Dalkey

Brian & Brenda were dropping in today and we are going for a short sail.
Brian had introduced me to sailing way back in about 1976 in a Vagabond dinghy from Monkstown and despite the fact that he moved to Dublin over twenty years ago, we still sail together on a yearly basis.

They arrived at noon and we set off hoisting the mainsail before we left the harbour. We had a lovely breeze and decided to head towards Dalkey Island where we planned to have lunch before sailing back to Dun Laoghaire.

We had a beat south towards Dalkey and had a good quick voyage.
I got Brian to helm while I took a back seat and kept an eye on the navigation as I hadn't been in this area before.
We went outside Dalkey Island and tacked around the south of the island before dropping the sails.

As we entered Dalkey Sound Maeve thought she saw a man in the water and wanted go over to check if he was ok.
Her eyesight for once was better than mine and it was only when we got closer I saw a man clinging to a waterlogged kayak.
There was a crowd ashore looking at the scene but strangely none had been waving to attract our attention as we motored towards them.

There is a strong tide in the sound and the kayaker was being swept south and out to sea. If Maeve hadn't seen him, he would have been out of sight of the shore in another ten minutes and I doubt he would have been able to hang on for that length of time given the temperature of the water.

I manoeuvred Eureka so that we'd be able to pull him aboard via the stern steps as the sea was calm and made sure the engine was in neutral when we got close. He was very weak from the cold and we had to pull him aboard and then see to his kayak. We soon had him wrapped in towels and the girls were pouring hot drinks down him to warm him up.

It turned out that he had been kayaking along the shore with his dog. The dog got a fright, jumped overboard and headed for the shore. The kayak overturned as a result and he couldn't get it upright or onto it.
What I can't understand is that none of the onlookers had rang the coastguard or waved to us when we got close. We did get a cheer from the onlookers when we had him aboard but nothing beforehand.

Once he had recovered we went as close to Coliemore Harbour as we could and dropped him off in his kayak where he was reunited with his dog.
We then headed back out to Dalkey Island and anchored off it.
Brenda had prepared a lovely lunch but due to the cool breeze we decided to eat in the saloon rather than the cockpit.

We left the main down and just unfurled the genny for the run back.
We passed many of the huge houses on the shore. One even had a crane to lift a rib into a boathouse. No hard labour with a block and tackle for that family.

We tied up on our berth with a bit of help from Jimmy before saying goodbye to Brian & Brenda.
Maeve and I then headed for dinner at friends of ours who live in Dun Laoghaire where we had a late night before returning to Eureka.Read more