Ardglass, a beer on the marina.

We were greeted by a warm and sunny morning.
I went ashore to have a shower while leaving the engine running to warm the oil as I wanted to do an oil change. I had got a loan of a pump from Jim and planned to do it when I came back.
Unfortunally the pump didn't fit and when I gave it back to Jim, he explained how he did it and I realised I was doing it wrong but I didn't have time to try again and and will try again tonight when we get to Ardglass.

I assisted Jim in leaving the marina at 10.00 and then followed him out.
Unfortunally I broke one of my cardinal rules when single handed. As I was leaving, I didn't wait for sea room and began taking in the fenders while under autopilot in the channel out of the marina and in the middle doing that, I looked forward to see that Eureka had wandered off course and was heading straight for a large metal pole with was embedded in the bottom that marked the edge of the channel.
I just got back to the wheel in time to throw Eureka in reverse and she stopped about 2 meters from the pole before starting to go astern. Phew!

We had a nice beat into a NE wind until we were out of the lough but this disappeared once we reached Copeland Island and turned south to go through Donaghadee Sound, keeping close inshore to avoid the worst of the tide.
On went the engines as we motored south on a mill pond while banks of fog off Strangford caused us to keep a sharp lookout but the sunshine had returned by the time we reached the small harbour of Ardglass at 17.50.

The skipper of a nearby yacht assisted me in berthing and I rewarded the kind gesture with a bottle of cold beer while I had one myself and we sat and had a chat.

After dinner we wandered around the village and before going to bed I carried out the oil and filter change on the engine. No rest for the skipper!Read more