Burtonport

On Tuesday the weather had improved enough to head to Burtonport.
It began raining again soon after we left at 07.50 and we had no shortage of wind.

I felt the wind might get stronger so before passing Rathlin O’Birne, off the western tip of Donegal, I put a reef in the main and once we were heading north I unfurled the genny but only as far as the shrouds, ‘Eureka’ took off and passed ‘Second Chance’.
The decks took on some water and while the rain eased but never stopped totally until shortly before we reached Burtonport.

We used the southern entrance between Aran Island and the mainland to enter the bay but Jim then suggested the Rutland South Channel rather than the main channel to enter the harbour.
Hmm, Jim is living on the wild side I thought so I had another look at the sailing directions and decided to go for it with ‘Second Chance’ following.
It turned out not to be as tricky as it looked on the chart but a following fishing boat said it was the first time he had seen a yacht using the southern channel.
A pat on the back for Jim.

I dropped the sails and motored carefully into the harbour where I was asked if I could wait until a fishing boat tied up and then I could tie up to them.
No problem, it’s always a good idea to keep the locals happy.

I passed the information to Jim as I wanted to raft up outside ‘Second Chance’
Eventually we were all secure and were later joined by ‘Lady Belle’ a Dungarvan yacht whose crew were known to Jim which was also going around Ireland but a lot faster than we were doing. In fact they have been known to go around a few times per season.

Jim and I went for a walk but everything was closed except for a local shop up on the main road.
We passed a large ruin which I later discovered had been a coast guard station.
Burtonport was deserted but looked like a nice place to visit, with a hotel, a restaurant or two and a coffee shop, but just not during covid.

When we got back to the harbour we discovered that another yacht had come in and rafted up to us.
It was the 'Lady Belle' an aluminium yacht from Dungarvan. Jim knew the crew.
It seems the skipper can go around a few times each season!

I had hoped to pick up a new crewmate but unfortunally things didn’t work out so it looked like that I’d be solo until I got back to Cobh so Angela and Jim had kindly decided that from now on, that I’d join them for dinner from now on rather than having me eat on my own.Read more