Aleria returns home

- August 07, 2021

Leaving Kilrush at 0530h.

We brought Aleria home from Kilrush over the past few days. We drove down Tuesday, hanked on the sails, provisioned, fill the tanks with water and fuel, cleaned up, then had a nice dinner aboard and early to sleep. Left at dawn to catch the tide, rounded Loop Head with the tide pushing us at about 8 knots, then motored in flat calm arriving in Inishbofin 12 hours later, bypassing Inishmore to take advantage of the calm weather as the forecast was dire for the next day.

We had gale force SE winds and torrential rain overnight but were well protected in Bofin Harbour. The next morning, with near gale and torrential rain forecast, we set out in flat calm and sunshine. There were rain showers all around us but we maintained a personal weather bubble. As it turned out, we were motoring along in the eye of the low-pressure system and arrived exactly at the right time to catch the incoming tide at the half. As we secured the boat on the mooring and got all our stuff home, the rain started.

And, a miracle: two friends from Mayo Sailing Club happened to bring their boat to Kilrush for repairs and were returning home the next day. They offered to drive our car home! We met them in Rosmoney 2 hours after arriving home. They spared us the need to drive a total of 6 hours to retrieve the car. What good fortune!

Basking sharks

I forgot to mention that we saw two pods of basking sharks, one of the sharks passed right near the boat and I could make out his entire body underwater. Both pods had young and mature sharks in them, numbering 4-6. We'd never seen more than one at a time before. We also saw scores of dolphins in a feeding frenzy, others jumping for joy, and a couple of bewildered seals far from land. No whales, but we did smell whale breath and Alex saw a spout.

I started this post the night before we were to drive down to Kilrush in County Clare to sail Aleria home to Mayo for the first time in almost two years. That day, I had major traumatic news on several counts. On the first count, my brother is entering end of life hospice care for cancer. On count two, my cousin has subacute thyroid disease. On count three, I am awaiting the results of lab tests to tell me if I have type 2 diabetes, which symptoms are pointing to. It was a stressful day, to say the least.

I was thinking about my brother, who I love and understand when few people do. Like me, he is an introvert, but he is extreme. I am moderate in comparison. He's had cancer for three years and we always knew this day was coming but when it comes, it's always too real. He refuses to see any of us and there will be no funeral.

I was thinking about my cousin bedridden for weeks with thyroid issues that will take her through the extremes from hyperthyroidism to hypothyroidism. Not a joy ride, but at least it will resolve itself.

And I was thinking about myself dealing with diabetes which my father had later in life. It all made me miserable. (The tests were negative so I'm off the hook for now.) As we motored down the Shannon, my stomach tied itself in unmanageable knots, gag reflex strong, indicating severe anxiety. Thankfully, wind was with tide so the waters weren't too churned up, which can happen easily on the Shannon.

I wasn't sure how well I'd do on the delivery, which I was stressing about having not been to sea for two years. But being at sea proved therapeutic. Suddenly, magically, the anxiety dissipated. Blue did the trick. Watching the skies around us, seeing the wildlife, and reading Lovelock's Novacene in one sitting did the trick. Life took on its rhythm and moved on.

Interestingly, neither of us has our sealegs anymore, and we'd lost our routines, temporarily. Things like snubbers were at first forgotten, then remembered. We'd forgotten our inflatable life jackets at home. Fortunately, we had offshore lifejackets on board. It was an interesting trip. And everything we needed to get home worked! We even had hot showers in Bofin.

I cannot wait to sail our local waters. I miss all the islands of Mayo and Galway. I hope we can find the time to visit them all.