We left Dunmore East under an incredibly moody sky, I love dark skies, especially when there is sunlight in the foreground, The contrast between the bright foreground and the dark skies is something that I appreciate seeing. However although the lighthouse at the bottom of Hook head was bright, it was not bathed in sunlight which is the look I really like. I was a little bit sad passing the lighthouse as it marked the start of our journey back to Liverpool, a journey that I did not want to take, but a necessary one. Neither Beverley or I know how long organising probate will take, but it is a job that we have been requested to do, so we will do it. I may not of been with my Mum for the last time, but I can do this job for her. Technically it is Beverley that has been requested to do the job, but I know I will be asked to help, and help I will, it might just be filing pieces or paper or some other mundane task, but I see it as my way of being there for my Mum.
As we sailed along, we discussed our options for the journey. Our first option was to sail to Kilmore Quay, which was where we wanted to go on our last trip, but the sea state was very lumpy and I really hate slamming Salty Lass, which is why we went to Dunmore East. After Kilmore Quay, our choices were Arklow or across to Caernarfon. Arklow would be a shorter sail and then we had choices as to where we went after that, while the straight trip to Caernarfon would be one long trip.
I had been listening to the weather forecast while Beverley went over a tide line which had dramatically different colours to the sea state on either side. In the shallow waters at 14m of depth the water was green, while at the 25m depth the water was dark blue. I looked at Beverley's tide line while I told her that there was a F6 imminent, so with that forecast we decided to go to Kilmore Quay.
Soon the very moody skies were doing what they love best which is to rain, this is the reality of sailing rather than the glamour of sailing. I was steering Salty Lass and I have to tell you that it is really hard to steer down wind, I have recently found a wind vane option in our auto-pilot Annie and I was really tempted to engage that but I also need to learn about how to steer downwind. It was my quest for understanding that won out, and at the end of my shift, I was a little improved but I could do better, a lot better.
The rain continued to fall, which meant that all the instruments got wet so Beverley had a little rant about how important it is to have instruments that can cope.
Also with the rain fall the wind died. This can happen sometimes on the back edge of a shower. With the wind dropping the boom became a hazard so it was time to put the engine on and drop the sails. I always feel a little bit defeated when that happens, we are a sail boat, not a motor boat, but realistically we need at least 10 knots of wind to make Salty Lass sail well.
Beverley took us into Kilmore Quay and we moored alongside well. We are becoming quite good at mooring alongside, we just need all our other techniques to get up to scratch.
We got in, just before a large shower hit, so it was time to put the heating on. Next came another boat that had to raft against us. They were lighter than us so they were the right way around. Its always interesting being rafted, having neighbours and meeting new people.
The next day Beverley and I went for a walk along the beach which is the graveyard of a thousand ships. It had pretty impressive waves and you could see how easy it was to wreck your boat
