Baltimore -> Sherkin

Sailing out towards the Beacon

Our French friends have left, and along with a lot of (hopefully) good memories, they also seem to have taken the good weather back with them! We had a really great time while they were here, but now I'm eager to go sailing and I've been hoping that we could sail over to Sherkin Island on the opposite side of Baltimore Harbour, and anchor off over night. I ask Con about a good place to spend the night and he suggests staying north of the pontoon to avoid traffic. The forecast for Wednesday is looking good, but Tuesday will be too windy for overnighting, so we plan to sail over on Wednesday morning with the aim of anchoring off and going ashore for lunch instead.

We row out to the boat, and go through the pre-flight checklist. It's a bit windy and we are looking for an easy sail, so we decide to hoist the main while still on the mooring and put in two reefs. We can always shake them out if it calms down. Laura takes the helm and we drop the mooring and head out into the harbour. As we're heading out, I hoist the staysail. It feels like we need to take a bit of time to get the hang of this sailing thing again. Since we only sail a few times every year, nothing becomes automatic, we always have to think about how to do things, which string to pull, what to do next. Especially at the beginning of the holidays. By the end things are usually starting to come together, but then it's time to lift the boat and head home again. Somewhat frustrating!

We sail around the harbour a bit, tacking and gybing, reaching and running. We still manage to hit four knots on a reach even fully reefed down. She is definitely a fast, easily driven boat.

The crew are starting to get hungry, so we head for Sherkin, handing the sails in the lee of the island. I head to the foredeck with the anchor and rode. I tell Laura to go into neutral when I give the thumbs up. The spot we picked out on the chart ends up having several mooring buoys, making it harder to find somewhere to drop the anchor. There are no boats on the buoys, but if they come back we don't want to end up swinging too close to them (or them to us!). We decide to go right close in to the shore. The water is incredibly clear, I can see the bottom in 2-3 metres. We're crawling in towards the shore, over a weedy patch, then a rocky patch, then a sandy patch. I drop the anchor over the sand and give the thumbs up. We wait a bit for the wind and current to take us back, and when it does we end up being too close to a rocky outcrop sticking out from the shore. We pull up the anchor and move a bit closer to the pontoon. This time everything looks fine. We sit in the cockpit for a while, watching how the boat lies relative to the rocks, and enjoying the view.

Treo anchored off Sherkin

The hunger becomes more pressing, so we hop into the dinghy and row to the pier. As we arrive at the steps a fisherman is tying up his dory, and we manage to get a line to the railing. You have to be a bit careful, because with a falling tide your dinghy could end up hanging from it's painter. With a rising tide it could end up being held under! The dory's fore and aft lines are quite long to account for this, and that makes accessing the steps a bit complicated. Eventually we extricate ourselves and walk up the road past the friary, hang a right and then a left up the hill to the Jolly Roger. We go in and ask about food, but unfortunately they are doing some work on the kitchen and there is no food available. Last time we came here Laura played their piano and we had a nice chat with the owner, so we are a bit disappointed to have to leave.

We head down to the Islander's Rest and take our usual table in the bar. The view is spectacular, from Baltimore over to the beacon. Eileen and I have fish chowder and Laura has fish and chips, and they really hit the spot. Mine is washed down with a pint of Guinness which makes it all the more better! Laura is somewhat less enthusiastic due to the fact that the wifi doesn't seem to work.

The sky is clouding over and I decide to take a look at the weather forecast. The precipitation radar on Weather Pro shows a band of rain heading directly our way! Looks like it will pass over in an hour or two. So we decide to try to get back to Baltimore before it arrives. We dinghy back to the boat and raise the anchor. I hoist the staysail and cut the engine, and we sail over on a reach in very light winds. I try poling out the staysail with the boathook. We pick up the mooring in Baltimore and a few drops fall as we stow the sails, but we seem to have missed the worst of the rain. By the time we finish the wind has picked up and the row back to the pontoon is a bit of a tough slog!


Logbook

Saturday, 23/07/2016

Pay for two weeks of dinghy parking (from the 12th)

Wednesday, 27/07/2016

Baltimore towards Sherkin

R, E, & L

Baro 1019 steady

Mostly sunny, temp 17

Wind F3 gusting to F4 (F5 later)

Friday, 29/07/2016

Pay for three days of dinghy parking (€15)