Well it seems we made the right choice with Plan B coming into Arklow. The evening was very pleasant although still a bit of wind from the south but overnight it turned to rain and wind from the east – and when I say rain I mean rain. Pouring down. It would have been a soggy and windy night to round Carnsore point to get to Kilmore Quay.
When we got in to Arklow and moored up we saw another Ronautica, a 340, moored up to a bouy. This is the first Ronautica we have seen outside of Spain or Port Edgar. Around 11ish on Saturday, Dave McNiven, the owner turned up on Grand Slam so we invited him on board for a coffee and a chat. Turns out he is the agent for Ro’s in Ireland and knows Jock Blair well having sailed at Port Edgar in his earlier years. Dave had been due to go racing on his Ro 340 but was on the way up to Wicklow to see the start of the Round Ireland race, due to go at 4.00pm Saturday. He invited us to join him so off we went.
It was a 20 mile drive. Wicklow was rather wet with rain still bucketing down. 45 yachts had entered the race and most were in the harbour all rafted up and going up and down in the heavy swell. Some nice boats! Most over 40 feet and some very fast racing machines. 4 or 5 were missing. They were still up in Dun Laoghaire – a couple of 70 foot Volvo round the world boats plus two others! We were told that one of the Volvo’s had just done the Atlantic crossing in 5 days and was hoping to do the round Ireland in 2 ½. The record is 3 ½.
When we got there we heard the start was delayed until 10am Sunday due to the bad forecast F8-9!!! Apparently the big boats don’t like beating so made the decision for the organisers. The sailing club bar was full with all the crews having a free day on their hands. Good job we chose Plan B. The atmosphere was great with lots of people wandering round looking at the boats and the Guinness in the club was it’s usual high standard.
So we are now back in Arklow and with the forecast on Metcheck saying severe gales likely in Irish Sea on Sunday we wont be venturing out until at least Monday. I must say though that we are impressed with Arklow and the very sociable people here – and a big thanks to Dave for taking us up to Wicklow for a “must see visit”.
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