Northern Ireland – Sailing Azimuth

August 11, 2021November 26, 2021

Coleraine to Aran Island

Wednesday 11th August, 2021 Coleraine Marina

We woke up to rain! The storm was starting to build, so it was good to be in a marina on the river Bann well away from the worst of it. We ordered the Irish West coast Pilot book from a local shop in Northern Island, so that we could get it delivered before we left the Marina. When the rain stopped we took a walk in to the town and went to the local Chinese restaurant called the Water Margin on the river.

Thursday 12th August, 2021, A visit to the Giants Causeway

We took a taxi to the causeway visitors centre and fought the wind swept coastline to go and visit the Giants causeway. It was pretty busy with people, but well worth the effort. We couldn’t help comparing it to Staffa further North. The Giants causeway is actually an extension of the same bit of Geology.

The coastline along here is very spectacular. We decided to walk back to the little village of Bushmills to get some lunch. The path follows the Victorian steam train trainline which was not running due to covid. Bushmills was a popular place although most of the establisments were closed, and we couldn’t get in anywhere, so we had fish and chips and sat in the local park. Then we caught the bus back to Coleraine after a great day out exploring.

Friday 13th August, 2021, Coleraine Marina

We took the time whilst we waited to plan the trip down the West Coast of Ireland. The pilot book had turned up with the charts. Then we went and stocked up with essentials. We were not sure how remote the west coast would be and when we would have chance to get to shops. We kept checking the weather, and it looked like the storm would blow itself out by the next day.

Saturday 14th August, 2021, Coleraine to Ragerty Island, Mulroy Bay

We had been holed up for 4 days now so were itching to get going. The storm had finally blown itself out, so we left the marina and motored back up the River Bann to the sea. We needed to get the tide right to round the formidable Malin Head on the North coast of Ireland. We arrived at the sea and sailed very slowly with some tide still against us past the entrance to Loch Foyle and the river to Derry. We had now officially entered Ireland, and the start of our West Coast adventure. At this point the wind started to pick up a little and we tacked up towards Malin Head until it died again a couple of hours later. Now we had the tide though and with motor on again we were averaging 8.5 to 9 knots SOG.

As we rounded Malin Head the waves were HUGE! It was very uncomfortable, and we saw another fishing boat being thrown around like a cork. At least Azimuth is a big boat and she is very seaworthy. After the head, the waves subsided a little and we motored all the way in to Mulroy bay and anchored on the west shore out of the swell just behind Ragerty Island in sand. We arrived just after 9pm just as it was getting dark, we were both exhausted after a long day sailing.

Past Malin Head and heading for Mulroy Bay

Sunday 15th August, 2021, Mulroy Bay to Aran Island

After a peaceful night at anchor, we were up early and sailing by 8:30 for a fantastic sailing conditions averaging 7 to 9 knots with the sea state much improved from the previous day. The wind was perfect for a beam reach Force 4/5 from the North West.

The coastline was very dramatic, sailing past features like Horn Point, the Bloody Foreland and Gola Island until we reached and sailed around Aran Island, and anchored in Rossillon Bay off the beach in sand.

Anchorage at Rossillon Bay, unfortunately the pub was shut!

August 6, 2021December 13, 2021

Back to Northern Ireland

Friday August 6th, 2021 Back to Sanna Bay

We had been thinking about how to get back to Portishead for the last few days and we had a few options. However, we didn’t think that we would be up in this part of the world again for a long time, and we have a special love for Ireland. So we were considering going back to Portishead via the West coast of the Green Isle, sometimes known as the Wild Atlantic Way. It has a reputation amongst sailors as being challenging.

To make that leg of the journey happen, we would need to allow some time to explore, and potentially to have to wait for good weather too. We had been very lucky with the weather in Scotland, but now the entering August, it was more possible that we would get Atlantic Lows. So we made a plan to get back to Northern Ireland over the next few days and then turn West and take on the challenge.

