Aleria's Adventures

Sailing past the Blasket Islands - eerie! The Small Craft Warnings (SCW) were indicating the potential for gale force winds on Thursday,  beginning later Wednesday night. The winds and seas would be higher farther south and the temperatures warmer and the weather fairer farther north. Our choices were to head out from Valentia and get as far as the Shannon River and pull into Kilrush, a locked marina, which was about 60 NM or head to Inishmore which was about 75 NM distant. Inishmore in the Aran Islands off Galway Bay could be exposed to the east but should be good in southeasterly wind and swell. If Inishmore was too exposed, we could sail across to Cashla Bay and tie up at the small craft harbour in Rossaveal. We could reach the first decision as we approached Loop Head whether to turn up the Shannon. But Kilrush is 20 NM up the river, and 20 NM back down, adding 40 NM to our total trip. Inishmore was a straight shot. We could choose to continue to Cashla if Inishmore...

Leaving Bere Island in cool misty but windy conditions We spent a reasonably calm evening at Bere Island but decided to press on to Valentia in the morning despite a continued small craft warning (SCW). The SCW was for SE winds of F5-6. Aleria loves those conditions. The day before it was for SW winds F5-6, increasing to 7 for a time and we did okay. Right from the beginning, this trip took a turn from a being a cruise to being a delivery. I don't think we've really done that before. Perhaps only the first trip up from the Chesapeake to Long Island Sound when we first bought Aleria.  Interesting - I wonder what has changed. We raised the sails inside Bere Island then sailed through the cut at Ardnakinna Point, which was not easy as the seas were pretty big outside and nasty in the cut, but it saved us 2.5 miles in and 2.5 back out around the back of Bere Island. It was about 15 miles out past the end of the Beara Peninsula and we motor sailed that part while refrigera...

Fog lifting n Crookhaven We left Crookhaven at a reasonable hour. It had been very foggy in the morning but by 10 am the fog had lifted enough to see islands in the distance. We pulled up anchor just after two small French boats left and headed west. The Dutch boat left just after us and headed east. It was a bit choppy and messy out there. We had hoisted our main and mizzen but not the staysail as Alex thought we'd be sailing into headwinds until Mizzen Head. He was sort of right but once we got past Mizzen Head it was just too lumpy and boisterous to go forward. So we motor sailed the 27 miles at about 8 knots, cutting the time to just under 4 hours. We sailed into the narrow cut using the sector light to guide us. Luckily only one sailboat came out while we were heading in. The wind got stronger and gustier but not a problem as we had put in two reefs expecting the wind to increase. There was a boat anchored close to the channel to the marina and no on one the moorings ...