County Waterford

Brian of course was up and about early even before the skipper was even thinking about getting up.
Eventually I moved and we both headed for the showers and then back to Eureka for breakfast.
It was nice and sunny and warming up very nicely. All was looking good for our last day. We're hoping to be tied up in East Ferry this evening.

We left the harbour at 10.00 and found outside that there was less wind there than in the shelter of the harbour.
The forecast was for light Easterly winds near the coast between Dungarvan and Cork so I decided to stay offshore hoping they would be stronger winds away from the coast.

We were more or less on a run which Eureka doesn't like in light winds so we had to make a course further south than we'd have liked in order to keep the sails full. In the afternoon the wind changed direction a little which allowed a more westerly course.
Most of the time we were only making 3 to 4 knots but in the right general direction.

At 15.30 I decided to close on the coast as we were about 15 miles off and checked our ETA for East Ferry.
At the speed we were doing it was now going to be midnight if not later before we arrived so we decided to head instead for Youghal.
The wind wasn't helping and the genny was getting smothered by the main on this point of sailing.

I asked Brian how he was about getting back to Dublin and he had no problem adding a day onto the voyage so I decided to make for Dungarvan instead so that we'd have time for a run ashore for a pint or two.

I had never been there before but knew it was shallow and we wouldn't get to the town's quays but saw from the sailing directions that there was a deep pool inside the entrance to the bay, off a pier near Ballynacourty, better know as the Gold Coast.

We were now on a reach and had a nice sail into Dungarvan Bay dropping our sails before motoring in.
We found the channel buoys which were quite small and slowly motored in following the sailing directions, found the pool and anchored off the pier at 19.40.

We immediately blew up the dinghy, attached the engine and went ashore.
We had to mind ourselves at the pier as children were jumping off the end and having great fun. We didn't want one landing on us. Luckily we were able to tie the dinghy a little future up the pier from them so we didn't interfere with their fun.

We walked the short distance to the Gold Coast Hotel and eventually got our pints from a hot under the collar barman. It looked like he had a long day and was no longer in the mood to be of service.
The sun was still strong and we sat outside soaking it in as it slowly quietened down a little as people headed home bringing their noisy kids with them.
We ordered dinner and Brian insisted on me having desert. Oh, ok so!

We headed back to the pier at 23.00 and found the tide was out.
We carried the dinghy to the water but discovered that what we thought was sand was in fact mud, very sticky mud.
We almost fell a few times trying to lift our feet out of the mud and took off our shoes before climbing out of the dinghy and tried to wash the sticky mud off our feet. We had a good laugh about the whole thing as we travelled out to Eureka. When we saw our shoes next morning, at least one pair were quietly retired.Read more