A quick sail back to the mainland

A ferry came in at 08.00 but I stayed in the bunk and caught up with the news and read as the weather outside sounded miserable.

We were both up just before 09.00 and had a look outside. The weather sounded much worse down below than it actually was but it was still cold and cloudy.
The fender board did its job during the night but the pier chewed up the ropes tying it to the boat. Wonder what the fenders would have looked like without it?
(Note to self-Get fender board before next season)

Conditions didn’t allow us to visit Inisheer, the smallest of the Aran Islands as there is no harbour and you have to anchor off, so instead we were heading to Rossaveal on the mainland where Jim and Angela were leaving ‘Second Chance’ as they had to return to Cobh for about a week while Brian and I were going to continue onto Sligo where I’d wait until they caught up again.

We had a slow breakfast and I replaced the ropes on the fender board before giving it back to Jim. It was about 10.30 before we got going.
‘Second Chance’ got a head start as we were delayed in the harbour as a ferry entered.
There was a good wind allowing up to have a broad reach and we soon closed up on them and were delighted with our sailing ability until we saw that they had only the genny unfurled while we were under full sail.
We both dropped our sails off Cashla Bay eight miles later and we followed ‘Second Chance’ in.

Pádraic the marine superintendent, was on hand to take our lines on the fine marina in Rossaveal. It’s nice to see our taxes being put to good use.
The marina was doubled in size in recent years and there is another application in to increase it yet again by about 30%.
Facilities ashore had been delayed by covid but were being built while we were there.

Jim had gone to Irish college nearby so he knew his way around and lead us on a walk to Carrarue which looked close enough across the bay from the marina but Angela and I were soon wilting on the 8 km walk as Jim and Brian stepped it out and we tried to keep up.
At least there was a pub at the end of it and we got Chinese takeaways and brought them back to the boat in a taxi and settled in for the night.Read more