-----Original Message-----
From: rogerz [mailto:rogerz {CHANGE TO AT} talktalk {DOT} net]
Sent: 25 September 2012 09:23
To: Web Diary
Subject: Arrived Dun Laoghaire 53:17.98N 06:08.37W

We arrived at 12.30 completing the fastest and furthest trip to date i.e. 10 days 17 hours 45 minutes from Praia to Dun Laoghaire.

We sailed up the outside of the Irish banks which run up the Irish coast about 5 miles offshore, the object being to show Sarah and James Kish lighthouse which just sticks straight up out of the sea with no visible means of support.  I had hoped we would pass it at night so that we sailed under the beams of light which radiate like the spokes of a wheel, but morning had come! 

Dun Laoghaire is due west of Kish light and the tidal streams in Dublin Bay are quite weak but outside the Bay they run very strongly north and south. Our detour round Kish and the strong tide pushing us north were to combine to give us the biggest fright of the whole trip.  The wind and the tide were both pushing us north so to achieve a westerly course from Kish to Dun Laoghaire we had to aim more or less south westerly.  On the edge of Dublin Bay there is an inner bank beyond which the tides begin to slacken and around which the ferries have to go.  As we approach this inner bank we are happily aiming south west but actually going west when we get a dangerous target warning on the AIS (Automatic Identification System). This target, a high speed ferry travelling at 40 miles per hour, is on a collision course with us.  We could only keep our course and couldn’t turn to get out of the way. At such high speed which way would we go??  His approach speed is alarming but he appeared to be going round our port (left) side. Suddenly he altered course and came straight for us.  This enormous catamaran bore down on us and I remember thinking “the boat might pass between his hulls and under him but the mast never will” I rushed below and called him up on the radio but heard no reply and we just thought we were going to be run down, we stood with mouths open futilely waving our arms as this monster bore down on us. It was far more frightening than anything that had happened on the Ocean. He went across our stern and passed us on the starboard side and we were left well and truly shaken.

It was such a close encounter that I went back later to my charts and records to see what I could learn. It quickly became apparent what had happened, as he approached us we had just passed the inner bank where the tidal stream goes slack and stops pushing us north.  The recorded track shows we started to swing south west towards him, and across his path around us, which is why he suddenly changed course and frightened the life out of us.  We were so distracted by the danger of his presence that we did not notice Ella Trout’s drift off course.  It would be useful to talk with the ferry man to explain our position.

I’ve paid the crew off and will set sail for Pwllheli in the morning.

Roger/Dad/Poppa