Ireland pics

While we still have internet access, here are a few pictures from Ireland....

Ashford Castle - now a lovely hotel

Cliffs of Moher

Fastnet Rock

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Day 5

We've been at sea four days and are now about 400 miles off the Irish coast, just SW of Rockall. We haven't seen a ship, or, heard a voice on the VHF for two days now. Progress has been reasonable given that only yesterday had a decent sailing wind. After a couple of days sunning ourselves on deck, the weather has changed to what you would expect for the North Atlantic: grey, rainy, cloudy, squally and cool. The decent wind yesterday enabled us to put Gjoa through her paces and she rose to the occasion proving to be a good sailor. We had a bit of a rough ride last night as the seas were churned up along with 20 knots of wind, but, today the seas have calmed and the wind has dropped a bit. Forecast is looking ok for the next few days, but, there is a nasty low looming ahead that will be difficult to avoid. We'll wait for a couple of days to get a more accurate forecast. It may then require evasive action to avoid, or, at least reduce the impact of the hit.

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Day5 25/6/2014 12:00 53°22.3'N 018°46.9'W

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At Sea-Ireland to Greenland

Hopefully you are able to read this. As we're now at sea, I'm posting to the blog using our Iridium satellite phone as a modem. Until we have internet access again, I am unable to see what I've posted, so, please excuse any format errors etc. Also, I am unable to post photos, so, will be posting short text entries only for the next while.

We returned from our Irish land travels late Friday and left Baltimore Saturday afternoon heading towards Nuuk, Greenland. Although travelling through Ireland on a large, lime-green bus with cartoon leprechauns painted on it wasn't the most dignified way to see the country, it enabled us to see a lot in a short time. We went through Connemara, Galway, Dublin and Cork. Actually, Co. Cork and the area of the southern coast where we made landfall turned out to be the most scenic. The west and south coasts of Ireland would make a great summer cruising ground, uncrowded, scenic and many safe harbours a short distance apart. We didn't see any non-Irish boats during our week's stay.

The passage to Nuuk, Greenland is about 1,800 miles. We're hoping to arrive in eighteen days (July 9), but, it could go either way by a number of days. Our one week departure delay hasn't seemed to have made any difference. The same high pressure system is still entrenched overhead and we have made discouraging process during our first day out. However, we have enough wind to keep the sails full and we're travelling at 3-4 knots under sail, so, can't ask for much more with such light wind. The sun is shining and it's warm. It looks like there will be a change coming in the next 2-3 days. Nothing horrendous is forecast and we should get more wind, so, we'll just keep plodding along and we should pick up speed eventually.

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At Sea 22/6/2014 12:00 51°40.7'N 011°28.8'W

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Baltimore (Ireland!)

After the previous day's F7, we headed off for Ireland in light winds. After rounding the Lizard (Lizard Point, the most southerly part of the British mainland),

Lizard Point

the wind continued to decrease until we were left with <F3 and then absolutely no wind at all. I have never seen the sea so calm. The sails started to slat, so, we had to drop them and continue under motor alone. Gjoa is designed to sail, not motor, and without the stabilizing effect of a sail develops a most uncomfortable roll. Due to the lack of wind we didn't have the usual overfalls around the Lizard, but, the sea was still confused and contributed to the rolling. It was interesting to read the evocative names, on the chart, of the reefs surrounding us and can only imagine what conditions can be like here to have historical names like The Manacles, Shark's Fin and The Wrigglers.

There was an entrenched high overhead and the no-wind conditions prevailed for the entire voyage. We were only able to sail for about three hours. Performance under motor was less than expected and the weather conditions weren't changing, so, we decided to do a 'touch-and-go' at St. Mary's, Scilly Isles

Sunset at Crow Sound, St. Mary's

and have a good night's rest at anchor. The Scillies are an interesting group of islands that really warranted some additional time, but, we also wanted to spend time in Ireland, so, unfortunately just got a taster of their unique landscape.

A neighbouring boat in the Scillies anchorage with a full moon.

The next night was spent at sea and the motor droned endlessly as we ticked off the miles. The wind picked up a little as we approached the Irish coast, on the nose of course and came too late to get us into Baltimore so we anchored overnight at Castletownshend and moved on to Baltimore the next day. Baltimore is the most westerly port on the south coast of Ireland, so, we thought it was well-positioned to act as the departure point for Greenland.

We had planned for a week in Ireland to do a bit of touring, but, with high pressure dominating over the whole of the North Atlantic, it also seemed to be an ideal week for departure. We went back and forth: should we stay, or, should we go? In the end, we decided to stay and take our chances with a later departure. The high pressure and no-wind was predicted to last all week. We can't motor all the way to Greenland, so, it seemed pointless to depart and wallow offshore while waiting. Also, we don't want to arrive in Greenland too early either. Right now the ice is still hard and fast for about forty miles off the tip of Cape Farewell, its most southerly point and there are many icebergs close to the coast.

First glimpse of Ireland

I'm writing this from Dublin. Tomorrow, we're heading out on a two-day backpacker's 'PaddyWagon' mini-bus tour to Connemara and Galway. A good way to see the west coast when you don't have time to sail there. Back to Gjoa on Friday, a few final preparations and depending on weather, we'll be off.

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Baltimore 14/6/2014 19:30 51°28.8'N 009°23.8'W

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