Sea Journeys

Dublin to Ardglass

(this blog was written by Richard...)

The plan was for a 7.30 am start from Dun Laoghaire. At 6.30 (unbelievable but true) Richard and Jane staggered out to Paul's berth in their nightwear to discover the Skipper's plans for the day. Bizarrely the three were also met by a fully kitted Carol raring to go. If only to irritate Carol we were immediately sent back to bed, which also drew a grateful smacker (in fairness her words were "a delicate kiss") from Jane. Or so Paul thinks... Quite out of character, Willik slept through the whole process.

A leisurely start to the day followed. The youngsters revealed yet more generosity buying a present for Paul in thanks for the lie-in - and how gratefully it was received - while Willik and Carol were found tucking into yet another medicinal Guiness. An 8 pm departure meant another night sail, and in a rare moment of seriousness, it must be said that the stars were absolutely incredible, with the boat serenely sailing the path of the Milky Way. Carol gave an excellent lesson on naming stars,Paul a masterclass on radar and Willik an exhibition in sound sleep.        Again.

Early arrival at Ardglass heralded a quick brew and a couple of hours kip. As others snored away, Richard lept into action at what he does best - bacon, eggs, sausages and mugs of tea - with the able assistance of "best butterer-up" Jane. As there was no dinner gong to rouse the dozing crew, Richard decided to perform a functional test of all three smoke alarms (which he would like to point out is the inevitable consequence of a Skipper demanding his sausage and bacon be charred beyond recognition before reaching the plate) much to the cheery delight of all on board. It was then time for some serious contemplation of life (otherwise known as sleep). Willik boldly led the way.

Dublin

Arrived in Dun Laoghaire (Dublin Marina) late on Friday. None of us had been washing for 3 days leading to an olefactory delight on board. We were greeted by an "amenities barge" - more enthusiastically received by some of our crew than the Honeymoon suite at the Savoy(it even had hairdryers!). Despite the lateness of arrival, a bottle o or two of Chablis was called for to celebrate our epic crossing ( or so it seemd to us) and then we were all out for the count.

Saturday began with a delightful 3 hour laundrette session for Jane, Claudia and Richard... whilst we (Willik, Carol and David) blagged our way into the Royal Irish Yacht Club and reclined on the terrace with fine food and a pint (or several in Willick's case) of the black stuff.   In years to come the RIYC will doubtless be proudly showing off the entries to the Guest Book detailing when Frangi came to visit.

I had an appointment with an Irishman.. no, not of the salacious kind, but to view a Bowman Rival 41, for sale in Dun Laoghaire.  A good perusal of the boat and then we had a sail round Dublin bay.  Much to my surprise, Xavantes went like a rocket compared to Frangi- a much nicer sail despite some fierce gusts. One to keep on the long list.  Another visit to the Royal Irish yacht club followed with aforesaid irishman to chat at length about boats and sailing and trainign etc.

Meanwhile, Willik then staggered into Dublin town centre to join "the youngsters" (as they called themselves). The remainder of this blog is culled from their account of their exploits!

Dublin it has been claimed is home to several fine watering holes, and the "youngsters" set themselves a challenge to visit as many as possible. Sadly "the ladies" got confused and found themselves sat in a cinema for two hours staring at Matt Damon. Fortunately Richard and Willik picked up the gauntlet and sampled many a light ale in establishments as varied as quaint old Irish pubs to Willik (and later Claudia's) personal favourite, the insanely tacky ThunderRock Cafe. All allegations of visits to salubrious venues have not been substantiated.

