The standing rigging on Azimuth was about 15 years old. This is all the stainless steel wires that hold the mast up and take the strain when she is sailing and heeled hard over. We always had it in the back of our minds that this rigging would probably be need to be replaced before we set off, but that always felt like a long way off and so we put it off! We started talking to boat insurers late last year (2021) about the boat and our planned passage across the Atlantic in 2022. It was a good job we did, as all of them pointed out that the standing rigging was now past its sell by date and needed to be replaced, and by the way they wouldn’t insure us until it was done. That kind of forced our hand then!
Getting the rigging changed is easy on a small boat. You just drop the mast, change the wires and off you go. This is not the case for Azimuth. She’s a big old girl, and the rigging is very heavy duty, some would say over engineered. But then, that’s a good thing right? … until you decide to get the rigging changed, then you realise the cost and the time its going to take!
There are quite a few companies that will change your standing for you. They are all congregated on the south coast of the UK. No good when you need your boat to live on and your son is at college in Bristol. Fortunately, there is a great rigger based in Cardiff Bay, about 20 miles from Portishead by sea, close enough for us to get to relatively easily to have the work done.
The whole process took about 6 weeks, and man it was hard work! My advise when buying a boat is never get one with a painted mast. It took me at least a month to patch the paint. Sanding, undercoat, primer and top coat. 6 coats in all on your hands and knees on a windswept crane dock…. hopefully never again!
I tried to capture the moments in video. This video shows we are no good at filming or editing! Sorry if it makes you feel a bit ill!
Ailsa and I were over the moon to be asked to go on a cruise from Portishead to Plymouth to help out our friends Harriet and Dom move their boat Budge to their new home to Kings Point marina in Plymouth.
The timing had to be right … any trip down the west coast of Cornwall can be tricky but to do it at the end of march?? Surely a little insane?! As it happens though the ideal weather forecast appeared with unseasonal warm and settled weather predicted for at least 6 days before the weather was to change to a howling gale. Just enough time for a leisurely cruise around Lands End?
We set off on the Friday with great frivolity. A mad dash to try and catch the lock at high tide, with all the last minute preparations and loading of supplies. It’s always a little stressful to leave Portishead, but all that was quickly forgotten as we got out in to a windless but sunny Bristol Channel. Everyone soon settled in to the trip and we headed for Dom & Harriet’s first night at anchor on Budge on the North coast of Devon at Porlock. No wind at all meant a comfortable night which was cold as soon as the sun dropped below the horizon, reminding us that this was still March.
The next day was a leisurely start to catch the tide out of the Bristol Channel, around the corner with a planned stop at Clovelly. Skipper Dom did his tidal planning well and we were blessed with a force 5 blow from the East and downwind surfing all the way out of the channel. Truly unheard of sailing in this part of the world!
The tide helped us too and we quickly sailed past Combe Martin and Illfracombe, around Morte point and down towards Clovelly where Our good friend Charlie had provided some useful information for the best place to anchor in this remote spot. Thankfully we arrived before dark, as none of us knew this anchorage. It was a little rolly, but the wind soon died away and the sea flattened out. Getting to shore proved to be a little tricky though. At low tide, all we were presented with was a steeply shelved rocky beach and no access to the inner harbour. We four intrepid sailors loaded ourselves in to Budge’s dinghy and skipper Dom rowed us to shore heading for a large concrete structure that looked like a likely landing place. It proved to be somewhat different, slippery as hell and in fact useless for access to the beach, so much to the amusement of anyone watching we fought our way up the rocky beach and tied the long painter to a large rock.
At Anchor in Clovelly
The next part of the battle to conquer Clovelly was the need to feed hungry sailors and Charlie had already determined that the pub at the bottom of the hill was not serving food that night, so we set off on the steep climb through the pretty town on the hope that the only other pub in town would be open and have a table. Charlie and Jen had agreed to drive down and meet us. So it was with relief that the friendly landlord went out of his way to sort us out with a table for 6 in what turned out to be our own private room for a delicious meal and a few local beers / gins. Highly recommended.
