Aleria's Adventures

Fog lifting n Crookhaven We left Crookhaven at a reasonable hour. It had been very foggy in the morning but by 10 am the fog had lifted enough to see islands in the distance. We pulled up anchor just after two small French boats left and headed west. The Dutch boat left just after us and headed east. It was a bit choppy and messy out there. We had hoisted our main and mizzen but not the staysail as Alex thought we'd be sailing into headwinds until Mizzen Head. He was sort of right but once we got past Mizzen Head it was just too lumpy and boisterous to go forward. So we motor sailed the 27 miles at about 8 knots, cutting the time to just under 4 hours. We sailed into the narrow cut using the sector light to guide us. Luckily only one sailboat came out while we were heading in. The wind got stronger and gustier but not a problem as we had put in two reefs expecting the wind to increase. There was a boat anchored close to the channel to the marina and no on one the moorings

Alex at the Fastnet Rock We awoke at 7 am, quickly got on deck and weighed anchor. We had a light westerly breeze and were able to hoist our sails and head out of Kinsale in the morning light. The seas were much calmer than the day before. It was Saturday and we wanted to get as much distance as we could muster. Sunday was forecast to have southerly gale-force winds and heavy rain, so we wanted to be tucked in somewhere safe. Our choices were Glandore, Sherkin Island, or Crookhaven. Glandore was too close so we made a beeline for Sherkin - well it was more of a triangular line as we had to tack to get there, but we were banking on a forecast southerly shift in the airflow which would give us a lift on the port tack. The first few hours were glorious. We were heading out to sea, but it was sunny and we had about a 12-knot breeze. Aleria was happy. Soon the wind started to pick up and we reefed the main. That was a good decision. Almost at Sherkin, Alex made the call that in a s

Ah, that pint of Franciscan Well Rebel Red went down well at O'Sullivan's on the pier. Just one and back to Aleria for dinner. The forecast was for another 24 hours of zero wind (0) so we had a lay day in Crookhaven. Chance to visit the new Marconi museum and signal station!

We'd spent three nights at anchor in Glengarriff we loved it so much. But it was time to move on despite the misty weather. We thought about Schull but there was a strong gale on the way and Schull could be exposed from the South. Better to head to Crookhaven. Exquisitely sheltered from the south and west and south east, we'd be secure in the spacious anchorage and within reach of O'Sullivan's legendary pub.

We were tracking a system which appeared likely to form a gale over Ireland and track to the North. We would have southwesterlies veering to northwesterly. We knew we'd need to find safe harbour for Tuesday night into Wednesday. We had spent plenty of time in Bantry Bay and it was time to move on. At first we thought Schull as we hadn't been there in a long time, but as the forecast developed we realized that Crookhaven would be safer. Schull is open to the south east and any southerly swell might come around Long Island. So Crookhaven it was. Completely protected from the south, north and west, it's an easy harbour to access and hunker down in.