It was good to get into Waterford out of the choppy waves and onto a sheltered berth rafted next to Joanna Mary. After a bit of a sleep and a wander round town we met up with Steve and Don (from Joannna Mary) for a drink. We ended up in the Munster, just up a side street from the harbour. Earlier in the day Pam and I had been in for a quick one and it was a nice quiet place. Tonight however it was heaving. The new Lord Mayor had been invested and this was his celebration party. Turns out Don knows his brother so we are set for the night.
Overnight the next weather system went through and dropped 3 or 4 inches of rain, short circuiting the pontoon's electrics including the gate locking system. So much for catching the 9 o'clock bus. The marina manager came out and with the help of one of our screw drivers managed to open the main supply box and reset the system. There was no key to manually open the gate!
The plan for Tuesday was to head down to Cork and then Crosshaven on the bus to see the clipper boats on their last stopover before the end of the race this Saturday - and of course Gordon who is on the Glasgow boat. The weather brightened up despite a good 25knt wind. We met up with John and Sue on Ellan Vannan who made it down over the weekend and had a look at the Clipper boats.
Above three of the Clippers rafted up. Glasgow is the black one hence it's referred to as the Black Pearl. Notice all the podium place pennants (the red and blue ones). Looks like they are certain of a 3rd place overall. Notice also the Saltire on Glasgow. The Royal Cork Commodore had insisted national flags must flown below the Irish courtesy flag. He obviously does not know the South African flag (see Durban next to Glasgow).
These are big boats. Erica, John and Sue's daughter had done the first half of the race from Liverpool to Australia - she was the medic - showed us round. Here is the view from the bow looking back. Pam and Erica are basking in the sunshine!
Inside it is very cramped. These are the main crew quarters with the headsails lying on the floor. Sail changes mean opening the forehatch and letting the waves crash in. Not the driest place in the world!
About 4 ish, Gordon turned up. He had been up in Cork for the day although he had been meant to be doing a full engine service. Here he is - with Guinness in hand. John's going to try and get a picture of him doing the service tomorrow - but it looked like they were having too much of a good time to bother with details like engine services.
Sounds like he has had a fantastic trip. It's going to be a shock for him when he gets back to dry land. We said cheers to him (and to John and Sue below) and headed off for the bus back to Waterford.
Just as final comment on the clipper boats, the next picture shows three more, the right hand one being New York. Dougie Gillespie is skippering this one. Some of you in Port Edgar will know Dougie as one of the instructors on the sea survival courses. He did one for some of our crew a couple of weeks before he was drafted in to take over the New York boat after the first few legs. The are now leading the field and if he gets his usual first place on the final leg will win the race. The Scots are doing well!
It's now Wednesday morning. The forecast is for the wind to drop now before easterly gales set in on Friday evening. We are going to have another early morning start to head down for Crosshaven (although it's still going to be on the nose). With a bit of luck we will see the Clipper fleet plus Ellan Vannan coming the other way!
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