Afloat, Cruising Logs July 15, 2024

Arcturus Heads North!

(29 June 2024 - 10 July 2024)

Crew: Declan McCabe, Dara Lowry and Peter McCabe

Plan A
To head north along the Irish coast to Ballycastle then turn west for Derry or east to the Clyde. Possibly return home via Isle of Man.

Plan B
To head south around to west Cork /Kerry.

29th June;

With a very vague forecast of rain, showers, light/medium/strong winds for the foreseeable future, we followed Plan A

29 JUNE
We cast off in HYC at 1000hrs on Saturday 29 June and motor sailed to Ardglass. In the showers and cold wind, our cockpit cover made life so much better than an open cockpit. We had a lovely dinner, as always, in the Chinese restaurant, East Essence, and retired to the boat for a well-earned cigar and Brandy / Whiskey followed by a film and a good night’s sleep.
(I’ll mention here that we got a new 32” Smart TV, which linked to our phones where we had downloaded a dozen films from Netflix. Several evenings we watched a film before lights out. Wouldn’t be everyone’s choice but we enjoyed having it available on dark, dreary and wet evenings).

30 JUNE
On Sunday morning, we left Ardglass after a leisurely breakfast and motor sailed, in very benign conditions, past the mouth of Strangford and Donaghadee, making good time with the ebb tide. Unfortunately, we got caught at the Copeland Islands with an early adverse tide, reducing our SOG to 4kts at the pinch point. Once through there we had only a slight adverse tide the rest of the way to Bangor. Lovely meal in Camille Thai on High St. The town generally is starting to look a bit run-down with lots of closed businesses.

1 JULY
On Monday morning, we continued our journey north from Bangor n poor weather with very poor forecasts for the Ballycastle/Rathlin area and for Scotland. To avoid strong adverse flood tides up the Antrim coast we stopped off at the tiny, but lovely, fishing village of Glenarm with its well-protected marina. We had previously discovered an old pub called The Coast Road Inn with a very pleasant landlady who, although she doesn’t serve food herself, will order what you want from a Chinese or Italian in the nearby village of Carnlough and she provides cutlery and crockery etc. During the course of our meal music was provided by the local Orange Order Band parading down the street outside, practising for the forthcoming 12th July parade.

2 & 3 JULY
The forecast was worsening for further north and for Scotland so, rather than sit it out for several days in Glenarm or get caught in Campbeltown, we headed back south on Tuesday afternoon on the flood. Arrived in Carrickfergus marina late afternoon for a very tasty dinner in Mayur Indian. Winds were now well into 20kts with gusts into the 30kts so we stayed here for Wednesday and took the opportunity to visit the very historic (and William of Orange-linked), Carrickfergus Castle.
We had a leisurely stroll around this Norman castle which was besieged in turn by the Scottish, the native Irish, the English and the French. So lots of stories and history here. We had a delicious fillet steak dinner onboard on Wednesday evening provided by resident chef, Dara, followed by the usual cigar, drinks and film. In our revised plans, we were to head into Belfast Marina, beside the Titanic Centre, but we were informed by the Carrickfergus Marina staff that the Belfast marina was closed due to damage! They, very kindly, only charged us for one night maybe because of this - or maybe it was BOGOF (buy one get one free)?

4 JULY
Thursday morning showed a slight abatement of the wind to 20kts gusting late 20kts from the west. Very manageable for SE trip across the Lough to Bangor. After a leisurely breakfast we flew across the Lough under Genoa in the strong winds and tied up back in Bangor. We had an excellent dinner in Donegans Pub/restaurant, which is beside Jennie Watts (another good spot for food). We followed this, back onboard, with a cigar and drink in the cockpit before retiring.

5 JULY
We left early on Friday morning to catch as much flood as we could to whisk us back south to Ardglass. As we sailed down the Ards Peninsula we could see on our AIS John McInerney’s “Nos na Gaoithe“ leaving Peel. We met up with them later on when they arrived in Ardglass. While John and crew ate on board, we had a lovely dinner in Ardglass Golf Club.

6 JULY
On Saturday morning, we cast off (after an early breakfast) heading east for Peel on the Isle of Man. The gate in Peel marina is open roughly 2 hours either side of high tide. The swing bridge opens every 1/2 hour on the hour and the half hour. We planned to get there around 1300hrs (high tide) and, doing a steady 6 to 7kts, arrived in good time.
You need to call Peel marina on CH12 before you approach the gate and you are actually speaking to a guy in Douglas on the other side of the island - but he can see everything on the several cameras they have around the harbour and marina and, of course, he could pick us up on AIS. There is a marina manager in Peel but he appears to be around for a limited time during the day. A very helpful and welcoming gentleman, who only charged us for 1 night even though we spent 2 nights there. On Saturday evening, we found a small pizza place, The Black Dog Oven, overlooking the marina and had a mix & match of 3 really good pizzas.

7 JULY
On Sunday after breakfast, we caught the bus to Douglas and had a pleasant walk along the 2.7km promenade where they are building flood walls to protect the seafront. After lunch in a pub at the northern end of the promenade, we took the tourist horse-and-carriage back most of the way along the seafront and then caught the return bus back across the island. A very enjoyable day out, followed by a very mediocre meal in The Creek Inn.

8 JULY
On Monday, we cast off for Ardglass after a late breakfast. No rush as we had to await the opening of the gate around noon. Uneventful crossing and we had a wonderful dinner of Salisbury Steak prepared by chef Dara onboard. Cigars and a drink before bed.

9 JULY
On Tuesday, we headed for Carlingford. With high tide around 14.30hrs, we left Ardglass around 0800hrs in drizzle and very poor visibility which prevailed, and even worsened, along the way. At least we had a strong NE wind which assisted us all the way into the Lough where, because of very strong gusts as we came towards Greenore, we furled away the Genoa. The strong wind and drizzle made berthing a difficult procedure. We were allocated an outside berth beside the entrance with a very strong swell pouring in through the entrance and the broken walls. After a discussion with the marina office, it was agreed we could move to an inner berth which, although somewhat difficult to reverse into, made life onboard a lot more pleasant. After a bit of a rest the drizzle had stopped so we wandered into the town past the new Hot Box Sauna just outside the marina. We had a good meal in McKevitts while half-watching England qualify for the World Cup final.

10 JULY
On Wednesday morning, we left early to catch the end of the ebb before facing the flood all the way to Lambay. A damp day again, but a wonderful westerly wind of around 20kts so, on Genoa only, we made good progress, averaging 7kts all the way. The ebb started near Lambay, so we flew home the last few miles getting back into Howth in the early afternoon.

A very enjoyable 12-day cruise, despite the wind and precipitation in various forms.

Peter McCabe
(edited by Declan McCabe and Dara Lowry 😎)