Leaving a boat in daylight is all well and good, but forgetting a torch as well as forgetting to put the anchor light on on Budge meant that on our return to the beach, we were met with pitch blackness and the trip back to the boat looked to be very difficult! Charlie ‘never without a torch’ Phillips came to the rescue again, producing a torch capable of lighting up the entire boat from a distance of 300m! The beer definitely helped the scramble back down the beach and the launch of the dinghy in fits of giggles from all involved and Charlie’s torch guided us back to Budge in style. Such was the power of the beam, we felt we were being pushed along by the photons! All arrived back at Budge without incident, well maybe some wet feet.
Another comfortable night at anchor, and we set off again for the trip down the coast to to Padstow. It was another sunny day and the sea state was flat with a gentle swell. It was a bonus to see a pod of dolphins.
Yet again we were blessed with ideal sailing conditions with 15 knots on the beam all the way down the coast. The wind picked up to force 5 as we approached the entrance to Padstow and skipper Dom expertly helmed us over the doom bar without breaking a sweat an hour after high tide. Time was pressing though and a call to Padstow Harbour Master confirmed fears that the inner harbour was about to close. Harriet and Ailsa had been promised the possibility of a shower …. a dangerous precedent had been set, and skipper Dom was not about to let them down, so he decided there was no way we were not getting in. Engine revs were set to max, forget the 5 knots speed limit, Dom helmed us through the narrow channel with skill and got us in to the inner harbour just in time before the gate was shut. A 180 degree spin later and we were moored up on the wall in front of an enormous crowd of onlookers. The shower was secured and Dom had saved the day!
Arrival in Padstow!
The town of Padstow (or should we call it Rick’s town?) was very accommodating. The showers were hot. Ricks fish and chips were palatable and filling. However, the supreme effort of getting here had caught up with the skipper, he hadn’t slept well on the trip so far, and the safety of the inner harbour led to his collapse in to bed and 14 hours of sleep. All that sea air is definitely good for the soul. Also, now we were in the harbour there was no way if getting out again until high tide at 3pm the next day. We were all pretty knackered, so enjoyed the break and took the chance to spend the next morning perusing the shops and enjoying a pasty for lunch.
No rest for the wicked. Tide and time wait for no one, so 10 minutes after the harbour master opened the gate, we were on our way following the inward track back over the doombar and out to sea on our way to St Ives. We wanted to get to arrive before dark but it was a tough call. No wind meant the motor all the way, and the tide was against us. The daylight eventually ran out and we edged in to the anchorage under darkness. Harriet was posted at the front of the boat with the torch checking for lobster pots. Last time we were in St Ives, Ailsa and I had had to weave in and out of them on our approach. As it turned out, this time there weren’t any, sorry Harriet!
We dropped the hook 200m off the pier and then realised that even though there was no wind, and virtually no swell all the way down, Sod’s law had decided that a really annoying swell was entering the anchorage from the North West and Budge was flopping from side to side. A decision had to be made…. stay here or press on round lands end in the dark. In the end, we decided to stay, but all experienced a rough night of rolling and listening to all the creeks and groans of Budge. You have it take the rough tank the smooth with sailing!
Bleary eyed the next morning, everyone eventually surfaced and off we set again to take on the challenge of rounding Lands End. Accompanied by more sunny weather but with an ominous mist hanging over the coast. The sea state was flat again though, and Budge motored round the coast as we waited for some expected wind to pick up. The conditions were perfect to go through the inside passage at Lands End, so skipper Dom took the helm from Fred (recently named autopilot) after the Brisons and took us through the gap between Longships and Lands End. The mist cleared and Harriet produced cold beers to help us celebrate the moment!
The plan was to make it all the way to Falmouth (another shower had been promised!) and having rounded Lands End, there was still a good distance to go across the bay and around the Lizard. We are still not sure what sacrifice Dom and Harriet must have made to the wind gods before we left, but it must have been considerable …. the wind picked up to Force 4/5 on the beam and pushed Budge onwards to her destination at a great speed.
Skipper concentrating hard on the sailing….
We entered Falmouth harbour at dusk just as the sun set below the horizon and pulled up to the dock at Pendennis Marina. A wonderful sail!
We woke the next day to a grey sky and cold. It looked like the spell of good weather was coming to an end? However, after leaving Falmouth, once again the skies cleared, the sea went glassy smooth, and Budge motored on towards Plymouth under blue skies. 6 hours later and Skipper Dom navigated us carefully in to Plymouth, dodging various fishing and pilot boats and large ferries all the way in to Kings Point Marina, their new home for the year. It’s not the easiest place to get in to as you have to navigate past a line of 72 foot multi million pound princess motor boats, but we pulled up at the dock (with a little help from Dom and Harriets new neighbours) and sat in the cockpit enjoying the moment with a cold beer.
