Aleria's Adventures

Wishing everyone a peaceful yet exciting New Year!

What Dunguaire Castle in Kinvara might look like in the sun. (Wikimedia) (Cinn Mhara) During winter in Ireland we take the opportunity to explore places we might not get to otherwise by boat.  The exception is when the western contingent of Irish Cruising Club, of which Alex is a member,  hosts a Christmas luncheon in some lovely seaside location that gives us a chance to scout it out by land before coming by boat.

By Daria Blackwell Stuck for a last minute gift idea? There’s still time to order these items and have them delivered in time for Christmas. Of course you can always order a copy of Happy Hooking - The Art of Anchoring by yours truly.   But as so many people already have it, we thought we’d give you a few more ideas.    10. Dry Bag ($14.95-209) Every sailor needs a dry bag for those dinghy rides to shore with laptop in tow. SealLine Dry Bags are the best, but I have to say that the ones we bought at Lidl for €10 have lasted for years.   They come in different colours, sizes and purposes so everyone aboard can choose a different one to keep them straight.  

Lack of unsupervised play is hurting our children An article in Psychology Today caught my attention. Dr. Peter Gray, commenting on a study which showed that anxiety and depression have been steadily increasing among our youth, suggested that the absence of play in childhood is at the root. This thought resonated with me. It took me back to an article I wrote a few months ago about the sailing programs driving kids out of sailing. 

On approach to Killybegs Lighthouse on Rotten Island We needed to haul Aleria this year for several maintenance chores and bottom paint. The best option was to sail north to Killybegs in Donegal, one of the most important fishing ports in all of Europe.   The quote we received for haul out and storage from the boatyard there was quite reasonable. Our only concern was that we had heard that Killybegs might not be yacht friendly.  We had stopped in Teelin along the way then set sail for the short passage to Killybegs. It's only about 18 km or 10 nautical miles between the two. The approach is straightforward. The coastline is very interesting. The weather was cooperating. We noted the marine farm in Bruckless Harbour on the approach. The lighthouse on Rotten Island was where expected and we turned to port to enter the harbour surrounded by hills.

Crossing Donegal Bay in shades of grey again. (Click on photos to enlarge.) We left the anchorage in the Inishkeas rather late, thinking we would stop in Broadhaven or Killala for the night. But then we came up with the brilliant idea of pushing to get to Teelin and having a another day off to visit Slieve League while we were there. The seas had calmed but there wasn't enough wind to propel Aleria , so we motor sailed up the Mayo coast. 

Departing Clew Bay on the morning tide. (Click on photos to enlarge.) Confused seas off Achill Head. On a beautiful Thursday morning in mid-October, we departed from Clew Bay on the outgoing tide. High tide was at 8 am and we needed to get out early to make the 50-mile trip to the Inishkeas. The sky turned an amazing purple, with the morning sunrise breaking through heavily overcast skies. The weather in Ireland had been miserable all summer, but October proved spectacular. Very little rain, not too windy, and not too cold. This morning, the forecast was for clearing skies and light winds in the morning, with wind dying out in the afternoon.