Sailing Trip Round Ireland, Leg 1: Rosses Point, Sligo -> Rathlin Island
Casting Off
8 Souls directed by the Skipper to leave the area of Rosses Point to circumnavigate Ireland simply by motor on a calm day.
Bringing new people together is an amazing thing. The discovery of new people, of opening doors into other worlds, happens and brings us all to new places. And the skipper started this off in a great way after we passed by the ‘Metal Man’ who guides the safe entrance into Rosses Point, Sligo.
The Skipper started us with a round table type conversation starting with himself going anti-clockwise around the group to introduce ourselves.
- Why were we there? .. and
- What did we what to learn from this voyage?
Such great questions to begin a conversation with a group, we all shared our whys for being there and that was more than enough to begin the team building. Every type of experience from people who had been sailing since they were a kid to those who it was relatively recent, from dinghies to large monohull and catamaran yachts, from sailing across the Indian Ocean and ambitions to sail around Cape Horn.
The Souls Onboard (Counter-Clockwise): The Skipper, The 1st Mate, The Master Victualler, The Mathematician, The Alpinist, The Navigator, The Wild Escapes Adventurer and The Explorer, myself.
We had all come with this being the next level in some way for each one of us. We had all bought new clothes and equipment and a good dose of courage as we didn’t really know what lay ahead of us.
Forming the Team ‘Hoisting the Sails’
Out first team activity was given to us, ‘Hoisting the Sails’.
This boat was a race boat, a different animal, and we were about to begin to learn how to function as a team by being assigned roles to perform one the key functions on a boat, ‘hoisting the sails’ to lend us the power of the wind for sailing.
The Main Sail
This racing boat is different. There is no topping lift. The boom is held up by the main halyard when the sail is down, so that means the boom might be very mobile once the halyard is moved.
We, as a team for the first time, were assigned to
- Helm the wheel
- Keep watch on the bow
- Unzip the main sail cover
- Move the halyard from the end of the boom to the top of the mainsail
- Man the traveller and the mainsheet
- Man the vang
- Sweat the main sail
- Tail the main halyard and finally winch it to the top (I, the Explorer, was assigned to man the main halyard, to loosen it as it released the boom, and as bring it was attached to the top of the main sail ready for hoisting. Finally to tail the halyard from the sweater and winch the sail until we had the right tension on the sail.)
We did it! However it was very different to boats that we had been on previously, so not everything went as expected even though it went well. From having a boom swinging at the direction of the mainsheet, to tailing a halyard from a sweater were all different but the main thing was, we did it, and we did it as a team. Awkward or not, we had complete a first team action. The ‘forming’ had begun.
The Jib
The jib or the head sail also had to be unfurled to give us everything that the light wind that we had could. Little did we know that we would use 4 different headsails as the journey proceeded but more on that later.
Unfurling the jib was relatively straightforward, and away we were motor-sailing.
Motor-sailing
This is a way of sailing that keeps you on pace for a trip using a combination of sailing and motoring when the wind is insufficient to grant you your minimum cruising speed by wind alone. For many the minimum cruising speed is 5 knots so once you dip below that, the motor can assist to keep you at pace.
The Night Watches
So this was going to be reasonably long passages to get around Ireland in 8 days, and that meant watches. The Skipper put us into 2 teams, one lead by him, and the other lead by the 1st Mate and the watches would apply for night times.
- Watch 1: 10pm to 2am, Team 1
- Watch 2: 2am to 6am, Team 2
- Watch 3: 6am to …, Team 1
We were given a word of advice to charge our batteries and sleep during the day in preparation for the watches at night. I really appreciated that advice as the journey proceeded!
The Voyage
We were now setting off with the prep under us with the idea that each of us would share time at the helm along the way!
This Saturday, we were heading Northeast in the direction of Tory Island to start. The Skipper kept mentioning trying to beat the tidal gate around Rathlin Island, so it felt like this might be his practice for the Round Ireland Race and we were his crew for that! So off we go knowing we would be on watch tonight not sure of our first harbour to pull into yet!