Arrived in Plymouth!
All good things come to an end. It had been a wonderful trip, but there was just enough time to explore Plymouth and enjoy a farewell meal and beers before we had to leave the next day. A walk from the Marina past the Plymouth Hoe took us to the Barbican district where we ended up in the Dolphin pub and met an old friend from Portishead as well as met a new one, a local shipwright called Reece who regalled us with his sailing stories. Hunger finally forced us to seek out a curry house and we enjoyed some great food, slightly inebriated and bizarrely entertained by our persistent waiter Callum who proceeded to tell us his life story and philosophies whilst we pretended we were interested? It looks to us as though Plymouth will provide plenty of evening entertainment and interesting people for Dom and Harriet in the months to come as they settle in to their new home!
The evening descended in to Drunken banter as we discussed the possibility that Dom, if he gets too drunk, could maybe miss the entrance to his marina on the long walk home and possibly find himself in Roscoff the next morning courtesy of the ferry terminal right next door!
The next day, we eventually emerged from the cabins and all felt a little tired and emotional from the excesses of the previous evening. Big thanks to Charlie who had offered to pick us up and whisk us back to Portishead in his comfortable Jag! He saved the day as the prospect of several hours on trains and buses was not appealing!
We want to say a huge thank you to Dom and Harriet for taking us on this adventure and looking after us so well! We had a wonderful time, and felt like we were waited on hand and foot at Budge Hotel! Well done Dom and Harriet for all your efforts in getting Budge ready to go, and feel confident that you are great sailors and able to take on the challenges of sailing in the UK. We wish Dom and Harriet all the best in their new Marina and hope they really get to enjoy the new sailing opportunities the south coast has to offer. We would be jealous, except we are off to a better place too! Adios Portishead!
Sailing last summer was a wonderful experience! It is hard to describe what it feels like to have the freedom to roam wherever you want without time pressures and free from the other burdens of life. We think we did the Western Isles of Scotland and the West Coast of Ireland justice, and we gained a lot of sailing experience, as well as some of the skills required to live full time onboard a boat away from port. Read about our trip summer here
Azimuth is a great boat, but like every boat, stuff breaks! One of the purposes of taking a long cruise last summer was to test out some of the changes in equipment that we had already made in the previous two years. Similarly, we wanted to find any problems, so that we could fix these over the winter in time for us leaving this summer for blue waters.
Well, there was plenty of stuff that broke! These are some of the major things:
Gas Oven
An oven is something you hope you can rely on. Whilst we were in Scotland, the gas started to play up. Basically we would turn the gas on and light it to be presented with a flame thrower! The gas bottles on Azimuth sit in the anchor locker. This is a pretty inhospitable place, right at the front of the boat, continually soaked by seawater. It turns out that the regulator that sits on top of the gas bottle really does not like this salt water environment. Its been a constant source of problems over the years. This time though was a problem we had not seen before. The regulator basically stopped doing its job, and released the full pressure of the gas to the cooker. Hence the flame thrower effect! Even scarier was lighting the oven. It was a fateful day somewhere on the west coast of Ireland, that we decided having gas on board Azimuth was no longer for us. Ailsa had prepared a wonderful loaf of bread, and went to light the oven to bake it. The oven erupted in to a mass of flame. Shutting the door quickly, flames were shooting out of the sides of the oven door! Luckily we have a solenoid operated by a switch right next to the oven that disables the gas at the bottle, so turning that off saved the day, otherwise things might have got significantly worse.
So it would have been an easy fix to get the oven working again. Just replace the regulator…. We have tons of spares onboard, but the law seems to be that however many spares you have…. you never have the part you need. We hunted for a new regulator all the way down the West coast of Ireland. There was not a single red propane regulator for sale anywhere! Apparently covid had led to a general shortage of things like that. We had plenty of food onboard, but no way to cook it!
Microwave to the rescue. We had to get creative, and download lots of recipes for microwaves. Actually its surprising how much stuff you can cook in a microwave with a bit of experimentation. After a month though of reheating food in tins, its starts to wear a little thin.
The Solution?