We left Loch Scavaig that afternoon and had a downwind sail (finally!) going back south through the small Isles of Rum and Eigg and headed for the harbour on the East coast of Muck (Port Mhor). We dropped the hook, but there was not alot of room to swing, and a swell entering the harbour made it rolly. So we made a decision to move a few miles further South back to Sanna Bay on the end of Ardnamurchan peninsula, where we had stopped on the way up.

As we left Muck, a huge rain cloud, that was deep grey cut by a rainbow was moving slowly towards us. You could see the sheets of rain, even though we remained in sunshine. We just made it in to Sanna Bay before the rain hit. Of course, sods law …. the anchorage at Sanna was even more rolly than Muck. Oh well, it was an uncomfortable night … sometimes you have to take the rough with the smooth.

Saturday 7th August, 2021, Sound of Mull

We left Sanna Bay that morning, and no wind meant motoring around Ardnamurchan Point and in to the Sound of Mull. Once we entered the sound, we had 15 knots of wind on the nose again! It doesn’t seem to matter which direction you go, the wind is always on the nose! We headed for Loch Aline again for an easy night at anchor. We took the dinghy in to shore and walked to the farm shop on the estate to find it shut! Then defeated, we decided to relax for the rest of the day.

Sunday 8th August, 2021 Loch Aline to Loch Keils

We awoke to a still day and left Loch Aline at 0900am. Motored down the Sound of Mull out in to the Firth of Lorne and headed to Dunstaffnage Marina to take on some more fuel, and get rid of the mountain of rubbish we had accumulated. We still had to get rid of all the beer bottles from the visit by the lads! Dunstaffnage is a beautifully looked after marina with really friendly staff.

Leaving the marina at 1300 we were expecting to motor all the way down the Firth of Lorne, but thankfully the wind picked up and we tacked our way down the Firth in a fresh breeze and sailed in to the Sound of Luing through the pretty scary entrance strewn with rocks, islands, other boats and lobster pots!

We had timed the tide really well for the entrance to Luing, and now we really picked up speed. The wind picked up too, or at least the apparent wind. As we crossed Corryvreckan we hit 10.7 knots as we were totally over sailed and were hit by 27knots of wind. The autopilot gave up, so I was hanging on the wheel for dear life, and managed to steer us through the worst of it. As quick as the gusts appeared, they dropped again. This is certainly a formidable stretch of water. Stress over the rest of the sail was nice and easy down the Sound of Jura and back to Loch Keils for the night.

Monday 9th August, 2021, Loch Keils to Port Ellen, Isle of Islay

One of the Isles that we hadn’t visited on the way up was Islay, famous for its whiskey distilleries. It had to be visited to complete our tour of the Hebrides. It was another day of motoring, with no wind as we pulled out in to the Sound of Jura from Loch Keils with the South going tide.

Joining other boats heading south down the Sound of Jura. Skipper on watch!

Ailsa skippered us all the way to Ardbeg distillery and we dropped the hook in the anchorage right outside. It looked very quiet…. we were the only boat there. So we went online to check, only to find that the distillery is closed on Mondays!!! Pearce organisation strikes again, couldn’t organise a piss up in a distillery?!

Turns out all of the distilleries were closed, so we took our tour from the sea! On the plus side we probably saved ourselves a fortune in specialist whiskeys

Our seagoing tour of whiskey distilleries!

Just round the corner is port Ellen Bay and we anchored off a white sand beach for the night, in prime position to head south again.

Tuesday 10th August, 2021, Port Ellen to Coleraine

We had an early start and was sailing by 0630. The wind was great for crossing the North channel to Northern Ireland until about 2/3rds of the way across and then it died. We were visited again by a huge pod of dolphins.

As we approached Northern Ireland, we started to fight the strong tide and because its shallow, the sea got really rough and choppy with short seas. We had to motor the last few hours to get close to the shore and our planned anchorage looked really rough. We decided to head for Coleraine and an anchorage on the river Bann.

The River Bann has a very strange entrance from the sea, where walls have been built out from the beach and a channel dredged to the entrance. Where the sea meets the river, the waves were short and sharp, but once through, we found ourselves pottering down a pretty river to the anchorage about 2 miles further down.