Our Cups
Tea and Coffee can be the lifeblood of conversation and heat during a passage. One of the guys passed us up our first teas and coffees with a friend for the voyage, our own cups!
Making a cup for the team and being part of a conversation are a huge part of being part of the team on board a boat. Sp what a great way to start.
Charging the Batteries, and learning about sleeping on the leeward side
Since I was feeling a bit tired from the previous week of YachtMaster Prep week and ‘meeting the Skipper’ the night before, I thought it might be in my best interests to ‘hit the hay’. And because full overnight passages was new to most of us, we were advised to sleep on the low side or the leeward (often pronounced ‘loo-ard’ by sailors) side of the boat. What that means is that you can lie against the hull of the boat as the boat is heeling (leaning to the side).
Or … if you are sleeping on the high-side or windward side of the boat, you could fall into the middle of the boat if it wasn’t for the ‘lee-cloth’. A cloth that you tie to the low-side or leeward side of your bunk will become your ‘false’ hull to lay against. Remembering to tie good knots on the ends of the lee-cloth give you great justification to reinforce your knots knowledge!
The boat was not heeling as we were motor-sailing but the idea sunk in for future use!
Little did I know that when I went to recharge my batteries that the crew upstairs would get to see a Minke Whale.
Donegal Bay, the Bay of Baskin Sharks and Gannet Birds
Waking up to come on deck I found a beautiful sky, everyone in good cheer, calm waters, a beautiful Donegal Bay and pleasant social sailing in progress. This was really looking like a great start to the week ahead overriding the thoughts I might have of force 6 or 7 gales and hard rain on us as we might battle through. This was great!
Barely up with a cup of tea in hand, someone mentions the Minke Whale that the crew had seen and the fins in the distance with the speculation that they might be Sharks! This was turning in to a ‘National Geographic’ Discovery tour.
We got closer, and it was amazing. It really was a huge Baskin Shark!
Watching this huge animal move gracefully was fantastic!
This was just a sample of the groups of Baskin Sharks that we saw!
I felt the need to record thoughts after seeing some of the Baskin Sharks, even though more were yet to come.
Heading towards Tory Island
Post watching these sharks, we were back to navigating. Bearing North East for Tory Island. Three of the people on board were taking the Coastal Skipper Practical Course as part of the trip, so they were actively logging each significant change in the log book downstairs at the Nav Table.
We would regularly get requested for the Log, the COG and the SOG, and we would refer to the Trip Log and the B&G instruments on deck, which were pretty cool touch screen applications.
- The Trip Log was the recorder of the number of nautical miles on the engine.
- The COG, Course Over Ground, was the current bearing in degrees, somewhere between 0 and 360, most of the time.
- The SOG, Speed over Ground, was the current speed in knots, and we were looking to keep a minimum of 5.5 knots.
There were quite a few other instruments that at least I never really understood, 3 of which were under the mast and 2 either side of the companionway. There will be more to learn another day.
And of course, many of use the Navionics app on our phones (Android, IOS) as a double check! And the GPS tracking was done via a Garmin Fenix 6 by The Navigator and compiled with GPX Studio. We had a bit of chat about the latest of watches and the new top end for sailors is the Garmin MARQ Captain.
From friends, I had heard a lot about Tory Island and I hoping that we might stop there for a while and visit as many had done before us. The people are supposed to be very friendly and really worth a visit and we were looking for it and heading straight for it. But as we got closer it be became clear that the Skipper wanted us to make for the Tidal Gate on the North East of Ireland as a priority so we would cut to port and East before we would potentially arrive on Tory. (Will have to leave that visit for another day).
The 1st Night Watch
So off to bed for sleep battery recharge while the other team would take the first watch. We were still motor sailing for the most part hoping to get sails only at some point. I hoped into my sleeping bag and conked out as usual. It was an easy sleep for 4 hours from 10pm to just before 2am.
