Aleria's Adventures

Slieve Donard coming down to the Irish Sea Victorian Hotel amidst dunes The ICC Committee hold their meetings in different regions of the country once a year. This year it was held in Northern Ireland. County Down is just across the border from the Republic. We hardly even noticed except that there were immediately signs for fireworks which you cannot buy in the south. We were heading for Newcastle in the Mourne Mountains on the sea.  The resort we stayed in wasn't anything extraordinary but the town of Newcastle was surprisingly beautiful. A waterfront promenade along the expansive beach. At one end lay Slieve Donard and at the other end dunes that stretch to the horizon. In between, the Irish Sea with beautiful sunshine glistening in the ripples.  The town itself was quite lovely and the people were very friendly. We had lunch in town and then drove out to visit the Annesley Garden tree trail at Castlewellen. The Castle itself is owned by some religious order and used as a retrea

After several days of blustery wet weather, it calmed down today. It's the second day of 18C temps, too. So I took the opportunity to wash the two sail covers. It is a real relief to have the room to stretch out all these items. It makes such chores bearable, although I'd really prefer to move on to a smaller boat.  I also made an appointment to have our PFDs serviced. We had them in the car and when Alex pulled mine, the cord got caught on the seat and the PFD inflated. It held the air for two days which was very reassuring.  Although it was difficult to put on inflated, I managed and found it to be quite comfortable. We will drop off both of our PFDs at the Chandlery in Galway for inspection. Our lives are worth it. 

  The main sail  This year, we finally got our big shed built. It kept growing in size, but it's already getting smaller every day as we fill it with stuff from the house, the garage, and the boat. One thing is for certain, having the space to do things properly, makes it so much easier.  Take, for example, flaking our sails. We have done this on the deck of our boat, on narrow docks, on the lawn, on the driveway, none of which was ideal. The first two invariably resulted in very large unwieldy packages that often had to be stuffed into their sail bags. This year, we took the batten out and just dumped the sails into the trailer in Kilrush. We brought them home in that sad state.  Today, we flaked our main and mizzen in the shed. We swept the floor first and then were able to stretch the sails out, check them for wear, and clean out any flies or bugs. Then we flaked them in record time and in record order into small packages that fit easily into their bags.  The mizzen flaked and r

We launched Aleria in the spring, got the sails on, and never got a chance to actually sail this year. About a week later, Alex was stung by many bees and developed anaphylaxis. Luckily I had made him get an Epipen as soon as he started keeping bees. I injected the dose of epinephrine just in the nick of time -- as he became incoherent, had trouble breathing, and was passing out.  Fortunately, he revived and I observed him for the next several hours with a second dose to hand, but he fared okay. It did, however, take him about 4-6 weeks to get back to normal. Brain fog, inability to concentrate, and physical exhaustion just stayed with him. But I am glad he stayed with me. By then the weather had turned for the worst and stayed that way. Rain and more rain. Contrary winds. No weather window to bring Aleria home and no place to really sail on the Shannon. Apparently, we weren't alone -- some 86% of boats in Kilrush Marina never went out this year at all. Most had planned sailing ho

We have not done any sailing this year. Aleria is in the water in Kilrush but we have not gotten there. The weather has been pretty miserable all of July and August is not faring any better. July was the wettest July on record, four times wetter than last year. And it's been cool. May and June were hot and dry, July and August are wet and cool. Despite the North Atlantic being warmer (4C warmer off Ireland), we've had no hurricane activity since Don mid-July. Nevertheless, NOAA and others are predicted a more active hurricane season than normal for 2023.  What's happening around the world is actually quite scary as climate breakdown is obvious now. Last week, a firestorm on Maui fanned by Hurricane Dora which is now a typhoon, destroyed Lahaina and its harbour. I so remember sitting at a restaurant sipping a cocktail and enjoying the buzz of the historic town in the 1980s. Walking over to the harbour and oggling the schooners and other classic yachts and imagining sailing