We have decided having gas onboard is not for us. Despite the experience of nearly blowing ourselves up several times this summer, there are some other things about gas we don’t like. Gas is a fossil fuel, so we want to do our bit to reduce our environmental impact and stop using it. Getting gas bottles around the world is notoriously difficult. We have read plenty of forums and watched videos from other people sailing the world, and the difficulties that they have sourcing gas. All the fittings for bottles are different from continent to continent, never mind trying to find gas in remote places.
A year ago, we upgraded the electrics on Azimuth, and changed to Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries. Life with Lithium batteries is sweet. We have solar and wind power onboard to charge the batteries, and we have enough renewable power to run pretty much all our fridges / freezer and other electronics onboard. We have also installed an inverter. This allows us to run our AC devices from the Lithium battery bank, such as the microwave, Ailsa’s hairdryer (very important, and this is how I justified the cost of the inverter!) and other stuff like laptops, kettle etc. Taking this one step further then, this winter we have removed the gas oven and replaced it with an electric induction hob, and mini electric oven mounted in a custom built housing.
New oven installedOld oven waiting to departOut with the old, in with the new…
So far we are pretty pleased with the new oven. It took some getting used to cooking on an induction hob. However the electric oven is a great success, and much better than the old gas one. Time will tell whether this is a practical alternative to gas onboard, we hope so!
Outboard Engine
We all take our cars for granted these days. Easy to jump in the car to do your shopping, or visit friends. Well having a decent dinghy and an outboard engine is the equivalent of your car when you live on a floating home. Never was this bought home to us than our trip last summer! We had invested in a brand new (to us anyway) dinghy bought from a friend in the marina. That was a vast improvement on our ageing inflatable dinghy. The new dinghy has an aluminium hull that makes it go through the water much better (and potentially faster) than the old one. That given, whilst we were enjoying the new dinghy, we were still stuck with our old 2.5 horse power Tohatsu two stroke outboard. A workhorse for sure that had been fairly reliable with a good deal of maintenance thrown in for good measure. However, 6 weeks in to the trip, and the old workhorse decided it had had enough and no amount of stripping down and rebuilding would coax it back to life! That made our lives a lot harder. Basically we had to row everywhere. Great for fitness, but several times we found ourselves stuck onboard looking at a beach, pub or shop in the far distance from an anchorage in the knowledge that it was too far to row, or the simply too difficult due to weather or tidal streams.
The solution?
Well its obvious isn’t it? Get a new better engine! A visit to the boat show in Southampton last September allowed us to do the research and identify the one we wanted, and we managed to secure the last one in the UK of our chosen one.
Looking forward to trying this out soon. Electric start and everything!
More to come …
This post is just a small flavour of what’s going on at the moment.
We wanted to say a huge thankyou to our friends Lynne and Geoff and particularly Lynne for her gift to us of a very special painting of Azimuth that she has given to us. We went to dinner at their house the other night for the “grand unveiling”!
We are thrilled with the picture. Lynne is a very talented artist and we think she has caught the essence of Azimuth in this scene inspired by the picture appearing of the front page of our website. The picture will have pride of place in the boat and we shall post another picture when it is hung.
Again, many thanks to Lynne for this special present!
Saturday 4th September, 2021, Kinsale to Dale, Milford Haven
We woke up with thick heads! Both feeling hung over and had not slept well. So we headed in to Kinsale to get some supplies for the trip back and then pulled up the hook after some lunch and with a heavy heart (and head) started the long trip back to Wales.
The winds weren’t ideal for the trip back, but now we had no choice if we were to make it back in time for Vinnie to start college. Sailing on a schedule never works! It was a good start though, as we sailed out of Kinsale Harbour doing 8 knots on a beam reach. The forecast for the wind was from the South East and was due to veer further South later. That never happened! We had to fight our way across the Irish Sea. The sea state was not too bad, but the wind angle meant we could do one tack all the way up the coast to almost 15 miles from Dunmore East on the South East corner of Ireland. Then the wind completely died.
We motored for 6 hours directly towards Milford Haven towards the Traffic Separation Zone just off the first of the Smalls. Now the wind picked up again and we tacked our way across the TSS. Finally after waiting almost 24 hours, that Southerly wind kicked in. The last 25 miles were bliss with 6-8 knots at 60 degrees apparent which whisked us right round St Anne’s Head and into the entrance to Milford Haven. We motored the last couple of miles in to Dale and dropped the hook with a big sigh of relief.
