A Spin Around Baltimore Harbour

Taking Inishceim down from Oldcourt

The winds were supposed to be calmer today, and I was hoping to go up to Oldcourt to see if the Ilen was there, even if the tides were not going to be favorable for heading up-river in the morning. But then Mary phoned and said that Con is bringing Inishceim down from Oldcourt and do we want to go with him? We decided to do that instead, so we drove over to Oldcourt and arrived just as Inishceim was being lowered into the water by the massive Travel-Lift. 

We climbed aboard, and shortly after leaving we passed by Liam Hegarty’s boatyard where the Ilen was tied up among several yachts and fishing boats, looking very good indeed, and very nearly finished. I cheekily ask Con if we can get a bit closer for some photos. The tide is falling and he doesn’t want to hang around, but he does what he can to get us in for a closer look.

We have a lovely trip down the river, spotting birds, seals, sheep, and cattle! The wind is rising, and it looks like the afternoon will be blustery. I convince Eileen to accompany me for a last sail of the season in the harbour. The forecast was for the wind to die down by afternoon, and I had fingers and toes crossed, but it didn’t. 

Conditions are not looking great and the fact that only the windsurfers and racing keelboats are out gives an idea of how windy it is. I don’t bother trying to single-hand, and take full advantage of Eileen’s help. The boat is heeling a lot, so I try easing the main sail. But even with that we are still heeling more that I would like. It’s also difficult to tack, with the bows being blown off before coming through the eye of the wind. A few times we’re forced to wear around instead. We don’t last too long, so I take down the sails and Eileen helms as we motor back to the mooring. I go to the bow with the boat hook, and we pick up the mooring buoy on the first try. I row Eileen ashore and come back to tidy up myself. I take everything off and load up the dinghy. Tiernan will be taking Treo back to Roaringwater to be lifted out on Friday or Monday.

Treo selfie: Rob, Laura, and Eileen

Another season is over, and this year I had the satisfaction of achieving a major goal, that of taking Treo to Cape. Along with that came the challenge of dealing with a recalcitrant teenager! In the end a satisfactory compromise was found and that’s the main thing. But I'm still secretly hoping that Laura will find a boyfriend who is into sailing!

Baltimore Harbour Single-handed Failure

The Cove, Baltimore

Yesterday ended with a beautiful red sunset, so theoretically I should be delighted. But the weather is turning for the worse. The forecast is reasonable enough to go for a sail, but it's a bit complicated to organise. The girls have an appointment with the hairdresser in the afternoon so I’ll realistically only get an hour of sailing, but I want to practice some more single handing.

Arriving at the boat, it feels much windier than it has been lately. I’m preparing the boat to leave, going through the list as quickly as I can. I’ve been trying to reduce the amount of time required to get the boat ready to sail, as that is always an issue with the girls. We head out to the boat and they are ready to go, but then it takes another 30 minutes before me and the boat are ready.

I’m concentrating on ticking things off my list when I notice something floating in the water next to the boat. Upon closer inspection I realise that it’s my boom crutch! I grab the boat hook and stretch over the side and am just able to hook it before it drifts away. Whew. I've been trying to get Eileen to read items off the list for me to check off, or to check off things herself but I just can’t seem to compress the procedure any further beyond 20 minutes. I think it’s related to the fact that the weather can get very bad even here in the harbour so it is important that things are done properly. I’m just not willing to take short-cuts on stuff which might come back to bite us later. This time I rowed out and prepared the boat myself, then went back in for Eileen when everything was ready.

I set up my temporary mooring bridle, start the engine, and slip the bridle. I motor us out from among the moored boats and find a bit of clear water. I tie off the tiller and point to windward under engine while I try to raise the mainsail. The bows blow off immediately, and it’s a real struggle to stay clear of the numerous dinghys, kayakers, and moored boats. I give up and ask Eileen to steer to windward while I hoist the sails. We have a good bit of sailing, reaching back and forth across the harbour. It’s already time to head back in, so I point towards the pier and go forward to take down the staysail. 

