Carlingford to Howth ( ' 53:23.70N, 06:02.70W')

Moondog
Brian Whitefoot
Fri 10 Jun 2011 13:18

Alan delighted to learn that the departure time progression continued, this time 0820, since there really was no significant tidal stream on this 44 mile trip to Howth, just north of Dublin. This area is where the tides flooding in from the N and S cancel out and result in no stream, but the level of water still rises and falls....slightly weird. We long ago christened this area the Bay of Slack, and it is an apt name.

The trip was in light winds on the nose,and  plenty of sunshine...so motoring and motor sailing most of the way. There was some nice scenery, and the trip was broken up with passing close to Rockabill LH and then Lambay Island. We decided to go outside Lambay, to have a better look at the cliffs teeming with sea birds ( and more importantly to set us up with a good sailing angle for the last leg into Howth, since the wind was now a good F3). It turned out to be a good choice. I don’t think I have ever seen so many sea birds on the water ; at times we were literally motoring through a carpet of birds.

Once round the Island, we hoisted sail and had a good hours pure sailing. For those interested, 5 kts in 11 kts true wind, at 65 degrees to the true wind. Fun was soon over though, and we dropped sails and motored into Howth marina, which is a very large and grand establishment. They squeezed us in, notwithstanding a 150 boat regatta the next day...to race around Lambay Island.

We had still had intermittent problems with the plotter, and the marina put us in touch with a Raymarine engineer who talked us through the factory reset process, which seems to have disabled the Radar, but fixed the plotter, so we are making progress. The Garmin handheld spare works fine, so no real drama. The engineer did also shed more light on the regatta . Turns out that this is basically an excuse to party, and this was partly reinforced by the Officer of the Day in the bar later, when he told us that his main job was to ensure all competitors were back by 3pm ( towed in  if needed) to maximise bar takings ! Obviously in jest, but I am sure that the party would be a good one nevertheless.  Unfortunately, we needed an early night, since we would be back to an early start tomorrow.

 



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Brian Whitefoot
 
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