I got 2 hands giving me a push to wake up and the boat was heeling a bit so up I got in the dark, attempting to put on Salopettes, Jacket, Hat, Gloves and figure out how to use a headtorch that had white and red lights as a feature while going to the toilet in a heeled boat. I couldn’t get the damn light to switch from white to red so I didn’t take away everyone’s night vision as I got up. I also noticed that I was last to get up which is weird because I got up as soon as I felt a push.
My 1st Night Watch
Anyway, I got up on deck and it was quarter past two, quite late. The skipper had a word with me about it. I didn’t say anything but figured that the first person who attempted to wake me just called and that didn’t penetrate my sleep. I thought it best just to let the other members of the crew know that it was not only fine but necessary to give me a push to wake me up! I did feel guilty for depriving whoever from going to sleep that bit earlier but I guess this is part of the learning about each other and how to work together.
The log had been taken and the watch had changed. It was now our turn to navigate at night. And for me, this was the first time doing a full night navigation. Thrilling!
It had been discussed to share the helming between 4 over the four hours. Probably 1 hour a person which we later brought down to 30 minutes a person for poorer weather and just in general as concentration lengths during the night are not as long.
Team — The 1st Mate, The Navigator, The Mathematician and The Explorer
This was the team that were going to spend not just the days together but the nights when we needed support the most. And honestly, delighted to meet all three of them. We were all very different but supportive of each other, and that is what counts most.
The Most Northerly Point in Ireland, Malin Head
We were motoring along the north coast of Ireland, I had woken just after we were passing Malin Head, the most northerly tip of the island of Ireland. I had heard of this place so often and now I was travelling north of it on the sea. We were watching for the light houses in particular on our port side while bearing on course around the northern course with ambitions for Rathlin Island.
Turning off the Engine
During our watch, just when I cam on the helm, the wind had changed from a South-westerly wind to an Easterly wind which began filling the sails. I held the helm as the wind rose and watching as the skipper had said if it went above 15 knots for a sustained period that we could turn off the engine and begin to sail. The rain was on us and we keep motor-sailing and w not really wanting to wake the Skipper but eventually up he came and gave us his blessing to turn the motor off.
WE WERE SAILING!
The reason we do all these things is to be in the flow with nature and move by the grace of the wind, leaving the manmade propulsions off.
The reduced noise due to the engine being turned off and the exhilaration of just leveraging the wind lights a fire of excitement under every sailor. The trip had really begun!
The wind was climbing quite high so it was exciting and yet this was a new boat, so how to direct it would my new challenge. I could feel the energy of the crew rise as we began sailing using only the wind!
We changed the helm a few times during the watch and kept sailing, things were really working out. After all that motor-sailing, we were getting what we had come for, with a bit rain to boot.
Cold, wet but happy, our watch came to an end and a chance to warm up and sleep before the day ahead! Back down into the cabin.
The ‘Lee-cloth’ got its first full use and I began to understand its value. We were sailing and the other team were guiding the heeled boat as I lay with a new confidence into my leecloth to sleep. Loads of things are fine theoretically but when we use them practically for the first time, we never forget them for the rest of our lives. This was my first lee-cloth experience and it great! The idea of becoming a sailor might be unfolding.
Coming into our 1st Harbour of Rathlin Island
After 6 there was no really urgency in waking during the day just as you woke to get up and before we were coming towards Rathlin Island, we were all awake and eager to step food on land again and maybe eat a good hearty breakfast, if that would be possible! The original boots that I had brought were soaked and I the sailing boots would be coming on for the next shift!
Coming towards Rathlin Island, we knew this is where the tides speed up flooding and ebbing into and out of the Irish Sea at higher speeds and we wanted to leverage their direction in our favour. As we approached, plenty of lobster pots on the way and a clear view of the Island.
