow us to try out a hard dinghy before deciding between an inflatable and a hard tender. Rowing out across the bay seems to take forever. We're getting closer now and I'm glancing over my shoulder as I row, catching my first glimpses of the boat. She looks stunning! We bring her in closer to the pier. The tide is falling so Tiernan stays aboard while I return for Laura and Eileen in the punt.
Tiernan takes us through the boat systems. Throat and peak halyards for hoisting the main, hanked-on staysail, roller-furling jib. Reefing lines. Centre plate, engine, electrics, safety. I try to take it all in, but it's a bit overwhelming. Information overload. Finally we are ready to head off. We motor out the first bit as there are mussel farms everywhere at the mouth of the bay. I ask Tiernan to take the helm since he knows the area well. Soon we are out beyond the endless strings of barrels and we hoist the sails. It's quite breezy so we start off conservatively with single reefed main and staysail. We sail past Kilkoe Castle, which has mellowed to a lovely yellow ochre colour. We tack our way down out of the bay and soon we are turning in at the Easter Skeam. The boat moves along nicely under reduced sail, just showing some weather helm without the jib. We pass through the sound and arrive in Baltimore harbour and tie up to Con's mooring. What a feeling of satisfaction!
The following days go by quickly, taken up with visiting family, farming and shopping, but no boating. Con has lent us a boathook and a rubber dinghy, so we can return Tiernan's punt. I've been spending a lot of time at CH Marine in Skibbereen stocking up on fenders, mooring rope, anchor, and chain. I've been patient thus far, but now I'm getting grumpy. I want to go sailing!
The forecast for Friday is good so we plan to take our first sail by ourselves. We are relatively inexperienced sailors, on a new boat with unfamiliar systems, in a relatively tricky area that we don't know particularly well so we all agree to take it easy and just sail around Baltimore harbour. We ferry our gear out to the boat and go through the process of preparing the sails. I'm trying to remember everything Tiernan said, and most of it comes back. One thing I can't remember is how he attached the staysail sheets to the clew of the sail. It's a continuous line and I just can't figure out what he did. I end up taking the ends out of the cleats and making a cow hitch. But the rope is a bit of a tight fit in the cleats so they end up being rather difficult to feed back through. Other than that, everything seems straight forward and we are soon ready to head off. I take the helm while Eileen drops the mooring. Here we go! We motor out into the harbour a bit and Laura takes over at the helm. She keeps us head to wind while we hoist the main and staysail. We leave the engine running in neutral just because we are unsure of ourselves. Eventually we start to relax a bit and unfurl the jib. Everything works really well and the boat sails beautifully. I just can't say how pleased I am. Thank you Messrs Dix and Roe!
Over the next two weeks we make several more timid outings into Baltimore Harbour, slowly getting to know the boat better. I figured out that I can make a butterfly knot in the staysail sheet instead of the cow hitch, we're getting good at picking up the mooring with Laura at the helm and Eileen on the foredeck, and we are getting to know the harbour quite well. We even stayed aboard one night to try out the sleeping accommodation. There was a slight chop in the harbour, but we managed to sleep well and an Irish Breakfast in the Jolie Brise the next morning made for a wonderful start to the day.
Of course not everything goes perfectly, and we have had a few minor problems. One time it was quite gusty as we were preparing to leave the mooring, and Laura got a bit scared and didn't want to go out. Once we left the mooring, raised the sails, and after trying to tack to windward we noticed that we were making an unusual amount leeway. Click! A lightbulb goes on in my head as I realise we left the centre plate up. I must make a checklist for leaving the mooring. We always used checklists before and found them really useful. Gear-wise, we also have a few small things to iron out. The depth sounder is very erratic, the sheets have a lot of friction in the cleats, and the sliding hatch sticks in hot weather. We are using Navionics on the iPad as a chart plotter, and it can be difficult to read in direct sunlight. Also, the mainsail is quite a handful when it comes down, filling the cockpit. Maybe we need lazy-jacks? Another problem is that neither Eileen nor Laura are able to start the outboard, and ended up flooding it a few times. Not sure if they are wimps or what?
But these are small things and I'm feeling more and more confident as the days go by, ready to sail a bit farther afield. I'm getting comfortable with the boat and really starting to enjoy myself, but I notice that Eileen is not following the same trajectory. It becomes obvious to me one day when we are out in light but steady winds with flat water, sunshine, warmth, and beautiful scenery. We have all three sails up and we are sailing along at two or three knots. Heading out towards the harbour's mouth I'm admiring the Friary, the cliffs along Barrack Point, the Beacon. I'm really enjoying this, but Eileen keeps fretting about getting too close to the Lousy Rocks, too close to the shore, too close to the path of the Sherkin ferry, my head getting too close to the boom.
I'm still dreaming of trips to Cape, Schull, and beyond, but It's going to be a longer process than I thought. I really want to bring Eileen and Laura along with me on this. I'm convinced that you can't beat sailing for quality time together as a family. I think we'll make memories that we'll cherish for a lifetime. Times that we'll look back on fondly when we are old and decrepit. But too much stress might put the girls off sailing altogether. So I have to be careful not to take them outside their comfort zone. Baby steps...
