Fal to Crinan 550 miles in 7 days – the full report – Part 3 Arklow to Dublin 45 miles

arklow to dublin 45 miles

The irish East coast has a string of sand banks running parallel to the rocky shoreline. This is KTL so it was a no brainer to sneak along the coast between thehard rocks and the hard sand. The wind blew from abaft the beam all day so we had a boisterous rollicking good sail up the coast. We hand steered all day to keep the boat going through the following seas as the old Centaur surged her way inexorably northwards. Easily the best run of the trip so far - exhilarating, fast, efficient and the engine was running for no more than ten minutes through the whole day.

We left Arklow and headed out into a smooth blue sea

leaving arklow

Arklow Harbour -well worth a visit and I entend to return there when I turn my attention to the Irish Sea - in six years time

leave 2

 

Arklow is in a period of transition

leave 3

we left to face a perfectly calm sea witth just the odd zephyr

leave 4

 

there are some fine beaches along this coast

 

But within an hour or so the wind freshened, the skies became dramatic and the coast or Ireland with its incredible clouds and emerald green pastures slipped effotlessly past.

surge 1

 

the sky and the seea turned grey as the strong southerlies set in

cpast 1

 

The Irish coast looks as though iit will offer plenty to entertain the travelling sailor

steer

 

The wind swung to the south and with a force four, a long fetch there were some big waves coming up our chuff. Centaurs need a lot of steering when going downwind under boisterous conditions

coast 3

 

Dunes mean fine sand mean lovely beaches and small inlets

cpoast 5

 

there are also plenty of cliffs to add drama to the vistas

cpast 76

 

the seas started to break a little - but nothingĀ  seemed to worry the boatĀ  - we lost her once but she just rounded up and asked us to have a another go. When things get nasty the hull and keels force the boat to come safely into the wind.

steer 2

 

pretty soon we were attempting to elongate the surf by bearing off along the wave fronts - great fun to steer that day

dead run

 

Centaurs are well balanced when heading downwind

abaft

 

The Jeckells genoa doings its stuff - it needs more tension in the suff so it could do with a slightly higher foot attachment point

bazzman healms

 

It was an excellent sail - look - just jeans - that means it is warm.... ish ... as long as you sit out of the wind

 

bazzman 4

Ireland from the sea - the skies were always entertaining

ireland

 

Occasionall patched of sunlight penetrated the clouds - you can't buy light like this

 

dublin 1

the navigating was challenging but enjoyable

between the islands

one of life's great pleasures as a shallow sailor is squeezing through narrow gaps

 

islands

Ian had Navionics on his Ipad - it did a brilliant job of saying where the bottom is - it has brilliantĀ  underwatere profiles

 

slip

 

Possibly the cutest harbour in the world

shore 1

Locvely from every angle

dub 1

 

Our first Irish Flag

dub 2

It is a really impressive harbour

That evening I took the camera for a walk around town.

night 1

 

the architecture is a fine combination of old and new -

night 2

 

the harbour is separated from the town by the urban transport system - the trains sound like london tubes

night 3

spme=one has paid good money to have lighting like this

night 4

The marina in Dublin bat is a bit unsettling. Brilliantly appointed, 1000 pontoons but only half full with 7 year old forty footers. You can see that seven years ago the place was really booming but now you can see the recession writ large in the pontoons.

marina 1

The showers are in a barge whish shortens the walk to the loo across the thousand berth facility

bogs

This is about Dylan Winter's Blog.

4 Responses to “Fal to Crinan 550 miles in 7 days – the full report – Part 3 Arklow to Dublin 45 miles”

  1. 2 June, 2016 at 8:12 pmRob Heath says:

    Great fun Dylan, we were quite amused by the MARIna Lou when we were there in 2013. Fairly sneaky to call it Dublin Bay – it took us ages to realise that Dun Laoghaire was pronounced Dun Leary. Looking forward to reading the rest of your missives tonight.
    Cheers
    Rob
    Southerly 110 ‘Norman James’

  2. 4 June, 2016 at 6:37 pmWalter Scott says:

    I sail a Centaur up and down this coast and my fellow Englishmen’s comments are cringeworthy and do not go without challenge by my good Irish sailing friends. Dun
    Laoghaire…or Dun Leary for Anglo Saxon simpeltons…is part of what is part of the geographical location known as Dublin (Blackpool for fellow sassenachs) Bay. At least try to leave your ignorance at home when cruising.

  3. 13 June, 2016 at 8:10 amRon says:

    The light in Ireland is amazing, a photographers delight.
    It gets even better on the West coast.
    And berth space is never a problem.

  4. 13 June, 2016 at 8:16 amRon says:

    And as an Englishman who has lived in West Cork for more than ten years now – well – lets just say you do slide into a different ‘mind set’, as I believe the modern term is.
    When I go back to England (Cornwall) to visit the family, I think they are all mad.
    Though Cornwall isn’t as mad as the rest of England.

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