Aleria's Adventures

It was a lovely morning and we were soon underway, thinking we might stop in to Inishmurray if the forecast for a calm day proved true. At this point, it was not. Once again we were soaring up the North Mayo coast in a SE. Then we realized it was almost 70 miles to Killybegs. That's a long day. We'd have to go straight there. We passed inside the Stags on a perfect course heading for Teelin doing more than 9 knots with the current; we couldn't make Killybegs on our current heading as the wind had backed to ESE and we were hard on the wind, trimming sails to the shifts as if in a dinghy. The chop was surprisingly uncomfortable out there. It was going to be a long trip bashing into the waves  on a beat all day.

Killybegs, Donegal, Ireland Last week we had the luck of a weather window and a high spring tide, a good combination of conditions to relaunch Aleria .  She had spent the winter in Killybegs at the Mooney yard. Alex had spent many days servicing and replacing through hull fittings all winter. He found several worrying decay elements -- not surprising given her advancing age. Aleria is 40 years old this year. Although her hull was created in 1994, she wasn't finished and launched until 1996. The machine shop at the yard proved immensely helpful, building several new components, testing metals, advising on replacements and building special tools. Alex couldn't have done it without them.

Crossing Donegal Bay in shades of grey again. (Click on photos to enlarge.) We left the anchorage in the Inishkeas rather late, thinking we would stop in Broadhaven or Killala for the night. But then we came up with the brilliant idea of pushing to get to Teelin and having a another day off to visit Slieve League while we were there. The seas had calmed but there wasn't enough wind to propel Aleria , so we motor sailed up the Mayo coast.