Two soon became five as Claudia and Jane's return was accompanied by the Skipper's presence (who just happened to be near Dublin Publand  at the time - coincidence?). Pleasingly Willik's success at beating through the Hen-Dos to get to the bar was matched by his credit card's success once there (more on that to follow...) and before we knew it tequilas were in hand and it's fair to say some were feeling the effects. As Paul departed to prevent dereliction of duty lawsuits, four stumbled back to the House of Tack (ThunderRock) for more grub and a beer. Strangely they weren't awarded a discount for Claudia and Willik's dancing in the queue (well, it kept us amused). Richard and Claudia's impromptu post-dinner dancing resembled a cross between NightFever and Strictly Come Dancing. After slight payment issues (5 failed card attempts, a conversation with the manager and somewhat dishonourable scrounging off the girls) which seem less surprising the more we learn of the shady past of one of our crew (something about tax avoidance, police escorts out of the UK, Ronnie Biggs and front page news in The Sun - best not to ask questions, in contrast to our approach),  a taxi ride back to Frangi courtesy of Ben from Nigeria - and a brief refuelling stop for Willik's lungs - followed.

Falmouth to Dun Laoghaire

We left as planned from Falmouth on Wednesday evening at 11.00pm, aiming to get to the south coast of Ireland by the early hours of friday morning. The best laid plans.....

All went well at first. Leaving Falmouth at night was exciting for those of our crew who hadn´t sailed at night  before,identifying lights and boats and how to helm using compass, stars and wind direction as clues for  the course to steer. Once past the Lizard we met headwinds and rougher seas, and had to start tacking.

Still pleasant, especially on the starboard tack, where sailing down the path of the milky way was just magnificent (problem was that this was the direction to Spain)

As we travelled further towards Lands End the sea state worsened as did the faces of two of our crew and the amount of diced carrots on the side decks. By 5am it was proving impossible to make headway – despite Volvo assist, we were making barely two knots against the wind and sea in the direction of Lands end (Spain would have been easier)and Frangi was bouncing about like a cork (as were the crew´s stomachs).Paul decided that we would take refuge in Newlyn where we squeezed Frangi into a very small berth and hoped that we would not be evicted by fishing boats whilst we rested for six hours waiting for favourable tides and a forecast shift in the wind direction.

We set off again at noon.The ten miles to Lands End seemed to take an eternity, still battling against wind and sea state, but in daylight things looked brighter.. made even better by seeing several basking sharks including what looked like a family group of six or so swimming lazily right round Frangi with their mouths gaping feeding on plankton.

We finally rounded Lands End about 3.30pm and looked forward to a glorious trip up to IrelandTimes New Roman on a beam reach. Hmmmm. How come the wind was still on the nose then? It was supposed to gradually back to the west and then south west, but instead if anything it veered towards northwest - the direction we were going. Close hauled, we headed northwards... towards Wales... NOT the plan! Paul kept saying that the wind was about to change, but after several hours and going into another night we realised we were not going to make the south coast of Ireland (having narrowly missed "The Smalls" off the west of wales) and instead decided to head directly for Dublin.,

The wind stubbornly refused to shift to the forecast SW, so yet more hours of beating up into wind (Is this going to be the first "Around Britain" done with wind consistently on the nose?). Dolphins came and went, including a family of five with a baby and a group of three who swam along with the boat for quite some time, duly filmed by our budding David Bailey. A turtle came to visit along with numerous Gannets and Shearwaters and lots of other ... errr .. birds (bird book needed!). Rainbows came and went, but the wind continued its relentless blow from the North.
We arrived just before midnight  at Dun Laoghaire marina. We are still recovering...

Falmouth to... Falmouth

Yesterday was a mad dash from Plymouth to Falmouth just in time to avoid the massive gales that have crippled this years Fastnet. The newbies, Richard and Claudia managed to restrain their domestic disputes to make a bit of time to learn knots, and log book logistics. We exercised our over zealous imaginations about the intentions of low flying aircraft and were amazed by Dave's helming abilities which he managed to convince us was a technique designed to shake off the surveillance of unfriendly U boats in the area. To top it all we even managed to enjoy playing a range of drinking games using only Stugeron as a mild opiate.

