Our target is to get down to somewhere not too far from Cork to pick Rob and Tom up for the Biscay crossing. The next stage of the trip however is a longish sail (9-10hrs) down round Carnsore Point to the south coast of Ireland. There are no good ports or anchorages (other than Rosslare - which is not protected to the north) and tides are 2-3 knts. The weather forecast was showing light southerly winds for monday then Easterly gales tuesday then F5-6 south westerlies for the rest of the week. Monday was therefore the day to go.
We set off at 8am Monday in light winds but were fighting 2knts of tide for the first 5 hours. The wind picked up to 12-14knts on the nose so it was just a case of motor sailing. As we got near Rosslare, the tide turned in our favour which helped us round the corner. It proved a bit lumpy with the wind over tide. Not sure what the inshore passage would be like in higher winds. Very similar to Ratray head by the look of it.
The last 2 hours of the trip was very pleasant with blue sky, 8knts on the beam and a slalom course around the 3 million lobster pots. Good job we didnt try this one in the dark.
The entrance to Kilmore Quay is portrayed in the pilot book as very tricky - similar to Dunbar but nowhere near as bad except for the rough water out by St Patrick's bridge. The marina was pretty empty so we had a choice of berths. We tied up at 5.30pm so that was a 9 1/2 hour motor sail. The rain and strong SE winds forecast for Monday night never materialised so we had really pleasant blue skies.
We met up with John and Sue from Ellan Vannin (see previous post). They were on their way down to Crosshaven in Cork to see the Clipper boats coming in. Their daughter had been the medic on the Glasgow boat and they knew Gordon Lawson. They told us the boats were due in on the 28th and would be there for a few days at least. That gives us an option to try and get there as well to go and look up Gordon.
Dave, from Arklow came down to meet us and we all went off up the pub opposite the church for a meal and the daily ration of Guinness.
The weather forecast for the rest of the week (ie right up to Sunday) is fresh to strong south westerlies so it looks like we may be here until then - still it looks a reasonable place with free wi-fi!!!!!!! - the first yet.
More to follow tomorrow with some pics of Kilmore Quay.
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