9th - 11th July Gigha to Cork

The adventures of Chili III
Peter & Belinda Vernon
Wed 11 Jul 2018 11:00
51:48.0N 008:18.5W
 
We left Ardminish Bay on Gigha at 0600 as planned heading South under motor and started preparing breakfast. Looking again at my late night tidal calcs in the cold light of day it began to dawn on my that I had made a pretty major error. We were heading for the North channel with tide against us and wind behind us (wind over tide is never a good combination). I humbly  but quickly admitted my mistake to Belinda and after 45 mins of motoring we made 180 degree u-turn and back to Gigha for a more leisurely breakfast. B, who is not a fan of early starts, was very gracious.
 
So, we finally set off at 1100, my having triple checked everything this time. (Lesson learned for the umpteenth time - never do anything in a hurry!). Having done so I felt much better prepared for this 300 mile voyage. The first 24 hours were very fast with force 5 and 6 winds from the North taking us past the Mull, Belfast and the Isle of Mann. By the time we reached Dublin Bay the wind had dropped and we ended up motoring the second day apart from the last 2 hour sail into Cork Harbour in glorious sunshine. We tied up at the Royal Cork Yacht Club in Crosshaven which was busy preparing for Cork Week. Beer pumps everywhere and a very welcoming yacht club.
 
Had a good day visiting Cork City which we both enjoyed especially lunch at the English Market. On the voyage from Scotland we realised we had problems with the GPS and AIS and via the very helpful marina manager tracked down Lenny in Kinsale who agreed to meet us at our next destination (Kinsale) to help fix the problem.
 
296 NM in 47 hours. Av speed 6.3 Knots.