I get the idea that it might be a good idea to leave the mainsail up while picking up the mooring. I rig the bridle and prepare to pick up the mooring buoy from the cockpit. I come downwind of the buoy and turn sharply to windward, shifting the engine into neutral as we approach the buoy. Unfortunately I misjudged things a bit and cut power too soon. We don’t have enough way on to reach the buoy before the bows blow off. We start coming around with the main uncleated and soon I realise we are going to gybe. Eileen warns me that the boom is coming across, and I try to slow it down but it’s too late. I slow it down a bit but it still flies across with some speed. Thankfully nothing is damaged except my pride, but it’s another lesson learnt! I hadn’t thought about the possibility of an uncontrolled gybe if we missed the mooring buoy and had to go around again.

I sheet in the main tightly and approach the buoy again. This time I judge the drift better and I’m able to pick up the buoy and feed the bridle through the mooring loop. But a strong gust blows the bow off before we drift back on the bridle, which leaves us beam-on to the wind, hanging awkwardly from the mooring. I release the bridle, and just then as we start to circle back towards the channel the Sherkin ferry is about to enter the harbour and gives us a hoot of his horn, letting us know he is there and warning us not to cross his path. The shame!

I give up and ask Eileen to go forward with the boathook to pick up the mooring buoy, which she does first try. She helps me furl the main, but she has to get going to her appointment so I row her ashore and come back to finish tidying the boat myself. This was a very humbling experience after the previous successful single handed outing. This time there was a lot more wind, and more traffic as well. But pretty much nothing I did worked. 

Techniques that were fine in a feeble breeze are clearly not up to the job when the wind is gusting to force 4 or 5. I’m going to have to rethink some of this, and obviously it’s also a question of practice and experience. I found the actual sailing part to be relatively easy but the transitions were very difficult. Especially hoisting and dousing sails in a busy harbour with gusty wind. The one thing that sticks out is the need to be able to easily fix the tiller, go forward to sort something for a few seconds, and be able to take over steering again quickly. I’m going to have to try to rig some kind of tiller tamer or maybe even look into tiller pilots. Although there is a question of whether or not we have sufficient capacity to power a tiller pilot. 

I’m also pretty sure that I’ll be asking Tiernan to fit lazy jacks this winter, to ease handling of the mainsail. Treo already has a lot of string and I’ve been hesitant to add any more, especially due to windage, but the main is just too big to handle easily by myself. Especially on a lively boat like this which does not have a lot of momentum. In any case, I’ve got my work cut out for me.

13/07/2018

F3 gusting to F5 

R & E 

Baltimore Harbour

Cape Clear > Baltimore

Overlooking North Harbour on Cape

The night was blissfully calm and quiet. We get up and make a leisurely start before heading to Séan Rua’s for a full Irish breakfast. We have a very enjoyable breakfast at one of the picnic tables on the pier. Then we get Laura ready and send her off back to Baltimore on the 12:00 am ferry. Again, it feels a bit strange seeing her head off by herself! We’re waiting for the tide to turn and the wind to come around to the west southwest, se won’t be leaving ourselves for another few hours. . 

In the mean time, I’m thinking about pictures I’ve seen of the castle ruins on Cape and wondering if we can get a closer look at it. We start by heading to the Tourist Office and asking if there is a path leading to the castle. The girl there tells us to walk past the graveyard, then take a left and another left. There will be a strand or you can go through the fields. We head up the road, pass the graveyard, turn left but then find ourselves unsure about where to go next. We decide to head off across the field, and find ourselves overlooking the spectacular remains of the castle perched on a tiny island of a rock jutting out into the ocean. We can even make out the Fastnet Rock in the dip between the main island and the promontory on which the castle is perched. 

