Aleria's Adventures

Our return journey was easy. A few hours back to Bofin, then a few hours back into Clew Bay with a stopover to await the await the tide.  The sail over to Bofin was pleasant enough. We had mostly westerly winds. It was still chilly but at least not wet. We managed to avoid most of the rain showers surrounding us. Several visits by porpoises made it exciting. Sadly no basking sharks, dolphins, or whales.  I really appreciated it being uneventful.  We arrived at Bofin well before dinner time, picked up the ferry mooring which we've been offered by the ferry captain, and decided shore leave was in order, this time to Day's pub. We ordered drinks and I had pizza while Alex ordered the obligatory burger. Who walks in but our neighbour and friend Boru Dowthwaite? He was helping to bring X-rated home from WIORA in Kilrush. What a nice surprise! The music was a stage performance of  '70s country rock so that was good. The place was full on and the staff was working hard mid-...

Alex and I were back to double-handing from Inishturk to Inishbofin as James had abandoned ship in Turk, opting to ride back to Clew Bay with Jarlath and John aboard Nimrod. Our sail to Bofin was quite nice despite the wind being southerly as we headed south.  Our dinner on Bofin was scheduled for Murray's Doonmore Hotel Bar and Restaurant. We had ordered a water taxi which was fortunate as conditions that evening were to be a bit boisterous. The ferry captain's son, Charlie, was our driver. He had a brand new boat that was perfect for the task and another friend assisted people in boarding and disembarking. What a nice young man he is, and a very pleasant and informative skipper.  We walked up to the hotel early as our dinner was scheduled for 6 pm. We convened for drinks at the bar, met up with some new attendees arriving by land, and then shifted to the event room at the back of the hotel, which is a labyrinth of corridors leading every which way. We occupied several tables...

Aleria in Kilrush We launched Aleria mid-May but several things delayed bringing her home.  For one, we had her brightwork redone and to do so they removed all the hardware but failed to reinstall it. So when we tried to install the spray hood, we realised there were no fittings. We had to acquire and install a new rail which, fortunately, our sail maker in Galway had enough of in stock to supply us. The snaps are still missing.  Then we had an engine problem. It kept stalling and we couldn't find the spare Racor filters. So we had to order new ones, treat the fuel with diesel bug killer, and then polish the fuel which took a couple more days. It worked! Finally, we were ready to depart from Kilrush. We arrived Saturday, the first day without gale-force winds. It was hot. Never mind that the airflow was going to be northerly for several days which would see us either motoring north or bashing into headwinds, we were taking off. Check and check. I provisioned while Alex inst...