165 miles in total; 28 Hours of sailing, and the 8th crossing of the Irish Sea! Arrived Sunday 5th August @ 1700.
Back in the anchorage at Dale
Monday 6th September, 2021, Dale to Portishead.
No rest for the wicked as they say. There was still 90 miles to go to get back to Portishead. In the end it was very easy. The wind gods decided to take a couple of days off. We were sad to be leaving and entering the muddy waters of the Bristol Channel once more, but we were looking forward to being re-united with Vinnie again!
We motored the whole way to Combe Martin, taking advantage of the strong tides. We saw a huge pod of dolphins, which is rare to see in the Bristol Channel in our experience. The the dreaded fog descended and we had to very slowly edge in to Combe Martin Bay to drop the hook for a 6 hour rest whilst we waited for the next tide.
Off again at 0100 to catch the tide….
It was a beautiful starry night as we motored back up the channel. We could clearly see the milky way, Jupiter and Saturn. It was a quick motor back on the Bristol Channel super highway, averaging 9 knots and as the sun came up, we were on the last leg up to Portishead. Finally we arrived at 0700 with an easy lock in and tied up at our old berth…. like we had never left!!!???
Monday 30th August 2021, Darrynane Bay to Crookhaven
Time was moving on! We had to be back in Portishead for early September in time for Vinnie to go back to college. Today we checked the longer term forecast, and saw that a big Atlantic low was expected to hit Southern Ireland next week, which could potentially trap us in the Green Isle. I can think of worst places to be stuck, but Vinnie would not have appreciated it. So we decided we needed to make some headway by getting round two major headlands, Dursey Head and Mizen Head and back in to familiar territory that we had already explored a couple of years ago. Unfortunately this meant that we would have to sail past the Kenmare River which we hadn’t visited before, and across Bantry Bay which we had already explored extensively, but which we had definitely fallen in love with.
So we pulled out of Darrynane bay that morning with a long sail ahead. It was a nice downwind sail down to Dursley Head with some great views of the Bull, Cow and Calf Rocks
Another sailboat on the Kenmare RiverLooking North Looking South At Dursey HeadSailing across the Kenmare EstuaryThe BullThe CowThe CalfIslands off Dursley Head
Once we rounded Dursley Head all hell broke loose. The sea state picked up and we experienced a 20 knot headwind. That made for long difficult tacks around Mizen head and finally we managed to sail round the headland in the dusk and make it in to Crookhaven anchorage just before it got completely dark. We were both completely exhausted!
Tuesday 31st August, 2021, Crookhaven to Baltimore
The next few days looked horrible on the South coast of Ireland with East headwinds up to Force 6 but the forecast look good for crossing the Irish sea once the low blows through. We had an easy sail past Cape Clear and the Fastnet, then all hell broke loose again! Baltimore Harbour offered some welcome protection, and we anchored off with the wind still blowing about 20 knots, but the sea flat.
Passing the Fastnet
Wednesday 1st September, 2021, Baltimore
The wind continued to blow with some strength along the south coast, so we decided to stop the day at anchor in Baltimore. Infact we ended up staying 2 nights. Annoyingly, we could see the pub, but because it was about half a mile to the shore, and we could only rown the dinghy, we didn’t feel confident enough to row to shore in the strong wind. So the time was passed reading and playing cards!
Friday 3rd September 2021, Baltimore to Kinsale
The wind had finally settled down, so we left Baltimore at 8 30 that morning and enjoyed NE winds for the first 3 hours which got us as far as the imposing stags further up the coast. These ship killer rocks, appear to change shape as you pass them.
Views of the Stags
After passing the stags, the wind swung more to the East, so we did some long tacks to make more progress up the coast. The conditions were really nice with light seas. We made the last tack past the Old head of Kinsale and all the way in to the entrance to Kinsale.
Passing Kinsale Head
We slowly made our way through a fleet of sailing boats racing, and made our way up the river through the town and dropped anchor in the river just south of the castle park marina. The plan was to head in to town for the evening, and get back for an early night as we planned to sail back across the Irish Sea to Milford Haven tomorrow. We headed in to town and ended up at Kitty O See’s for a lovely meal. You can’t go to any pub in Ireland without striking up a conversation! Same was the case here and we were soon chatting to the neighbouring tables, a couple on hols from the USA and a couple visiting Kinsale from Clifden in Connemara, whom it turned out lived 20 minutes drive from Leenane, where we had visited on the way down the West Coast. Several rounds of drinks later, we stager out of the pub at closing time! So much for the early night?!