Dún an Óir castle

We walk back to the pontoons and prepare the boat to leave. A group of sailors off another boat walk past on the pontoon and heap more praise on Treo. We slip our lines and Eileen drives us out of the harbour and into Roaringwater Bay. The weather is calm and there is almost no wind at all. I keep trying different combinations of sail before giving up and taking them down again. As we pass the Catalogues the wind finally arrives from the west. We raise the sails and have a cracking sail through the Sound and into Baltimore Harbour. A Laser sailboat approaches from astern as we pass the Narrows Ledge off the northeastern tip of Sherkin. I’m tempted to put out more sail but I restrain myself. A bit of tweaking of the sails is sufficient to keep him astern. Laura is watching from the Jolie Brise and texts to say “where are you going to turn for Baltimore?”.

11/07/2018

F0-3 

Sunny and hot

R & E 

Cape Clear to Baltimore

Sherkin > Cape Clear Island

Eileen helming as we pass the Gascanane Sound

We wake up to find our stern quite close to the rocks, and after a bit of deliberation I go to the bow and pull in a few meters of anchor rode which pulls us a few meters further away from the rocks . Laura has a ferry to catch, so we can’t doddle. We have a quick bite of breakfast and then Laura gets her things together and we hop in the dinghy and row over to the pier. She’s taking the 8 am ferry to Baltimore, from there she will catch the 10:30 am Baltimore to Cape ferry. By that time we should be well on our way to Cape (or Schull) and we’ll send her a progress report. We prepare to hoist the anchor and watch the ferry heading across the bay with our daughter aboard. A strange feeling!

We motor through the sound and around Sandy Island, past the Mealbeg south cardinal mark, between the Catalogues and Two Women's Rock. We plot a course for Drowlaun Point on the tip of Sherkin as I hoist the main and staysail. Soon a light breeze builds from the stern quarter and gently pushes us along. The wind is from the Northeast, which gives the flattest seas since the waves don't have a chance to build up, and there is hardly any swell as we approach the Gascanane Sound. This area has a fierce reputation, where wind against tide leads to treacherous conditions. The wind from astern also means there is no heeling. I couldn’t have wished for better conditions, and Eileen seems comfortable and at ease. The only thing I need to watch out for is when we reach South Harbour and turn to windward to bring down the sails. When sailing downwind it can be easy to underestimate the wind strength and be unpleasantly surprised when changing to a windward course.

The sea is a bit bumpier off South Harbour, but nothing dramatic and I take down the sails while Eileen motors around in circles. I put out fenders and fore and aft mooring lines for the first time! We’re ready to go in, so Eileen stays at the helm as we slowly approach the entrance. It’s quite a tight entrance, with visibility blocked on both sides by the steep cliffs to port and high quay walls to starboard. Eventually the view of the harbour opens up, but at the exact point where you need to make the sharp turn to port if you want to enter the inner basin. The inner basin offers a similar lack of visibility, where you can’t see what’s in there until you are in there. A few sailboat masts sticking up give clues, but you really can’t be sure of what you’ll get until it’s too late. 

I had seen drawings of the new pontoons, but hadn’t yet seen the real thing. I was hopeful that there would be room. Otherwise I thought we might be able to tie up to the top of the outer basin where it gets very shallow. Suddenly we could see the layout of the pontoons and the couple of yachts tied up. There was a large-ish space open at the very top near the (gangway). I asked Eileen to head straight for it, and to turn alongside at the last minute. 

A couple sitting out on the nearest yacht saw us approaching and the lady comes over to help us come alongside. I should have gone in to neutral sooner, and we have a bit too much way on. The lady on the pontoon helps fend us off, and takes our line. Thanks very much! We tie on our fore and aft lines and kill the engine. We did it!

Laura's ferry arriving in Cape

Laura’s ferry will be arriving soon, so we stroll over to the ferry berth and wait to welcome her to Cape! The weather is hot, and we are all dreaming of goat ice-cream. We head off up the steep road behind the shop. We ring the bell at the goat farm, and soon we are sitting in a shady patch of grass enjoying a well-earned ice-cream. We continue up the road and stop in at the church, which also offers a bit of much-appreciated shade and coolness. We decide the take the mass track across to the other side of the island, and then head down to South Harbour where the girls dip their feet in the water. There is a group of kayakers there, and one young girl picks up a big pink jellyfish off the beach and displays it to her friends. She definitely knows something about jellyfish that I don’t. We lounge around for a bit and then head back to the boat and get ready to go out for dinner. 

