RoRC Report from Great Britain and Ireland
by Roving Rear Commodores Reg & Nicky Barker 14 Dec 2021 10:55 GMT
Like for most cruisers, sailing over the last six months has continued to be constrained by the pandemic. That said, we managed to escape to explore a fabulous cruising area we'd never visited before.
Our last report told of us enjoying the freedom to sail within our small group of islands in the Bailiwick of Guernsey but, even in home waters, we tend to be quite conservative and try to avoid perceived high-risk areas with lots of rocks and strong tides. Avoiding strong tides is easier said than done because the tidal range is up to 9.5 metres (31ft) and the stream can be as much as 7 knots near Alderney. However, the rocky western coast of Guernsey is seldom visited by cruising boats and justifiably so because it can be dangerous in the prevailing southwesterly winds and swell.
John Franklin, our local rocky passage piloting guru, has spent his life exploring the rock-strewn parts of the island's coastline and plotting the transits (ranges). Every now and then, when the tide is right and conditions are settled, he helps cruisers explore these harder to reach areas with a circumnavigation of Guernsey, getting right in between the rocks and far closer inshore than, on the face of it, seems sensible. So we pushed ourselves with some interesting pilotage around the inshore areas of our island home of Guernsey, one of the British Channel Islands.
Late May this year saw a settled period of weather develop with light northeasterly winds and minimal swell; perfect conditions for exploring the west coast. John set up a briefing and organised a circumnavigation for the motorboat section of the Guernsey Yacht Club. Even with our 2-metre draft and potentially slower motoring speed, John was happy to let us join in; one of two sailing yachts that took part. We took along 2 friends who'd lived on the island for years but had never seen the west coast from the vantage point of a sailing yacht.
Whilst many of the motor yachts could have travelled at over 3 times our speed, the island circuit is better done at sailing yacht pace, following the tidal flow as it sweeps anticlockwise around the island. There was even time for a couple of anchor stops for lunch and afternoon tea; very civilised! As part of a small group of boats, it was very tempting to just play 'follow my leader' but we were very conscious of our draft, knowing that we had much less scope for being off track than some of our fellow explorers.
Indeed, this was pilotage the old-fashioned way, lining up carefully identified rocks and features as transits (ranges) to get us safely through the narrow passages, sometimes with rocks just a few feet away from the boat. It was definitely not a time to blindly trust GPS navigation systems as even the small errors that occur in GPS position could be enough to put you on the rocks. So, we had John's pilotage book open throughout, picking out the features and transits from his hand-drawn pictures and diagrams. Depth too was a concern, and we felt our way through very carefully in a couple of places where the electronic chart claimed that there was insufficient water for us to pass. All in all it was a fabulous comfort-zone expanding experience which we will definitely repeat on our own.
Exploring waters close to home was fun but we were both itching to sail further afield too. The relaxation in travel restrictions for vaccinated people within the UK's Common Travel Area (CTA) gave us exactly that opportunity later in the summer. Neither of us had sailed in, or even visited, the Republic of Ireland before and, as a part of the CTA, we decided it was a perfect destination to explore. Even better, the timing for our mini-cruise to Ireland fitted in perfectly with the OCC's West Country Meet.
So, on 19 August, with a 15-knot wind on our beam, we blasted toward Dartmouth in Devon. From untying to mooring up again it took under 10 hours to get there which we were quite pleased with for a 70 nautical mile passage. It was fabulous to be cruising again and our stop in Dartmouth allowed us to catch up with friends we hadn't seen for several years before we set off towards Falmouth and the OCC gathering.
A get-together with like-minded sailors was just like pre-Covid days with only the wearing of facemasks in certain areas a reminder that things are not fully back to normal. The OCC's West Country Meet was the first formal OCC gathering in this area since the beginning of the pandemic and it was a fantastic event. Colin and Bex Campbell led the team that pulled it together and they all did a wonderful job. Starting with formal drinks and dinner in the lovely Royal Cornwall Yacht Club, the next day's event was a relaxed pontoon party tucked up the River Fal towards Truro. Mindy and Reinhart on Rockhopper, a passing OCC yacht, had been unaware of the Meet but were able to join in the fun. The RCYC dinner and subsequent pontoon party were a well-rehearsed format used in previous OCC West Country gatherings but this year an extra day and event were added.
Monday saw us set off on a short cruise in company to the beautiful Helford River where John Head had arranged for us to be hosted by the Helford River Sailing Club. Here we had another excellent dinner, and it was even followed up with a magic show! We felt very lucky to be able to enjoy a large OCC get-together again and the OCC West Country Meet is definitely one to pencil into your diaries. Not least of which because the Falmouth area and southwest of England are a very good cruising ground to explore.
We next pointed Blue Velvet towards the Fastnet Rock. Our original plan had been to arrive in the Republic of Ireland at Crosshaven and visit the Royal Cork Yacht Club (the oldest yacht club in the world, founded in 1720) before sailing west but the unusual weather conditions gave us an easterly wind which we used to gain more westing; our logic being that we'd be able to visit more locations and then return easily when the normal southwesterly winds re-established themselves.
The pandemic travel arrangements were extremely easy to navigate. Completing a Passenger Locator Form online on the day of departure notified the authorities that we would be arriving by private sailing vessel and at which Port of Entry; in our case Bantry. Once at Bantry we visited the Harbour Master and filled out a form at the Customs Office; it was as simple and as painless as that. Masks had to be worn in any indoor spaces except when eating or drinking in a restaurant or bar; we were asked to show proof that we were double vaccinated before being allowed into one pub.
So started a superb month of cruising in the southwest of Ireland. We saw very few cruising yachts, probably partly because it was towards the end of the season, and mostly we had the anchorages to ourselves. The scenery was outstanding with rocky headlands, hills and lush farmland that glowed green when the sun came out; it's no surprise that Ireland is known as the Emerald Isle. There were a couple of days when the cloud came down but for the most part, we were bathed in sunshine; an Indian Summer par excellence!
Our travels in Ireland took us as far north as Dingle and as far east as Cork and throughout we enjoyed a mixture of beautiful remote anchorages interspersed with visiting small towns. Bantry, Dingle and Kinsale were highlights and were crammed with pubs, usually featuring live music, and all radiating Irish charm and friendliness. Our only challenge was the ongoing debate as to whether Guinness or Murphy's is the better stout. A debate that I suspect will continue throughout our next visit.
The prevailing southwesterly winds eventually returned taking us back home with a stop in the Isles of Scilly. We had escaped for 6 weeks, put a further 1100 miles under Blue Velvet's keel, and enjoyed another fabulous cruising area that certainly bears a re-visit in the future.
This article has been provided by the courtesy of Ocean Cruising Club.