51:42.0N 008:31.0W
A lovely 17 NM sail down the Irish coast to Kinsale where we
planned to meet Ed. Bright sunshine, light winds, perfect. Wind stronger on
arrival. Marina manager (Richard) suggested on VHF we should raft up next to a
boat called Hendrix (cool name for a boat I thought). He agreed to stand on the
boat and direct us in which he did with great confidence. Time for another
monstrous balls up. Approaching Hendricks with the boat in neutral I found speed
increasing (unexpected tide), tried to slow with reverse but this makes the
boat kick to port - unhelpful in this situation. Recovery impossible
no matter what - painful grinding of pushpits and anchors as we entangled
ourselves with Hendrix and his Swedish neighbour. Managed to get along side with
no damage done (we thought). Weclome to Kinsale - said Richard. "That was quite
a balls up I said" humiliated. "Monumental" he replied. I tried to avoid eye
contact with other yachties as I walked back down the pontoon to the club house
to sign in. it turned out that we had damaged the navigation light of our
Swedish neighbour - a lovely softly spoken sailor who seemed to have
sailed everywhere. He was leaving he next day for Scotland. By some miracle I
managed to get a replacement nav light brought to Crosshaven from Cork City by a
very helpful chandler and fitted it for him whilst he was having dinner. I felt
slightly redeemed especially as the light I replaced was on its last legs.
Whilst all this was going on Lenny, the electronics
engineer turned up to fix GPS / AIS. He was brilliant and a very nice
guy -arrived at 6, left at 10 with new VHF and GPS Antenna's fitted and
everything working perfectly. He is just about the only person I've met that
truly understands the intricate details of marine electronics. Brilliant.
A great weekend in Kinsale - a really lively buzzing
town with masses of dinghy sailing, great food and excellent live
music including at Kitty O'Shea's where trad. Irish competes with the metal band
in the pub next door. Ed arrived via bus from Cork Airport on Sunday.
Excellent to have him on board.