We head to Cotter’s pub where the dinner menu looks very good and they also have a big telly with the World Cup soccer match on. France is playing Belgium in a semifinal match, and we cheer on the French. It felt like French fans were in the majority in Jacob’s where we watched the quarter final match. But here there seem to be more Belgian fans. France wins, and I predict a France vs. England final, with France winning 4 - 0. We finish our dinner and drinks, but Laura is not impressed by the fact that they seem to be out of deserts. 

Treo alongside the pontoon in Cape Clear as night falls

We head back to the boat, where we enjoy apple pie and tea sitting out in the cockpit. Two apparently slightly drunk older gentlemen walk past along the pontoon and heap praise on Treo. Perfect size! Shallow draught! Traditional looking! Outboard in a well! I have to say they may be drunk but they have good taste in boats!

10/07/2018

F2-3

Warm and mostly sunny

R & E

Sherkin to Cape

Baltimore > Sherkin

Sunset on our Sherkin Island anchorage

The weather has been so unbelievably good that I’ve been hoping we might make an overnight trip to Cape. I’ve been watching the forecast wind direction especially, because with a south-west or north-east wind we could sail across on one tack. Beating to windward for two or three hours to Cape is out of the question for the girls. I have to make this as easy and enjoyable as possible. It looks like things are coming together with a favourable forecast for Cape and back. But in order to make the falling tide out of Baltimore Harbour we will have to make an early start. That seems to be almost impossible, so I hatch a plan to sail across to Sherkin in the evening, anchor off and sleep aboard. Next morning we’ll be ready to get an early start no problem. 

Well, maybe one small problem in that Laura doesn’t want to go. I try to find out what is bothering her, if she afraid of capsizing or sinking or drowning or something? No, it's not that, she just doesn’t want to go. A grumpy teenager face that does not respond to logic. She’s fine taking the ferry across, but she doesn’t want to sail over. She doesn't like sailing. My plan is getting more and more complicated. I can't force her to come with us, so I propose that she sails with us across to Sherkin, spends the night onboard, and then takes the ferry back to Baltimore first thing in the morning where she will catch the Cape ferry and meet us in Cape. Unless the wind ends up being unfavourable for Cape and we end up heading for Schull instead. In which case we will text her and tell her to get the Cape to Schull ferry and meet us in Schull. What could possibly go wrong?

We head across to the lee of Sherkin and anchor off in our usual spot. There seem to be many jellyfish around this year. We see several of them from the boat. Won’t be swimming here… We cook up a pasta dinner, which for some reason always tastes ten times better than it should when cooked on board the boat, anchored in beautiful surroundings. We turn in early, and things start out so well. Calm, quiet, peaceful. Sleep comes quickly, but unfortunately doesn’t last very long. First there is the squeak. Where is it coming from? Ah, I think I found it. Lash the tiller a bit tighter and head back to the bunk. But then again maybe it wasn’t the tiller. There it is again. Getting louder. This scenario is repeated several times over the next few hours with various other bits of the boat being tightened, lashed, and snugged down. The one positive aspect of this is that there is a clear sky and the view of the stars is simply amazing. 

In the end I give up on the squeak, partly because I’m too tired to care anymore, and partly because there is something even more annoying which has taken over my attention. The current combination of wind and tide have set the boat rolling, wallowing back and forth. See-saw see-saw see-saw. Ugh. Sleep comes eventually, but is shortly interrupted by the alarm clock.

9/07/2018

F1-3

R, E, L

Baltimore to Sherkin

Baltimore Harbour Single-handed Success

Single-handing!