Friday 27th August, 2021, Brandon Bay to Ventry Bay
The west coast of Ireland is certainly fickle and changeable! The previous day had been a cloudless blue sky and warm sunshine. Today we woke up to thick pea soup fog. We literally couldn’t see the nearest boat anchored 50 metres away. On days like this, nothing else to do than break out the cards and stare out the window in to the gloom, hoping it will lift. Ailsa beat me at Skipbo twice in a row! Unheard of. By 3 30 that afternoon we were getting bored of waiting for the fog to lift. It was a little better, so we pulled up the anchor, and headed out under engine pretty much relying on the instruments and radar. There was thick fog all the way around the headland, a real shame as we didn’t get to see any of the Blasket Islands that are supposed to be spectacular. They were just shapes in the fog.
Looking back to the Blasket Islands in the fog.
Once we were in Dingle Bay, we watched the fishing fleet leaving Dingle to head out in to the Atlantic and as we arrived in Ventry Bay miraculously the fog finally lifted, so we anchored off the pier and a huge sand beach.
Saturday 28th August, 2021, Ventry Bay to Valencia Island
That morning we rowed the dinghy in to the pier where the kids were jumping in the sea (they do that alot along the west coast and seem to be impervious to the cold water!). Then we took a long walk down the beach and people watched.
Azimuth at anchor way off shore
Ailsa on the beach
Views of Ventry Bay
We finally arrived at the little village at lunchtime. What do you know the pub was shut?! Seemed to be a theme for us! Thankfully the local post office store provided the means to make some sarnies which we ate on bench in the glorious hot sunshine.
We traced our steps back to Azimuth. Back on board, the heat must have played tricks with my mind. I had the urge to get rid of the beard I had been cultivating since the beginning of the trip! It was too bushy even for the trimmers, so Ailsa did the honours on deck with a pair of scissors, and the beard was consigned to the Atlantic Ocean! And before you ask, there was no taming of the head hair!
Before
After!
Feeling somewhat cooler (in the temperature sense), we pulled the anchor and sailed out of the bay in the late afternoon. We had a fantastic sail across Dingle bay over to Valencia Island, doing 7 knots on flat seas on a beam reach. We were accompanied by a large pod of dolphins for at least 30 minutes and enjoyed the scenery of the approach to Valencia.
Approaches to Valencia Island
We got to Valencia, where there is a partially built marina (just the outer pontoon) and we hoped to moor up for free for the night. However, everyone else had the same idea, and there was no room for Azimuth. The next alternative was the town anchorage. Yet again, the Irish had completely filled that with mooring buoys (with none occupied) and there was no space to actually anchor out of the tide! So we headed back to Glanleam Bay near the entrance to the protected Harbour. This proved to be a great choice. A really beautiful sheltered anchorage, out of the tide off a sandy beach.
Azimuth at anchor in Glanleam Bay.
We took the dinghy to the beach and walked to Knightstown on the Island. The Island is very green and luscious and has a tropical feel to it. We had a meal at the Valencia Royal Hotel and wandered around the town.
Sunday 29th August, 2021, Valencia Island to Darrynane Bay
Another fantastic day, so we decided to go and explore some more of Valencia Island. The previous evening we had seen a signpost to “The tetrapod dinosaur footprints”? So a quick search on the internet showed they were within walking distance of the anchorage. It turned out to be quite a hike up and over the mountain in the centre of the island and a walk all the way out to the Valentia coastguard station. Still it was a glorious day and the views were well worth the effort. The dinosaur prints were interesting too, discovered 20 years ago by a geology student who was wandering along the shoreline and noticed them. The picture below probably doesn’t do them justice!
Crows sat on the power lines round this house. Felt like a scene out of The Birds!
What a view!
You can imagine the tetrapod running across here right?
One dinosaur looking at the footprints of another?
We sailed out from Valencia Island at two that afternoon with the promise of wind. Just a few miles out, and the wind died! Oh and the fog descended! Really annoying as the coast here is spectacular, and the we were looking forward to views of the Skelligs (of Star Wars fame). Instead we ghosted along in the fog, with occasional glimpses of other boats and as we pulled in Darrynane bay for the night, the fog lifted again.