A check of the weather looked concerning, as there was a big Atlantic Low developing to the west which was due to bring 40 knot winds on to this North West coast of Ireland over the next few days. We both decided that we did not want to be tacking Malin Head and the North West corner of Ireland in those kind of conditions. The anchorage on the river was not very big and would not be sheltered from the coming storm, so we decided to get a spot in the local marina for a few nights and brave out the gale. It was a nice motor further up the river down a narrow dredged channel and we berthed up for the next few nights.

June 30, 2021December 12, 2021

Bangor to Sanda Island

June 23, 2021December 12, 2021

Milford Haven to Bangor, Northern Ireland.

Wednesday 23rd June, 2021

After a days rest to the recover from the rigours of the Bristol Channel overnighter, we left Milford Haven and sailed North through Jack Sound, across Brides Bay and transited Ramsey Sound hitting 11.8 knots past the bitches getting swerved all over the place by the crazy tide.

We stopped for the night at Porth Melgan, a fine anchorage just South of St Davids head. It feels very remote surrounded by cliffs and sea caves. We spotted the first of many jelly fish and also a pod of dolphins.

Thursday 24th June, 2021

Woke to not a cloud in the sky and not a breath of wind. Decided to head north across Cardigan bay to Aberdaron. 7 hours of motoring across a flat, glassy sea.

The wind finally picked up a little with 10 knots from the south west and 2 knots of favourable tide. On reaching Bardsley Sound, all hell broke loose with 25 knots of apparent wind against a strong tide, but it was short lived, and we arrived at Aberdaron to anchor in the east of the bay. Strong winds that night made the anchorage rolly but the bay still provided reasonable protection, and excellent holding with winds up to 25 knots.

We stayed another day at Aberdaron. It was way too windy to go anywhere!

Saturday 26th June, 2021

We left at 5 in the morning to catch the favourable tide through Bardsley Sound. Two other boats left the Aberdaron Anchorage at the same time, which gave us the confidence that we had done our tidal calculations correctly! It was a beautiful sunrise as we sailed through the at slack water. We got the sails up and enjoyed the favourable wind angle. A call on the radio from another boat called Grace was an unexpected surprise when they texted us the picture of Azimuth above that they had taken as we passed them in the sound. Many thanks to Grace!

Sailing through Bardsley Sound at sunrise

We had intended to sail to Anglesey, but the wind angle was perfect for a transit to Northern Ireland. It would have been a beat to Anglesey, so we decided to change plans and go for it. It was a little rough, but the wind and tide gave us a COG of 330 to 340 degrees for hours. 3 hours from Ireland, and the tide swung against us as well as the wind veered, so we made for Carlingford Lough, a large Fjord inlet right on the border with NI. We anchored at the first anchorage in the Lough called Greenpoint. The anchorage had little room with lots of boats on moorings, and the the tide ran very strong. We also had strong offshore winds coming off the mountains. Great views of the Lough and big hills mixed with castles and industry.

Sunday 27th June, 2021

We left Carlingford at lunchtime with the tide and motored North for an hour. The wind picked up and gave us some fantastic sailing conditions, force 4/5 with smooth seas giving us a long tack in to Dundrum Bay and a tack out in to the North Channel. Stopped for the night at a beautiful anchorage behind Kearney Point just North of the entrance to Strangford Lough.

Monday 28th June, 2021

We had to fight our way up the North channel! With wind from the North West, right on the nose, we had a 5 hour sail from the Anchorage at Kearney Point up to Bangor Marina. It was exhilarating tacking with 25 knots apparent, Azimuth cut through the moderate seas at 8 knots. We lost the wind for the last hour and motored in to Belfast Lough and onwards to Bangor Marina, where we were allocated a berth that was way too small! Luckily our neighbours to be were on hand and helped us get in to the berth. Thanks to Rick & Caroline off “Snowgum”. Time to head to the Salty Dog Pub for tea!