Our first week has passed and we have to vacate Number 3. We pack up our suitcases and tidy up the house. Back in Creagh we help Danny bring in the cows. The weather is still good, with light winds forecast for the day so I’m hoping to go sailing this afternoon. Laura says she is not interested, and I’ve been thinking to myself that it would be very useful if I were able to single-hand the boat. Then I wouldn’t have to rely on an unreliable crew, I could sail when the girls can’t or don’t want to sail. So Eileen agrees to accompany me for a few hours today where I will try to do everything myself and she will be there if I need help, or to call for help if I fall in!

Before heading out, we stop at Bushes for a toasted sandwich and a drink. We get a table outside on the square, which is busy with holiday-makers taking the sun. While sitting there, I feel something hit my shoulder. Looking over, I see that a seagull has dive bombed me! Crap! Literally!! I wipe it off as best I can with a napkin and remind myself that this is in fact supposed to be good luck… I place the dirty napkin on the table in front of me, and it just sits there. Doesn’t even flutter. I can’t believe it, I’ve never seen it so calm in Baltimore. This weather really is exceptional.

I decide to go with the jib and main, as the jib can easily be rolled away without having to go forward. For getting on and off the mooring, I’ve been studying some of the methods in a book called “Stress-Free Sailing: Single and Short-handed Techniques” by Duncan Wells. Already, the title of the book is reassuring and inspires confidence. Duncan describes a technique where you set up a sort of bridle to the mooring which can then be released from the cockpit. Coming back to the mooring you reverse the procedure, and pick up the mooring with the same bridle from the cockpit. It all sounds good in theory, and I’ve gone over and over it in my head, but I can’t help thinking of the old saying “In theory, theory and practice are the same, but in practice they are different”. We’re about to find out! No pressure there…

Eileen lounges in the cockpit enjoying the sun while I go through my check list. I’ve given her strict instructions not to touch anything, and she seems fine with that! There is just a hint of a breeze as I start the engine and release my Duncan Wells mooring bridle. It works like a charm. Maybe this won’t be so difficult after all? I motor out past the moored boats and quickly hoist the main sail. Then I unfurl the jib and adjust the set of both sails. I sit back in the cockpit and quickly realise that I can let go of the tiller and Treo sails herself! I put my hands behind my head, look over at Eileen and let out a woo-hoo! It doesn’t get any better than this! 

We sail around a bit more and I realise that I need a better self-steering solution, since the cleat-to-tiller rope I’m using doesn’t really work. Also, with the light winds the jib sheet gets stuck on the forestay and I have to sprint forward to free it. I start the engine, take in the sails, rig my bridle, and prepare to pick up the mooring. I start my approach and Eileen reminds me that I might want the boathook! Oops, that might come in handy. I approach the mooring buoy, put the engine in neutral, and try to hook the pick-up line. I miss and the boat drifts away from the buoy. I go around and try again. And again. But this time I snag the pick-up line and thread my bridle through the loop. Cleat off the end and wait. The boat drifts back and lies on the bridle. Another woo-hoo! I sort out the real mooring lines and tidy up the boat. We meet Laura in the Jolie Brise and order apple pies with ice cream to celebrate my first successful single-handed outing (with emergency back-up just in case).

7/07/2018

F1 - F2

R, E

Baltimore Harbour single-handed

Baltimore > Sherkin > Baltimore

Tying up to the pier on Sherkin

The plan for today is to sail around the bay a bit, stop in on Sherkin, and return to Baltimore. We prepare to set off, checking things off our list. I hank on the staysail, but then I can’t find the staysail sheets. I take it down again and put it back in its bag. We’ll go with the main and jib and I'll figure out the staysail later. We prepare the main with the intention of putting in the first reef but then end up putting in the second one too, and decide to just go with that. The first sail of the season can be like that sometimes, where things don’t come easily to hand, don’t seem to fit, or can’t be found at all! Human and machine both need time to get back into the groove.