Ships passing in the fog
Darrynane Bay sunset
Darrynane Bay
The Abbey
Distant view of the Skelligs
Darrynane Bay turned out to be a spectacular anchorage with a gorgeous sunset, crystal clear green water and flat calm seas. The view was a white sand beach and an old ruined abbey. A great place to rest up for the night.
Tuesday 24th August, 2021, Inishboffin to Inishmore
After the embarrassment of keeling over in Inishboffin harbour (read about it in the previous post!) we made a quick exit from the anchorage at 0600 that morning, with a long sail planned down to Inishmore, one of the Aran Islands at the end of Galway Bay.
It was a glorious sunrise, with light winds from the South East that meant we were able to sail the entire way on a close hold and tacking down the coast. We were of course both completely exhausted, having been up most of the night, but the sun was shining, and the views were inviting.
Sunrise over the 12 Pins of Connemara
As we got close to Inishmore, we heard the rush of air as a whale surfaced about 100m from the boat, the second whale siting of the trip. And we were once again joined on the journey by a pod of dolphins, which was to become a daily occurrence on the rest of the trip
We anchored in a pretty bay off a white sand beach called Portmurvy on the North East side of the Island, 50NM from Inishboffin.
Looking back at the lighthouse on Slyne Head
Looking South towards Inishmore
Wednesday 25th August, 2021, Portmurvy to Shannon River
We woke to a reasonable size swell entering Portmurvy which meant meant we didnt want to chance rowing the dinghy in to shore on to the beach. Unfortunately that meant we couldn’t visit the iron age fort on Inishmore, so we weighed anchor and headed South again for Loop Head 36NM from the end of the Aran Islands.
We had fair winds for a couple of hours which got us away from the Aran Islands.
Erragh Lighthouse on Rock Island at the North end of Inishmore
Eventually the wind died and we had to motor for a bit until we got closer to Loop head where the wind picked up again and blew us around in to the Shannon Estuary. The cliffs around Loop Head were imposing with very interesting geology with layers twisted and contorted, and the cliffs peppered with caves.
The tortured cliffs of Loop Head
Once in the Shannon Estuary, we stuck our nose in to the first Anchorage option of Kilbaha Bay, but we didnt like the look of it as it felt very exposed and swelly. We were glad we carried on and rode the fast tide further up the estuary to the anchorage at Cariggaholt and anchored just off the end of the pier in the front of a tall castle tower. This was a much nicer and secure bay, especially as the wind started to pick up from the North East.
Azimuth at Anchor in the bay
We took the dinghy to shore and visited the little village. Couldn’t get in the restaurant, so settled for a takeaway from “Max Bites” and then an illicit visit to the the castle for a closer look.
Carrigaholt Castle
Views of the anchorage
Thursday 26th August, 2021, Carrigaholt to the Margharees and Brandon Bay
We left Carrigaholt Bay at 1130 when the tide turned to leave the Shannon Estuary and motored out of the Bay. The tide at the narrowing entrance gave us an SOG of 11 knots!
With the strong tide and the light winds, there was scope to sail, and we downwind sailed all the way to the Kerry head at the end of the estuary until the wind died.
Dolphin Fin in the Shannon Estuary
Approaching Kerry Head
On with the motor again and we transited the last 7 miles to the Margharee Islands and dropped the anchor next to Illauntannig. This tiny island hosts 6th century monastic remains with beehive huts made of stone, so we took the dinghy in to shore to go and visit.
6th century monastic remains on Illauntannig
Its an exposed spot, and when the wind picked up and the swell started to roll in, we decided it was not the best spot to anchor for the night. So we weighed anchor and headed a 6 miles further west down the coast to Brandon Bay protected by Sheveglass mountain and had a comfortable night.