On arrival Skip Paul escaped to the supermarket and returned with the entire contents of the shop in the back of a taxi. He claimed as we unpacked that he would be able to cook 18 different meals with the ingredients without repeating a single recipe. Apparently the 18 different jars of uncle bens sauces do not count...this trip is going to be a gastronomical heaven!!! Unfortunately Paul was unable to find our Norwegian crew mates essential ingredient - a sheeps head which when smoked is apparently a divine delicacy. Most of us have managed to get over this devastating set back!

With the gales raging outside the harbour walls, several of the crew  engaged themselves in some much needed retail therapy, whilst I went Boaty shopping. After a call to Red Ensign,  a quick trip to the Rustler factory to look at a Rustler 36 and a Bowman 40, followed bya chat to a person who turned out to be the boss of Rustler.  Joy of joys.. he arranged for us to sneak onto a Rustler 42 berthed in the marina, so I indulged my fantasies of finding one for sale at a reasonable price (some hope!)

Back on Frangi, we gawped at the state of crew and boats creeping back bedraggled and dejected from the Fastnet race. A few of us have made phone calls home about being in a gale without actually disclosing the fact that you can be in a gale whilst safely tide up along side a trusted pontoon! Still, what fun is life without a little creative interpretation of the truth?

We are planning to leave at 11pm Wednesday evening on a night crossing to Ireland so will be back in blog land Thursday afternoon at the earliest.

Sailing around Britain- days 1&2

I set off yesterday on my journey around Britain on board a Hallberg Rassy 49: "Frangi", with 5 other crew and Paul our skipper. All aimed at gaining experience of living on board, and hopefully  experience of a wider range of weather conditions than I've had sailing until now.

We're managing to post, even though at sea, courtesy of a wizzo Norwegian computer connection now on board Frangi.. no, we have not diverted up the North Sea, but we have the amazing Willik "the mobile" on board, who, incidentally, has offered to cook us smoked sheeps head - whole - eat the eyes first.. We seem to have suddenly developed a crew with rampant seasickness...

Just right now, we're sitting in Queen Mary's Battery, Plymouth, contemplating our " Around Falmouth Sailing holiday". Or whether we'll need to do a "Donald Crowhurst" and write a blog explaining how we crossed the Celtic sea to SW Ireland whilst we're actually in a bar in Falmouth looking despondently at synoptic charts showing, as our skipper says, Zebra's backsides across the western approaches and celtic sea for most of the rest of the week. We're off to Falmouth  tomorrow before the forecast gale force winds arrive, and will stay there if necessary, practising how to get round the cabin without touching the floor (its the PE teacher influence).

Still, all is well, so far - a good trip down to Plymouth on a lovely sunny day with calm seas and a good F4 wind, accompanied by Dolphins. Claudia and Richard learned how to helm, and the rest of us reminded ourselves of how little we knew. Oh and the very strenous button-püshing exercises to reef in the headsail and main! As the F4 was coming from the west, we were beating against the wind for most of the time, and we had lots of tacking práctice, and learned yet another set of commands for tacking. Is it "Ready about", "Helm's a Lee", Lee Ho" Or is it "let fly"... NOOOO says Paul our skipper - "I have to beat the dinghy sailing out of you".... its " Ready about" "Helms to lee" and "Let draw". And if we get it wrong, we are going to practice MOB, and the use of the Jon bouy for real.

The crew for the first fortnight is: Richard who claims to be a poor teacher but is from Chelsea (we've had a hell of a job getting his BMW tractor on the foredeck), Claudia who has very strong hands and won't explain why, Jane the wardrobe mistress, Willik, "the mobile", our norwegian colleague who is running his international business from the boat, Carol (who is perfection personified but she is writing this) and David (it's always the quiet ones). Not to mention, of course, our veritable, amazing, handsome, witty, highly educated, yachtmaster extraordinaire, Paul our skipper (well, our life is in his hands!!!). He did cook us a great supper though.

More from us tomorrow.