Aleria's Adventures

We finally got Aleria into the water in Kilrush. Quite late but at least she's there. We have loads of work to do before we can bring her home. Run halyards that are stuck, hank on the sails, provision, etc. We brought a lot of stuff down, but not everything we need for the delivery.  We can't do it this week as the folks buying Ross House are here and we need to work with them on stuff. The weather has been ridiculously hot, dry and calm for at least a month. Today is the first rain we've had in ages. They say we are developing a Mediterranean climate. And it's happening fast.  We have interest in her from the broker so hopefully that will come through. She's a bit much for us to handle these days. I'm feeling my birth years and so is Alex.  We got home at 10:30 pm and it was still light. Gotta love this place. 

Jack Sparrow summarized the romance of sailing nicely: "Wherever we want to go, we go. That's what a ship is, you know. It's not just a keel and hull and a deck and sails. That's what a ship needs. But what a ship is... what the Black Pearl really is... is freedom." Except when she's still on the hard.  

In one week, I was contacted by Derrick Thorrington and Barry Kennedy, both Ocean Cruising Club members. Barry was in Galway and wanted to take a bus to Westport to meet up with us, but in the end that fell through. Derrick and Ali had been trying to get to Scotland but strong headwinds - yep NE-lies - caused them to tuck into Clew Bay. The weather was otherwise settled, sunny, and hot which made their visit quite pleasant.  They took a mooring at the sailing club. Then they rode their bikes over to Port Aleria and we showed them around, including a visit to the vineyard and a meeting of the donkeys. We picked some elderflowers so Ali could make her cordial. They kayaked around the islands one day, and then I took them into town to reprovision and take on fuel. It was very nice seeing them again after meeting first in Poole at the OCC AGM.  They finally got a break and headed north, getting a chance to anchor in Keem Bay, lucky them. We've never managed that. They are now in S...

We took the sails and ropes down to Aleria in Kilrush today. Alex got most of the ropes rigged but two halyards refused to go over the sheaves. We got the sails onboard with effort. They get heavier every year.  It was a beautiful day and we were surprised how many boats were still on the hard. For once I took pictures of Steve's boat not ours. A beauty.  We both struggled with age. Knees, sciatica, numb limbs. Just can't do this well anymore. 

  A transition from El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-neutral is expected in the next couple of months, with a greater than 90% chance of El Niño persisting into the Northern Hemisphere winter. El Niño is likely to form during the May-July season and persist into the winter. The combination of a forecasted third westerly wind event in mid-late May, and high levels of above-average oceanic heat content, means that a potentially significant El Niño is on the horizon. While at least a weak El Niño is likely, the range of possibilities at the end of the year (November-January) includes an 80% chance of at least a moderate El Niño to a ~55% chance of a strong El Niño. It is still possible the tropical atmosphere does not couple with the ocean, and El Niño fails to materialize (5-10% chance). In summary, a transition from ENSO-neutral is expected in the next couple of months, with a greater than 90% chance of El Niño persisting into the Northern Hemisphere winter. This discussion is a ...

There is a temperature anomaly over Canada and extending into the Arctic. Temperature anomaly map for the Arctic region for the next 5 days: GFS model guidance. Plenty warm over northern Greenland with temperatures up to ~20 °C higher than the 1979-2000 average! Above average everywhere except N Canada. Map: Climatereanalyzer Very warm, above-average temperatures are occurring over much of Canada today and it's likely to persist for more than a week! #weather #climate  It promted avalanche warnings for the western mountain regions. “The effect of the warm temperatures on the existing snowpack structure means that these avalanches will likely be very large and may run to valley bottoms,” Avalanche Canada said in the warning.

OCC Annual Awards Dinner The OCC 2023 AGM and Awards Dinner weekend was held on the 14th and 15th of April at the RNLI College in Poole, UK. It was highly significant for me for two reasons: 1) I was asked to step in for Bob Shepton as a speaker at the last minute and 2) I was stepping down as Vice Commodore after 12 years of service on the General Committee and Board. I was tired. Time for some new blood. The topic of my talk was Volunteerism and the OCC Pandemic Response. I already had the pandemic response slides in the can as I presented that at the Irish Sailing Conference about a month ago. A piece of cake. As this talk was twice as long as the first, I asked Alex to add some slides about the learnings from the experience. He had slides prepared for the Irish Cruising Club which I did not remember. It was a remarkable story. Alex and I got a standing ovation, which from the OCC members in attendance was very special. I wish Bob Shepton a speedy recovery, but I am grateful to ...