Happy Independence Day America!
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| Huge swell combined with cross waves to create a confused sea. |
Pounding around Achill and into Black Sod Bay, County Mayo, Ireland
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Well at least it wasn't a red sky at morning.
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The concert before we left had ended with a fireworks
display reminiscent of American Independence Day. We’d had our fix of oooohs and aahhs and ohwwwsss!
All we could do now was celebrate our independence by setting off and hoping
for the best.
In the morning, despite a threatening looking sunrise, heavy swell and confused
seas, we left Clew Bay and sailed around Achill Island to Black Sod Bay. It was like being in a washing machine,
tumbling every which way off the crests of waves that squared off against a
huge 20 foot ocean swell. Despite 25
knots of wind out of the WNW, we were so closely hauled that we had to power
with the engine on full to make way through the pounding surf around the
imposing headland. The cliffs off Achill
are the highest in all of Europe. The waves bounce off and back at you. You cannot make a mistake here on a lee
shore. It was nail biting and poor Onyx,
who elected to come with us on this trip, got seasick for the first time in many years.
We pulled into Black Sod just after 8 pm and made our way
into quiet Elly Bay. It was a wide open bay surrounded by white sand beaches and no swell! It stays light until
about 11 pm this time of year so we had plenty of light left in the day.
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| Alex motorsailing around Achill. |
Black Sod couldn’t be more different from Clew
Bay. Where Clew Bay has mountains all around, Black Sod has gently rolling low
lying farmlands and lot of beaches. It is far
less rocky and shallower, more sandy. We vowed to come here to explore another time. Perhaps combined with a visit to the Inishkeas just outside the entrance.
Dinner
consisted of pre-cooked chicken, boiled potatoes and salad. Alex continued to
fiddle with the AIS and VHF radio while I cooked. After dinner, sleep came
really easily. We were back in the cradle swinging gently at anchor. We had
both missed that magical sensation. We spent the night with the wind howling in
the rigging, and got up early to press on while the wind continued to blow.
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| Seeing Black Sod open up and the seas calm was welcome. |
Later, we heard from American friends, Vicki and Paul on s/v Nokomis anchored
in Black Sod with whom we were trying to meet up, that a foreign flagged
vessel had sunk just off the Eagle Island lighthouse that day. The crew who had
taken to their liferaft were rescued dramatically by helicopter. Our friends were wondering for days if it
might have been us. Fortunately, it
wasn’t.
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