Star Dancer is tucked up at the small marina on Finit Island near Tralee in
the West of Ireland. Mixed feelings about retiring from the race
last Tuesday. As Tim put it in the log at 1300hrs - 'exit stage right'.
We
had been running in a southerly gale all morning and Irish weather forecasts
were predicting more gales coming through on Wednesday and Thursday -
basically 3 solid days of gales were not going to be much fun and we decided
to retire from the race. We are happy we made the right decision - we had
big confused seas with 40 plus knots of wind and although Starry was going
well we reckoned another 3 days of heavy weather off the West Coast of
Ireland - going to westerlies - would be pretty grim. At the end of the
day this was supposed to be enjoyment!
A bonus was that Starry would be situated perfectly for Jenny and me to
cruise for the next couple of weeks around the magical south-west of Ireland
ending up in Cork or Kinsale on the 10th/11th July ready for John Priest to
join for the sail home.
Ruffian have joined us - having also retired - and it is good to have time
with Pete and Emma again.
Tim and I hired a van and after an evening trip to Dingle for supper we set
out yesterday morning for Wicklow (5 hrs drive) to pick up all the gear we
had left in the apartment and drop off the Tracker at race office. I
picked Jen up at Dublin airport later that afternoon and got back to Starry
by 9.30pm.
And marina staff and people here have been so friendly and the local pub has
a great restaurant.
We now await a weather window to head south - possibly in the morning
(Saturday) when in company with Ruffian we hope to reach Valentia Harbour -
either the moorings off Knights Town or the small marina at Cahersiveen.
Rob
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