Kinsale week 18 June to25 June.

Big clean of boat for the arrival of Helen, Ali and her friends Dave and John on Saturday. Helen and I would be renting a cottage in the marina for a week on dry land, and Ali and friends would live on the boat.  

The plan was a week of day sailing out of Kinsale, and that is what we did, sometimes in typical Irish rain and wind, although plenty of sunny intervals. We also found ourselves in Kinsale’s Sovereign Regatta week and had plenty of opportunity to dodge between racing boats...we were even given an honourary finish gun by the race committee boat one day....presumably our reward for not hindering the racing. I suspect that there were a reasonable number of back markers who would have preferred our approach.....go out at the start, see all the start action for a while, retire to nice bay, anchor for lunch and siesta then return to course for final run into Kinsale, go to pub.  The poor racer who got into a bit of a mess with a spinnaker hoist would have been an easy convert I suspect......

Nice marina, and gave good daily practice in manoeuvring, with a strong tide ripping through the berths. No dramas though, and we were a well oiled machine by the end of the week, with Dave, John and Ali doing all the hard work.  As always, it would normally rain when approaching the marina, to ensure we got wet through, but plenty of sunshine as well, and some nice lunch stops anchored in little bays. Ali’s triathlon swimming training was a highlight of one stop, in her full wet suit....and even then it was pronounced too cold. As Ali returned shivering we saw a group of small children swimming off a neighbouring boat in their normal swim suits....obviously room for more practice.

A great week of gentle sailing and relaxing in Kinsale. The attached pictures should give a feel for this part of Ireland.