Friday 20th August, 2021 Broadhaven Bay to Achill Sound
Another headland to go round … the west coast is littered with them and none of them are easy! Today was a drizzly rainy day with poor visibility. We sailed downwind to Eris Head after leaving Broadhaven Bay. As we rounded the head, the wind was now a close hold and Tacked down the coast. Further South, and the wind was kind, and swung us out past Achill head in the mist and the gloom. It rained hard most of the way. It was a shame the weather was so bad as the views along this coast are supposed to be some of the best coastline in Ireland! At one point the top of the mountain appeared from the cloud and I captured these…
Once we rounded Achill Head, we were hoping for a downwind sail to take is towards Clew Bay, but the wind was too light with the rough sea state, so we motored for two hours. We rounded Achillbeg Island and stuck our nose in to Achill sound to investigate an anchorage. It was way to shallow and not obvious where to go, so we chickened out and anchored off the beach on the East side of Achillbeg. It was a nice easy night until 6am the next morning when we started to drag anchor towards the beach and the rocks!
Saturday 21st August, Achillbeg to Killary Lough
We departed at 0900 and sailed due South to Killary Lough across the mouth of Clew Bay, past Claire Island and along the Connemara coastline. It was a fabulous sail with a beam reach up to 9 knots and then downwind in to the mouth of the Lough. The entrance is framed by mountains, and the heading is marked by some concrete pillars through the narrows
Entrance to Killary Lough
We motored through the narrows and down the long narrow loch avoiding the mussel farms all along the edge and anchored right at the end off the town of Leenaun.
Views of Killary Lough
Once we were anchored up, we rowed to shore (yep the outboard engine was still knackered!) and went to a bizzare shop inside the local pub, and had a great lunch at the blackberry cafe where we sampled the mussels from the Lough, and fish and chips … delicious. We rowed back to the boat and chilled out for the rest of the day enjoying the amazing scenery of the place. We were the only boat in the whole anchorage!
Sunday 22nd August, 2021, Leenaun to Inishbofin
We left the next morning and there was zero wind, so we motored back out of the Lough through the narrows and across the bay to Inishboffin through all the rocks and small isles. Inishboffin is recognised as being one of the finest all weather anchorages on the west coast and has a big maritime history. The entrance is very tricky with reefs and rocks, but the installation of a leading light makes it easier to navigate. Once inside, you are immediately greeted by the ruins of a Cromwellian fort on your starboard side, and the blue water and sandy bottom of the totally enclosed anchorage. Its a beautiful place. However, the anchorage is tricky, cause the Irish seem to love to fill all their most popular anchorages up with fixed moorings, so it took us some time to find a spot that we could fit in. Its really shallow too!
Azimuth in the anchorage
Ailsa at Cromwell’s Fort
We took the dinghy to shore and went and explored the fort which is still pretty intact even though it in places it overhangs the rocks and you look straight down in to the sea.
Then we went for a walk to explore the east side of the island past white sandy beaches and family holiday homes. It felt very much like the Scilly Isles, and was very popular with the locals arriving by ferry.
White sand beaches on east side of Inishboffin
We ended up at the Doonbar hotel for tea but had to sit outside in the chill. A few pints of the blackstuff provided some alcoholic insulation
The forecast was for no wind, and the sun was shining, so we decided to stay another day and walk more of the island. This time we headed west to take in the views of more sandy beaches, rocky coastline and peat bog paths.
Inishboffin and Inishshark views to the west.
We went to the pub for lunch and chilled out for the rest of the day on the boat. We decided on an early night cause we planned on an early start for the next leg South. We were both woken at 23 30 when we were tipped out of bed as the boat fell over! That was very disconcerting…. the anchorage was flat calm and there was no wind??? What the hell was happening? It turns out we had run aground. We had been in this anchorage for two days at this point, and the boat had been drifting around in an arc of about 270 degrees. Now it looked like the boat had drifted in to the final 90 degrees of the arc closest to the beach, and in conjunction with the low tide had come to rest on a sandbank at the back. She was still floating at the front.
Well there is not a lot you can do in this situation …. Azimuth weighs 31 tonnes. You can’t just get out and push her off! Checking the tide we still had another 80 cms to drop, so all we could do was check the bilge to make sure we weren’t taking on any water and then sit out the whole process for the next 4 hours! By 0100 in the morning, the boat was right over on her side… with the toe rail under water and fish swimming over the deck! The pub across the water was in full swing with music and laughter …. however maybe lucky for us the fog came in, so in the darkness no one could witness our embarrassing situation! Over the next three hours, Azimuth started to slowly right herself. Thankfully, there was still no waves or wind, and finally we lifted off at 4 in the morning. I pulled in some of the anchor chain and climbed in to bed. I think we survived!
