Adventures on Xiphias

Trouble with the USB cable

A couple of commentators have remarked on the lack of pictures recently. Due to a technical fault, a bust USB cable I wasn’t able to load pictures on the PC and thence the blog. That’s now sorted, I got another cable and threw the soldering iron overboard! Here are some shots of the journey and some reflections of what I learnt on the way.

Dingle, Tralee and County Kerry

Xiphias straining her moorings

I spent a week at Dingle waiting for the weather to clear. Either the wind was Force 6 or the

A source of great literature.

visibility was 100ft. I have never known a place to have continuous rain for a week, other than growing up in Swansea. I tried to make the most of the time there and managed a couple of tourist tours. My mother was born in Dingle so it was strange to wander around the town she would have known as a girl.

Visiting my aunt was interesting, I heard the same stories my mother told when I was young, told now with a different voice. The different perspective was enlightening, a family struggling with personal tragedy in the background of a newly independent Ireland struggling to assert its identity.

Tralee and Fenit

Yacht racing, no matter the weather

I’ve commented before how the Irish sailing clubs are very active. Here the Tralee yacht club are sailing out into the bay, regardless. It was another day that I thought better of sailing, waiting for the forecasters to relent on the occasional Force 6. These folk were determined to enjoy their sailing. The club also runs a sailing school for youngsters to start with dinghies. Good for them! I was joined at Tralee by my friend Bill, like me, he learnt in the school of strong blows, if the forecast is Force or more either leave harbour or have a nice day. The photo shows the boats sailing in the protected bay. The Atlantic swell was running at 5m!

Escape to the Aran Islands

When we got away Bill had to rediscover his sea legs. I had already been in the swells and was accustomed to the

Hundreds of feet high the cliffs rebutt the sea

long rollers with a the short chop on top. We ran, sailing with the wind behind us across the yawning gap of the Shannon, skipping the mighty Clare coast. I would have liked to have visited the ports on the Shannon river but they are miles upstream and would have added a week to the schedule, assuming the weather would let me out again. The mighty coast of Clare with its huge limestone cliffs would have been great, if the visibility was more than 5 miles. As the Irish cruising club sailing directions put it. The magnificent cliffs are best admired from a distance by sailing yachts.

Tha Aran islands are an astonishing place, tilted so the hard rock faces the Atlantic with the lower and fertile ground facing the Irish mainland. A honey pot of tourism the islanders have made the most of their resources, providing summer schools in Gaelic, pony and traps for the idle and infirm trippers and cycles for those who want their independent transport. The fields are tiny surrounded with stone walls but no gates. When the farmer wishes to move stock in or out he simply pulls down some stones and builds them up again when the animals are moved.

The long trudge north

Portrush,NI. The fist time alongside since leaving Tralee

I can’t say a lot about Clare island, Blacksod bay, Broadhaven or Teelin. The weather was so dank that I hardly saw any of them. The cloud rarely raised above 100ft and the visibility was rarely greater than  2miles. I then visited Loch Swilly which has become a holiday home refuge,  not a cove or bay being not overlooked by the ubiquitous bungalows.

Portrush, my only stop in Northern Ireland, is a typical seaside town struggling to make its way. I took the opportunity to visit Derry/LondonDerry which is doing its utmost to become a modern vibrant European university city. Alas, the day I visited a bomb had been placed outside the city police station.

Would I do it again?

No! Like walking up a Volcano, one only has to do it once. I would go to the Southwest of Ireland again, but the Atlantic coast is attractive only to the most intrepid, who seemed to be French sailing Ovni designed aluminium boats. I wonder if that coast is more attractive when the sun shines, the winds are gentle and swell less than 2m?