The winds are light and we sail around the harbour a bit but I’m very conscious of not wanting to overdo things. The girls can quickly get bored of seemingly going around in circles in the harbour, while I'm loving every minute. Must keep the balance right. So we take in the sails and prepare to anchor in our usual spot off Sherkin. Once we are confident that our anchor is well dug in, we climb into the dinghy and row across to the pier. Tie up to the handrail, then climb the steps and up the hill to the Islander’s Rest where we take our usual table in the bar. The chowder is lovely, and washed down nicely with a pint. 

We head back to the boat and pull up the anchor. The wind has picked up and it’s a bit blustery now so we don’t bother hoisting the sails. We're all feeling a bit tired and lazy. We motor across to our mooring just west of the pontoon, stow everything and row back ashore. We can’t seem to pass the Jolie Brise without going in, the pull is just too strong. And it feels like a bit of a reward for having successfully sailed a small boat around a mildly windy harbour with lots of rocks, tidal currents, traffic, and other stuff that can ruin your day. We deserve it!

5/07/2018

REL, F1-3

Baltimore to Sherkin and back. Sunny and hot. Flat water.

Roaringwater > Baltimore

Kilcoe Castle

We arrived in Cork on Saturday, and drove straight down to Baltimore. We have a house for the first week, at No 3 Castle End. The weather is settled with high pressure, warm and sunny. Con took us out for a rib ride on Sunday. We pottered around in the passage between Spanish Island and Ringaroga, where numerous seals were also enjoying the glorious weather. There’s not much water in this stretch and plenty of rocks so we had to keep a careful eye out. On the way back in, Laura helmed and came out through the gap planing at full throttle. Less of a wake when on the plane, and Laura likes the speed!

Tiernan launched Treo early on Monday morning, and Con and Mary offered to take us and our gear over to Roaringwater in their rib. This is a great help as it means we don’t have to ferry people and cars back and forth. We load all our boat gear plus deflated dinghy into the rib and head off. Laura is once again at the helm and we have to convince her to take it easy, as contrary to her, Mary does not like the speed! 

The weather is perfect, calm, sunny and hot. Con is at the helm now, and he slows down as we approach Jeremy Irons’ Kilcoe Castle. I ask if we can go in closer for a gawk, and he turns in between Manin Island and Manin Beg. We potter around a bit enjoying the spectacular views of the castle from the water. A few minutes later and we’re alongside Treo on her mooring. We drop off Laura and a bunch of the gear, then head for the pier where we will inflate the dinghy. It’s only about half-tide so we need to be extra careful going up the last stretch to the pier without going aground. We tie up and drag the dinghy over to a patch of grass and start pumping. Once she’s inflated we thank Con and Mary and row back down to Treo to find Laura stretched off in the cockpit sunbathing.

Roaringwater pier

We store our gear and get ready to head off towards Baltimore. There is no wind, but I optimistically unroll the jib just in case a breeze picks up out in the bay. We motor our way down, and as we pass the last line of mussel barrels, there is still not a breath of wind. The jib is hanging straight down from the forestay, limp, not flapping in the slightest. There isn’t a ripple on the surface of Roaringwater Bay, except for our wake. I have never seen it like this and I can’t imagine there are many times when it's like this. 

We'll have to motor the whole way to Baltimore, and we found in the past that a full tank lasts about an hour. I’m a bit worried about running out of petrol as a ferry bears down on us, or just as we try to pick up a mooring in Baltimore Harbour. So we stop for a minute at the entrance to the harbour and put a splash of petrol in the tank. Probably not completely in line with health and safety best practices…

We pick up Con’s easter mooring, but the buoy has somebody else’s name on it so we are unsure of having the right one. We drop it and pick up the middle white one, which we are certain belongs to him. A successful, if very unusual, start to the season!

1/07/2018

Rib ride with C, J-A, and D. Laura at the helm. Seal colony off Ringaroga. Full throttle back through Green's Channel. 

2/07/2018

REL

Roaringwater to Baltimore

Winds F4-5 in the AM, then F1-3 by late afternoon. Tiernan back from hols. Launched boat AM.