Logbook
Tiernan takes us through the boat systems. Throat and peak halyards for hoisting the main, hanked-on staysail, roller-furling jib. Reefing lines. Centre plate, engine, electrics, safety. I try to take it all in, but it's a bit overwhelming. Information overload. Finally we are ready to head off. We motor out the first bit as there are mussel farms everywhere at the mouth of the bay. I ask Tiernan to take the helm since he knows the area well. Soon we are out beyond the endless strings of barrels and we hoist the sails. It's quite breezy so we start off conservatively with single reefed main and staysail. We sail past Kilkoe Castle, which has mellowed to a lovely yellow ochre colour. We tack our way down out of the bay and soon we are turning in at the Easter Skeam. The boat moves along nicely under reduced sail, just showing some weather helm without the jib. We pass through the sound and arrive in Baltimore harbour and tie up to Con's mooring. What a feeling of satisfaction!
The following days go by quickly, taken up with visiting family, farming and shopping, but no boating. Con has lent us a boathook and a rubber dinghy, so we can return Tiernan's punt. I've been spending a lot of time at CH Marine in Skibbereen stocking up on fenders, mooring rope, anchor, and chain. I've been patient thus far, but now I'm getting grumpy. I want to go sailing!
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| The new boat on her mooring |
Over the next two weeks we make several more timid outings into Baltimore Harbour, slowly getting to know the boat better. I figured out that I can make a butterfly knot in the staysail sheet instead of the cow hitch, we're getting good at picking up the mooring with Laura at the helm and Eileen on the foredeck, and we are getting to know the harbour quite well. We even stayed aboard one night to try out the sleeping accommodation. There was a slight chop in the harbour, but we managed to sleep well and an Irish Breakfast in the Jolie Brise the next morning made for a wonderful start to the day.
Of course not everything goes perfectly, and we have had a few minor problems. One time it was quite gusty as we were preparing to leave the mooring, and Laura got a bit scared and didn't want to go out. Once we left the mooring, raised the sails, and after trying to tack to windward we noticed that we were making an unusual amount leeway. Click! A lightbulb goes on in my head as I realise we left the centre plate up. I must make a checklist for leaving the mooring. We always used checklists before and found them really useful. Gear-wise, we also have a few small things to iron out. The depth sounder is very erratic, the sheets have a lot of friction in the cleats, and the sliding hatch sticks in hot weather. We are using Navionics on the iPad as a chart plotter, and it can be difficult to read in direct sunlight. Also, the mainsail is quite a handful when it comes down, filling the cockpit. Maybe we need lazy-jacks? Another problem is that neither Eileen nor Laura are able to start the outboard, and ended up flooding it a few times. Not sure if they are wimps or what?
But these are small things and I'm feeling more and more confident as the days go by, ready to sail a bit farther afield. I'm getting comfortable with the boat and really starting to enjoy myself, but I notice that Eileen is not following the same trajectory. It becomes obvious to me one day when we are out in light but steady winds with flat water, sunshine, warmth, and beautiful scenery. We have all three sails up and we are sailing along at two or three knots. Heading out towards the harbour's mouth I'm admiring the Friary, the cliffs along Barrack Point, the Beacon. I'm really enjoying this, but Eileen keeps fretting about getting too close to the Lousy Rocks, too close to the shore, too close to the path of the Sherkin ferry, my head getting too close to the boom.
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| Sailing in Baltimore Harbour |
Logbook
Sunday, 13/07/2014
Roaringwater to Baltimore
Approx. 10 miles, breezy (10-15 kn; dry; high 17°; 1014 hPa, falling)
Main with 1 reef and staysail
With Tiernan
Friday, 18/07/2014
Baltimore Harbour
Approx. 7 miles, light winds (5 kn; dry; high 19°; 1008 hPa, steady)
3 full sails
Sunday, 20/07/2014
Baltimore Harbour
Approx. 5 miles, breezy, F3 gusting F5 (10-15 kn; dry; high 19°; 1016 hPa, rising)
Main with 1 reef and staysail
Wednesday, 23/07/2014
Baltimore Harbour
Approx. 3 miles, F1 to F2 (0-5 kn; dry; high 20°; 1020 hPa, falling)
3 full sails and a bit of motoring
Thursday, 24/07/2014
Baltimore
(5-15 kn; dry; high 23°; 1018 hPa, steady)
Slept aboard on the mooring
Friday, 25/07/2014
Baltimore Harbour
Approx. 5 miles, F1 - F3 (5-10 kn; dry; high 23°; 1018 hPa, steady)
3 full sails, hot and sunny
Friday, 1/08/2014
Baltimore Harbour
Approx. 3 miles, F1 to F3 (5-10 kn; cloudy with light rain; high 17°; 1004 hPa, falling)
3 full sails, light rain then clearing
With Marion
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