Guernsey to Kinsale
49:27.60N 02:31.76W Wed June 27. 830 am. Good morning, everyone. We're getting ready to set sail this morning from Guernsey to Kensale off the southern coast of Ireland. Our crew on board is Mike and Vicki, of course. Martin Clough from Cumbria in the Lake District of England. Martin works for himself but is also a representative for Oyster. We're lucky to have him on board with us as he has quite a resume of sailing knowledge and experience, not the least of which is a round-the-world sailing trip as Bosun's Mate on a 135' boat called the Eye of the Wind. Incidentally, Eye of the Wind was the boat used in the movie, White Squall with Jeff Bridges. Also on board is Rich Dickson and myself, Barbara Dickson, friends of M&V having met back in 1996 on a sailing trip in the Galapagos Islands. ....................... At the moment everyone is performing duties getting ready to go. Vicki's putting together chicken for tonight's dinner and the guys are checking last minute mechanical items. We'll be taking off around 1030 am. We have to wait for the tide to rise in order to get out of the harbor. There is a 30-foot tide here, give or take a few feet, and the marina has a wall built at the entrance to retain enough water so that we can float while in the marina. Consequently, we have to wait for the tide to come up high enough so that we can float out of here above that retaining wall known as a weir. .....................There's a weather system coming in tonite, so we're hoping to make it far enough to beat the weather and keep going. If not, we'll be stopping in the Scilly Islands off the SW coast of England before continuing on to Kensale. Total distance of this trip: about 300 miles. So that's it for right now. Time to get moving. Barb |