2nd Report from TANIWANI’s Summer 2002 Cruise:
Today
is Tuesday the 25th of June; Taniwani has just dropped anchor in a tiny fishing
harbour on the island of Innishbofin. The younger crew was right off the boat
and to the pub, to see the soccer match between Germany and Korea. So there is
finally some time to write this second report:
The
last report we sent from a nice little anchorage in Lough Swilly, where we
picked up Felix’s friend Dominic. That same Sunday night, the expected
depression moved in and the coast guard reported force ten winds right at our
shore. We only saw up to 44 knots of wind in our cozy little anchorage, but
certainly didn’t sleep that well with the gusts rattling on our two anchors.
This depression also slowed our progress: We didn’t
even think about leaving our Lough on Monday, and even on Tuesday when we tried
to make it to the next bigger bay, we turned into another shelter after sailing
10 miles with 40 knot gusts and an unhappy crew.
Apparently there was a good pub in that shelter and
the younger crew didn’t show up back at the boat, until well after midnight.
So, on the next day, Wednesday, when we moved on to Sheephaven, the night at the
pub and the still strong winds had their effects on part of the crew.
Sheephaven has beautiful sand beaches. The landscape
definitely beats the Caribbean, but there is significant need to work on the
weather.
By the time the extreme depression
(968mbar) had moved to some place east of Iceland, another not so
extreme, but complex system of depressions had built up to the west and north of
Ireland. So winds never really relaxed and of course, they did come from the
wrong direction.
We
spent a day, Thursday, beating into 25 knots of wind to make it to yet another
Aran Island. Not the one in Scotland where we had been, but one of at least two
with the same name in Ireland. There is a well-protected sound between this
island and the mainland with several small islands giving shelter. Also a small
fishing harbour was only about 2 miles away, quick to reach by dingy to get some
supplies.
Since we had to cross Donegal Bay next, and the wind
was straight against us and still around force six, we decided to stay in this
nice place for another day, (Friday). We bought a big salmon from the local
fishermen and had a great day with great food.
We
started early in the next morning, Saturday, around 4 am, with just Beate and I
quietly leaving the anchorage and starting to head down across Donegal bay. Wind
was still perfectly against our course, but it had gone back into the 10-15 kts
range, given the old swell was still running, we ended up with a mix of
motor-sailing and beating. The 70 miles became a bit more that way, but we still
managed to drop anchor in Broadhaven Bay by 4:30 pm.
Sunday
we had another 50 mile run to the south entrance of an estuary that separates
Achil Island from the mainland. For the first time winds were a bit more
favorable and we could just about lay the course. Nice sailing with impressive
scenery passing by. By the way, for the whole week we had only seen one other
sailboat, but on this Sunday we met two more boats coming up from the south.
At the entrance to the estuary of Achil, we were
received by a group of Dolphins, which played and toyed around our boat, while I
was nervously trying to avoid the sandbanks.
They were following us way in, into only 4 m deep water. Really great to
watch.
In Achil sound the tide runs with 4 kts and the tide
differnce is also around 4 meters. We first tried to keep the boat aligned by
using a kedge anchor, but the strain was too big and we gave in and let her
swing. That went fine for a day, but last evening a sudden shudder went through
the boat and we all thought we had touched ground, despite the echo sounder
reading 4 to 5 meters. We now think that just the chain had come tensioned so
sudden.
The dingy crew also had their experience with tides
when they went out for some shopping near the inner end of the estuary: They
took off near low water and had to carry the dingy quite a way. They were
however smart enough to wait at the pub before attempting to return.
We decided to stay for the Monday in that place and
have our fun watching the lifeboat doing exercises. I also wanted to write this
report yesterday, but when we where wrestling with the tide, I found out that
the bow-thruster didn’t work and fund another distraction for many hours.
Somehow miracously we get water into our forward
locker. The deck hatch looks perfectly watertight and sitting inside and
flooding the hatch, nothing can be seen. Yet, in bad weather we get loads of
water into it and most of it flows through a tube to the main bilge and gets
pumped out, a smaller rest then vaporizes around the solenoids, relays and
switches of the retractable bow-thruster and makes them fail. So I fixed the
electrical problems, but I still don’t understand how the water makes it in
there. Some day I hope to figure this out.
Today,
Tuesday, we were woken early by the tide rattling on our chain, so we left Achil
Sound by 7 and sailed to our current anchorage at Inishbofin.
Inishbofin is a nice and well sheltered bay at a small
island a bit off the shore. The safe entrance channel is very narrow, but well
marked by a leading line from two stone towers.
Once inside we enjoyed watching the local ferry
getting stuck at low water, just a few yards from the yetty.
We need to be in Bantry Bay by Thursday, so that
Dominic can get to his flight on Friday. This means we will either sail all the
way through to Castletown, some 150 miles, or start very early tomorrow morning
and sail till Valentia, some 100 miles and then the rest on Thursday. Depends a
bit on the final forecast.
We will keep you all posted.
Best wishes from the Crew of Taniwani