Friday

The wet and windy weather has arrived in Crosshaven, and I’m grateful that we’re on a safe berth. The wind is not strong here, but the rain … well, we need to go grocery shopping, and we will have to wear our sailing gear to do so.

A slow day overall, rain coming down for most of it. We did get to Centra (what social distancing?), and picked up a few supplies like eggs, milk, and soda bread. Oh, and some beef to become part of a curry for lunch on Sunday.

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Also dropped in to Power’s – a store that harkens back to the day when a “general store” was a thing. Everything from Campingaz 907 to water containers to fishing rods to Smarties. Mind you, the Centra had engine oil and anodes next to the pens and paper pads, with paper tape and paint rollers on the other side, so it’s a bit of a tie between the two.

We tidied the boat a bit, put things in lockers, did laundry, and otherwise had a really slow day. Lunch was pan-fried mackerel (in soy sauce and ground pepper) with the remaining carrots, spuds from the garden, and the sole tiny parsnip that I had pulled out to check on the growth. Cooked up all three, but only ate two. The third became part of the charcuterie dinner, and then went overboard to feed the crabs.

Both times that we went ashore, we managed to somehow find the gap in the rain, and about 5 minutes after we got back, the rain would come down again. Fortuitous!

A boat we’d seen in Kilmore Quay showed up while I had some banana bread in the oven (too wet as it turns out, rose just fine, but fell to about 2 cm thick). Tide got the better of them as they came into the berth beside us, so it was a quick fender over the side to prevent contact, and then off the boat and round to their pontoon to take a line from them. They’d warped on the bow line first, which did not go well when they went ahead against it, trying to get the stern in.

Pleasant couple, appeared to be doing a round-Ireland from Foynes, up the west coat, over the north, down the east, and back around. Moody 35 or so – there’s one at the club. Not the fastest boat, but they love theirs – seaworthy. We had a shared dislike of the pots on the east coast, and an appreciation of ones with flags or bright colours.

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As the night drew in, we saw a launch going up river, with a heron on the stern rail. The heron then flew to the middle of the boat, and flew off when another heron flew on to the stern rail. Peculiar.

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Saturday

Saturday saw us off to Cork by bus, just for something to do, and something to see; for two of us in one direction, we got change out of a 2 EUR coin! We ended up in Scribes and Vibes (the second-hand bookstore part) after a soup and sandwich lunch, went through English Market for some supplies, and toured Elizabeth Fort before returning on the bus. Tanked up on diesel, petrol, and water – we’re departing before 7 am tomorrow to catch the right tide state out of the marina.

Had a chat with our neighbours (before setting off to Cork) about their anchor (a Rocna), and answered the question they put to me about “how would I have done the approach to the berth?”. The summary of which was basically be further upstream before making the turn in; having the mid-line, stern, and bow warps all to hand (but primarily the mid-line); have a fender or two on the port side since they were starboard side to.

When we got back from Cork, they had gone sailing with friends, and on return I watched them apply some of the commentary I had provided earlier in the day – again, I took their lines, and had to encourage a bit of astern to stop the bow running in to the pontoon. However, far less “are they going to hit my boat?” than the day before.

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