Lunar Sea

Arklow to Milford Haven - 8th/9th July, 2019      The original plan was to cross the Irish Sea from Wexford.  I had read and been told that there wasn't much water at the entrance with shifting sandbanks and not very good facilities.  The charts confirmed all this so it meant a long passage of 87 miles and about 17 hours from Arklow.  I had contemplated going on past Wexford and Rosslare to Kilmore a further 15 miles on but thought the extra mileage wasn't any use especially considering that we had an excellent weather window for the overnight crossing to Milford.      To ensure a favourable tidal race off South Bishop rock some 60 miles away it meant leaving just after high water from Arklow.  So that meant a 17:30 departure.  With a course of 157 degrees we would have a Southerly tide for the first 3-4 hours, turning against us for the next 5 hours and then pick it up again once off Bishops Rock and for the entrance to Milford...

Ardglass to Carlingford - 24th June, 2019      It was important to arrive at Carlingford Lough on the flood to make use of the tidal flow and also I didn't want to leave Ardglass near Low Water as there was some shallow depths around.  The 30 mile trip should take about 4 hours so if we left about half ebb tide from Ardglass we should arrive about half the flood tide.  Unfortunately, this called for an early start and we left at 07:20.     We had some heavy swell as we left the calm of Ardglass, causing a lot of rocking and rolling.  The wind was from the North at 10 knots and the increase to 12 knots coincided with an easing of the swell.  The passage from number one Buoy at the entrance to Carlingford Lough, to berthing at Carlingford Marina took just over an hour and unfortunately because of the 'Irish Mist' this time we could only just make out the Mountains of Mourne as we passed.  A shame really as the scenery around the Lough ...

Stranraer to Belfast - 10th June, 2019      08:00 - an early start for us to make use of the tides.  We had the tide up and leaving the Loch Ryan and made really good time.  Originally our destination was Bangor, just into Belfast Lough and a 37 mile crossing of the Irish Sea.  The first half of the Irish Sea itself should be North going tide of just over a knot. Whilst the second half would change to give us a South going tide of over 2 and half knots.  I allowed myself an extra 15 degrees North of the 225 degree course line, but with a Northerly gentle breeze of 10-16 knots we were going too fast to make full use of the predicted South going tide and arrived off Belfast Lough averaging well over 5 knots and as we were going so well made a decision to carry on a further 10 miles to Belfast  We actually got an extra boost from the tide going into Belfast's Victoria Channel and Lunar Sea was purring along at over 7 knots SOG - magic.  Finall...

Preparation       Most of the prep for our second year had already been done two years ago.  Just the starting point was changed, ie Greenock instead of Liverpool, because of change in plans due to weather restrictions - what else!  Also, we decided to have a somewhat shorter time away this year, so two months instead of four.      Lunar Sea had been in the James Watt Dock at Greenock for 21 months.  I had been up every 2 months in that time to check on everything; bilges, engine, ropes, etc., but I must say that the staff at James Watt were really helpful and kept a good eye on the boats. Especially during and after the winter storms when I had a fender burst and a rope parted.  One of many in the Marina I was told and quite rare to have such a storm in the direction it came from (North West).      The summer last year was fantastic for Scotland and in the 3 separate week sailing holidays we had out of Greenock, I ...