Aleria's Adventures

After several years of limited Arctic passage-making due to Covid restrictions, the Northwest Passage was once more hotly contested this year. It was a difficult year for ice as described by Victor Wejer who assists yachts transiting with ice and weather forecasts. Victor counted eight yachts amongst those successfully completing the passage in 2022.  Maiwenn Beadle, who is the captain of the “pleasure craft” Noorderzon , was apparently the skipper of the first pleasure craft to transit Bellot Strait this year. She has done so remarkably early and may be the first female professional captain to transit the NWP. Noorderzon  is a motor vessel (ex. tug) with some 300-ton displacement and with many paid tourists served by cooks.  The Great White Con blog covers all the known attempts including a small catamaran, a guy on a SUP, a group of kayakers from Texas, and a bunch of rowers, all of whom attempted and withdrew when they realised what they were up against. T he rowers...

The first in-person meeting since Covid locked us down had the Committee members travelling from all corners of the island this past weekend. The weather was changeable but the mood was positive and focused on the long overdue face-to-face discussions. The committee members and their spouses descended on Athlone for a weekend of camaraderie, exploration and serious business.  We congregated first at Sean's, the oldest pub in Ireland, for refreshments and a chance to reacquaint ourselves with fellow members and partners we had not seen in a couple of years. Then on to The Left Bank for victuals and further re-establishment of connections.  The spice entertained themselves on Saturday morning while the Committee members went to work deliberating important decisions about the Club's current affairs and future directions. In the afternoon, Aoife Nolan-Beattie had arranged for a guided tour of the historic town of Athlone on the mighty Shannon River. It was a delightful storytellin...

A weather window of sorts finally appeared this week to bring Aleria down to the Shannon from Clew Bay for her winter rest in Kilrush. Monday we'd have moderate northwesterlies, Tuesday we'd have moderate south-westerlies, increasing to fresh later in the day, and Wednesday we'd have little wind facilitating motoring up the Shannon. Moreover, the tides were favourable at both ends and the currents would carry us in the right direction most of the time.  We departed from our mooring shortly after 0900h and sailed briskly out of Clew Bay. As we approached Clare Island we saw that the weather forecast for Tuesday was deteriorating, with strong SW-lies now being forecast, building steadily through the afternoon and gusting to 40 knots or more around 11-12pm before calming way down. As we were heading SW, we'd have a very bumpy ride at best. Instead, we decided to forego the scheduled stop at Inishbofin and continue straight through to Inishmore where we'd have good prot...