A Sailing Holiday – Kilmore Quay to Helvick

After a few days of pottering around in Kilmore Quay, we decided to push on for Helvick, en-route to the Crosshaven area.

We wanted to be outside of Kilmore Quay by about 1300, but needed to visit the local hardware and marine store first. The bill stung a bit, but I came away with two diving knives (one to strap in the anchor locker, one to keep in the stern), a whole new reel of anchor warp for the spare anchor (prebuilt with thimble), a pair of shackles, the SC5622 chart set (I have 5621 already) of the South Coast, a 20 litre yellow diesel container (been looking for one for months), a M25 handset for K to use if needed (and otherwise stay on the boat), and a new garden hose to replace the crap one on board that had things growing in it.

We also checked out the local Mace store to pick up a few food supplies, and were disappointed by the choice – worse than stores in the Grenadines. Can only presume that the locals go up the road in a car to get food supplies. Was also surprised to discover that there’s no petrol supply locally. The marina can supply diesel, but petrol is a multi-km trip inland.

We grabbed sandwiches for lunch, from Cocoa’s opposite the marina – good sandwiches. Alas, a bit long to make, and by the time we finished them, we were past the 1300 departure point. However, I felt we could still make Helvick in daylight, so we moved onwards.

My passage plan was more reasonable this time, though again we were a bit late out of Kilmore Quay, leading to a later arrival than intended – still in daylight, but only an hour to early darkness by the time the anchor was bedded in.

The passage wasn’t the greatest – the sea outside of Kilmore Quay was lumpy, like other seas we had encountered so far on this holiday; lumpy enough to give K a rough time of it. The wind stayed fresh out of the NNW for the whole trip; not the NW that was forecast (and thus a closer point of sail to reach Helvick).

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The plus side is that the anchor landed on the bed at Helvick, and promptly brought the boat to a halt. Revved up the engine, and we stayed still. Took bearings on two marks more than 90 degrees apart (but less than 180), and they didn’t budge for a good 15 minutes. Put on the anchor watch, and went below for dinner.

The problem I had not thought about properly when picking Helvick was the wind direction; I had crossed Helvick with another anchorage in my mind, and discovered that Helvick is open to the NNW winds. Indeed, the bay funnels them at you – a creaky night on board as we tugged at the anchor (which held beautifully), though it did die away in the early hours of the next day. Still, not the most comfortable of nights, though at least I didn’t really have to worry about a lee shore, and OpenCPN’s anchor watch mode works pretty well.

Download file: Kilmore Quay to Helvick.gpx