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Quintet

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Wexford 8th August

Yacht Quintet
at Anchor
outside Wexford
County Wexford

8th August, 2005

We did have that bottle of wine when we got back to the boat last night. And I did have a bad head when I awoke at 10.00 am to the sound of someone knocking on the deck.

We were berthed three out and, of course, the boat on the inside wanted to leave first. I think that there should be a rule that you're not allowed to leave while boats are outside you and you must leave within an hour of them going and if you want to stay longer then move somewhere else. No, that wouldn't work. Some bastard parked outside us would leave at three in the morning and I'd still have to get up. Anyway we moved and I went back to bed.

But eventually we got up and had a bit of breakfast before going off to check out the showers at the Stella Maris Community Centre. And very good they were too.

I went of to shop for fresh milk and chicken breasts for a curry but apart from sad looking sausages there was not a skerrick of fresh meat anywhere in Kilmore Quay. So it looks like bacon and mushroom sauce with pasta tonight.

Kilmore Quay has a nice safe harbour, the eastern wall of which was paid for with EC money. However they couldn't get a grant for a harbour wall so it is actually a road. It doesn't go anywhere but it is a road which qualifies for an EC grant. I guess that means I paid for it, well some of it anyway.

Just as we were leaving, one of the trip boats came back in. Look at the seals begging for fish. No wonder they are always around the harbour with free meals five or six times a day.

We eventually found our way out and sailed south. We had been warned not to turn east until a mile south of the harbour. A rock ridge named Saint Patrick's Bridge runs out northeast to southwest and has caused lots of boats to come to grief. We abided by the harbour master's instructions but noted that the local boats turned much sooner, presumably to avoid the foul tide that caught us. At one stage we were steering 100 degrees and making 322 degrees, almost the opposite direction. So we motored for the shore and eventually escaped the tide enough to make two and a half knots in the right direction. But it still took us three hours to round Carnsore Point and start sailing north.

The wind was very light and from the after quarter so I suggested that we launch the spinnaker. Clive has never sailed with a spinnaker before and the spinnaker gear on Quintet is a bit makeshift. But I sorted it all out and after one abortive hoist and a monster wrap we were doing more than seven knots, with some tide assistance, I must admit. Clive seemed to enjoy it.

We carried it for a little more than an hour but the wind started to pick up and two old gits and kite in rising winds is a recipe for tears. So we dowsed it and reverted to plain sail. And we were still doing seven knots!

As we approached Rosslare, the lifeboat came roaring out of nowhere heading for home after a busy day. They sure shift.

And we were approaching our anchorage for the night just north of the entrance to the river at Wexford. We did originally plan to go up to the town but all advice is that if one draws more than a canoe, forget it. So we are parking outside.

We tried sailing up to the anchorage but the tide had turned and the wind was dying away to nothing. We just sailed slower and slower and were getting no nearer to the shore and water shallow enough for us to anchor so we gave up and motored the last half mile.

It's almost 10.00o'clock. The anchor is set and anchor ball and anchor light hoisted and now it's time to start dinner. First to remove the green skin of the parmesan. Is parmesan always green?

Les Sutcliffe