Tuesday/ Wednesday 2/3 August. Scilly to Kilmore Quay, Ireland. 135 nm

We let the mooring go at 0900. The sky was a mixture of blue and white, and the visibility was good. The wind was SW 3 to 4 which meant it was on the quarter, and we should be able to make our intended course of 357 degrees on one gybe. We put one reef in the main and let three quarters of the headsail out. Going more or less due north we left The Isles of Scilly behind and set out. It definitely feels like we’re now on our way home. Not sure how I feel about that 🤔. The Atlantic swell was immediately apparent with rolling waves coming from the west. Nothing between here and America! The sea state would probably have been described as slight but That’s not really an accurate description in my opinion…. maybe if you were on a ferry! The sea was pretty blue and the sun shone for several hours. Unfortunately we could see cloudy skies in the distance and eventually we ran out of sunshine. The sea and the skies turned grey which has the immediate effect of seeming more threatening. By now the wind had got up a bit more and was gusting up to 25 knots. Wind strength always undulates rather than staying constant. So probably the average speed was about 20 knots. We were doing an “ on watch” System in pairs. So Sue and Tim were on watch first … one on the helm and one on lookout/ morale support duty! We use the auto pilot most of the time when on long passages. Steering is both energy sapping and difficult in seas like this and The autopilot keeps the boat on course seemingly with little effort. The only downside is that it requires energy to work but Trixie (the windmill) is pretty good at keeping up with charging the battery… but occasionally if the wind’s in the wrong direction, we have to run the engine for half an hour… we did that twice in 135 miles so not bad!. We had delicious proper ( not Ginsters!) Cornish pasties for lunch, that Julian had bought yesterday . The waves were starting to have a lot of white tops and every so often we’d catch one and get wet. It really wasn’t an enjoyable trip. Exhilarating in places? Angelique was brilliant and just kept ploughing on regardless in the big waves. Sometimes being pushed over a bit, sometimes surfing on the tops of the waves which you could feel roaring under you, before they came out on the other side. A real highlight was the companionship of dolphins, at several times during the light hours. Common dolphins with their pale underbellies were jumping and playing in the waves. One must have jumped 10 ft out of the air! We also saw fulmars, gannets, Manx sheer waters and Storm petrels flying so skilfully over the waves, tipping and turning just like tiny fighter jets over the surf. As the evening drew on, the hours passed. About 7 ish Julian cooked up the pasta bolognese that we’d made previously. The motion of the boat downstairs was horrid so very grateful to him! It did make us feel better..and stayed down! The light gradually faded and then it was just black. No moon, no stars. Not even many boats around thank goodness. All you could really see outside the boat was the brightness of the white tops of the waves against the inky Celtic sea. Angelique just crashed on. We were doing well time wise as our average speed was about 7 knots. The gusts at times getting up to 28 knots. Tim and Julian found it okay to rest on the settee downstairs when they were off watch, but Sue and I didn’t want to have to go down there, take clothes off etc, so we just curled up in a foetal position on deck. One of the funniest things I heard was. Conversation between Sue and Tim assessing the positions of several boats around us, at the beginning of his watch. He announced that the one that was most worrying was about an hour away so wasn’t a problem…. To which Sue replied “ great! That’ll be just my watch by then!” Eventually you could see stars and we had sailed into a clear sky. It was chilly too. There were shooting stars and satellites, we saw Venus above and mars rose in the east. we were blessed with a sunrise 🌅 the turquoise and yellow hues gradually taking over the skies in the east . The sea was still rough and we were tired, but the good moments prevail in ones memory. The wind dropped to mid teens and We got into calmer waters as we approached Ireland. It was thankfully flat enough for us to take the main down, having rolled away the headsail and turned the engine on. We radioed ahead but no answer. Not surprising as it was only 7 am. Entering the harbour, it was immediately obvious that there was just a one boat length space in the middle of the pontoon immediately opposite. Definitely a bit of a squeeze between two boats, but the Skipper of Ophir was sooooo helpful. Took our lines and even moved his own boat so that we had enough room. It means a lot when you’re very tired and people are kind and help you.

We were here. A trip up to the HM office revealed all the facilities and a novel way of entering the gate …. by phoning a number. Sometimes it works…. sometimes it doesn’t 😬. We had a sleep. Then we helped a lovely Dutch sailor called Folkert to come alongside and raft up to us. He came on board for coffee and a sandwich and we all talked sailing. We had a guided tour of his boat, a pogo 8,50. Very different type of boat from Angelique…. much more racy, Spartan and vendee globe like. Then we went for an explore of the village and oddly enough ended up having a Guinness or two at Keoghs ! Later our friend Stan arrived having got a plane and a bus, and we went and got fish and chips. 😋

What I learned today….night sailing hasn’t grown on me yet. But the shared experiences with friends, of the ups and the downs are precious memories indeed 🤗

And a WILT from Sue P……….that dolphins always boost morale, but not sure why…. that wave height is not the same as swell height, but makes no difference as it’s still a rough uncomfortable sea…. and I need to get some distance specs; seeing two lights instead of one isn’t helpful for nighttime navigation!

Sue And Sue x.

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