Good forecast for the day, with winds rising a lot the next, so we decided to go for Cork ( 51:48.1N, 008:18.5W) in one go ; a passage of about 75miles, which should be between 12 and 14 hours . Strictly, we were headed for Crosshaven, just inside the entrance to Corks large natural harbour, which is basically the Cowes of Ireland ; yachtie heaven.

We forced ourselves to get up at 0515 and had slipped lines and left Kilmore Quay by 0615, in bright sunshine and still air....motor on. Navigation fairly straightforward...steer 248 degrees from the exit of Kilmour Quay harbour until you hit Cork, plus or minus a bit. No significant tides either; rarely more than 1 kt in either direction once clear of Kilmore, and until approaching Cork .

In view of the length of the trip, and the tiring previous day, we set up a watch rota, and did the first 8 hours , 2 hours on, 2 hours off. This avoided getting completely tired out = dangerous, and also helped the trip pass quickly if you could sleep through some of it.

The trip was quite uneventful, with the wind maxing at a low F4, and we were motorsiling most of the way,with the prevailing winds again more or less from ahead ( ie southish). The only bit of excitement was entering the channel into Cork Harbour, when the weather decided to turn to heavy rain, squalls and reduced visibility. Then, having seen no shipping all day there is a cargo ship heading for us in the channel. All safely avoided and turn left into the Owenboy River and search out the Royal Cork Yacht Club for a berth. All very organised, and they sent out a ‘follow me’ RIB to guide us into our large finger pontoon berth, amongst some very exotic big racing boats. Never had this level of service before, but perhaps they had heard of our mooring dramas and wanted to protect all the racing machinery around us.

This had been a 74 mile trip in 12 hrs 15 mins, which is fairly respectable, and it had been very comfortable. We declared the next day a rest day, and we were expecting strong winds anyway, sop spent the time exploring Crosshaven.

Unfortunately we discovered an engine problem when doing the engine checks ( a failing impeller shaft seal ) which was causing a small oil leak. The RCYC were extremely helpful and arranged for an engineer from Crosshaven boatyard to visit  and he was able to get the spare parts and rebuild the faulty unit and re install it. This should never have happened to such a young engine, and so is a clear warranty claim under the Volvo extended warranty. Unfortunately , this all took time, and our departure for Kinsale on 16 June was delayed until early pm, which meant that we missed a weather window early in the morning. But the main thing was we had a fully serviceable engine ; we really do not want to lose all the engine oil when motoring in a heavy sea if we can help it!