2025 6th April, Day 8 to Bangor.

 DRAFT WIP

probably more pics to follow, bandwidth is an issue at the moment.

Saturday night's fortifying curry, no cooking on 
Sunday due to the high seas and later tiredness.

I woke before the alarm so was away 30 minutes early at 03:30. In the shelter of the marina the wind was about 12 knots and fortunately just off the bow on the pontoon side, this allowed me to take off and stow the two bow lines, two because of the strong wind and awkwardly positioned cleats on the pontoon, the breast line holding the boat and the wind blowing the bow off. I was also able to stow the 3 forward fenders, and move the fourth a few inches aft to the other side of a stanchion so I could slide it back as I shoved off. 

This was good news as the water immediately outside the harbour was likely to be, and was, rough and I would have little time inside whilst leaving as the channel is very narrow and I would have to steer. Everything except the midships line was now in reach from the cockpit, the line stayed where it was until late afternoon when the seas calmed down.

The wind also helped me turn round in the channel that is little over a boat length wide, after casting off and hoping aboard the boat move back and the bow blew off so I was able to quickly get to the outside of the channel and then turn hard right into the first avenue between two unoccupied hammerheads with the wind helping the turn as it did when I went hard astern to generate a lot of "prop walk" pushing the bow to starboard, a few seconds of that and I was off.

The seas were very unpleasant in the shallow water so I headed directly out to sea for deeper water and to make an offing round Ireland's Eye. When I bore off it was evident that with the wind well north of east I would not be able weather Lamby Island so I had to keep the engine on for another hour and a half until I was about a mile to windward of the Island and the wind veered. With a strong F5 I set just a reefed jib and then had to further reef it further to slow the boat down to give the autopilot a chance to cope with a very steep cross sea without also having to handle weather help, before doing so I was making better than 7 knots with one reef in the headsail. At one time a wave broke on the boat and I ended up with about 4 inches of water in the cockpit, I can't remember the last time that happened.

Once things had calmed down somewhat I was able to take a video which, as always makes the sea look less rough than it was.

Reaching in a F5.

Later, at 13:30 the Irish Coastguard broadcast the weather forecast from 12:00 withdrawing the small craft warning of F6 winds, clearly no one was looking out the window at the met office because I was sailing in F6 briefly at about 11:30 then from 12:00 to 13:15, fortunately the sea was much calmer than earlier and calmer than in the video.

The wind started to drop from F5 at around 14:30 and I hoisted the mainsail just before 16:00 and put on the engine half an hour later as the wind had gone. Fortunately the sea around here often dies almost as quickly as the wind and, with the tide behind me for the first time on this leg (North of approximately Dundalk the tides reverses with the flood running to the south).

2 miles from Donaghadee Sound, passed through at the end
of twilight.

The passage through Donaghadee Sound on the neap tide was as benign as it gets with barely 1.5 knots (vs 7 or 8 at springs) and I was at anchor in Ballyholme Bay just east of Bangor at 22:15.

89 miles in just under 19 hours, and I was very tired and feeling very old after the excursions' of the morning - mainly just holding on to the boat.

Click here for the leg to Scotland.