Adventures on Xiphias

An exercise in planning

I had planned to get from Milford straight to Waterford but speaking to the friendly man in the Windjammer chandler’s at Milford he suggested going to Kilmore as it is the shortest hop. Back at the boat I did some serious plotting and came up with a plan to leave Milford and sail south and west and cross the traffic separation zone. These are zones that big ships are forced by law to follow at pinch points such as Lands End and in the Irish sea, there are two of interest to me. The smalls is a group of islands off the Pembroke coast where the first zone exists and the second is off Rosslare on the SE corner of Ireland. They are nuisance to yachts man for two reasons.

• They must be crossed at right angles regardless of the best course to the destination
• Yachts must not interfere, impede or otherwise bother the shipping, generally true since they are working but in separation zone legally enforced.

The original plan was to go early from Milford and cross the zone and then head towards Kilmore. The plan was working well until I did the tidal plot. The tide would turn against me at 1400 and this plan had the bulk of the Irish sea to cross at that time. My crew, David who had joined me at Milford to assist the crossing pointed out why not go north and then west. I liked this plan better because it enabled me to keep clear of the shipping separation zones and had the bonus of allowing a sneaky head start by anchoring at Skomer Island rather than spending the first hours of the passage plugging out of Milford.

A smooth crossing

We departed Milford at 1015 and motored out to the rolly sea. It was fine and the trip to Skomer required no serious navigation. Once into the Southern Haven the roll reduced and I was able to anchor in 6m of water. The haven  has a great many gulls, puffins and razor bills roosting and nesting on the cliffs. It was like being in an avian auditorium. Seals came and stuck their heads up to look at the interlopers. The tide ebbed and I sat worrying at the closeness of the rocks. With the flood most other boats departed leaving 3 over nighters. I hoisted my riding or anchor light and after a meal of port chops we turned in early ready for the 7am departure. About 1am there was an almighty crash, I shot out of bed, checked the anchor and other boats and all seemed well. It sounded like the rigging. The rest of the night I slept in the saloon fully clothed and checked the situation every hour. There was another crash and we concluded it must have been a bird that had flown into the rig, poor creature. 7am and we up and going heading for the South Bishop Cardinal buoy and the start of the route. The wind was light and from astern which I would normally love but with the passage requiring a steady average of 5kts we had to keep motoring. There was a pleasant interlude for a couple fo hours when we could beam reach but the wind died off again and so on we went.

A welcome to Ireland

Hours later we caught of Ireland and negotiated St Patrick’s Bridge which is a gap in a reef between an offshore island (Little Saltee) and Kilmore. The least depth is 1.5m but with half the tide we were safe enough to approach. Inside the harbour and bit of faffing around with berths and we were made very welcome by Nicky the berthing master. He was curious about why I changed berths and explained that I noticed the one I had chosen already had lines so I didn’t want to take a private berth. “Oh, you needn’t worry about that he’s not launched yet and even if he was he could go somewhere else till your gone.” A much more relaxed attitude to the matter than that experienced in a marina on the south coast of England. Kilmore is tiny place but has a seafood restaurant and pub. We met Nicky later and had a good blether about the state of things from the decline of the fishing industry to the long summer hours he puts in to make sure the boats arrive safe and are welcomed.

David left next day back to London and his niece’s christening, thankyou David, great companionship. The following day I left to Waterford and threaded my way up the winding river to the town quay. It’s a lovely town and in the sunshine everyone is out and about enjoying themselves. Next stop Dungarvan and thence Cork.