Fog or not fog

About 10:30 Julian put his head out of the cabin for a look and thought that the fog was lifting. When I checked at 11am I was not so sure, but we decided to get ready to go anyway. We cast off Robinetta's lines from Aoife just past noon and motored slowly out past the moorings.

The new chartplotter gave me reassurance that we were not straying off our route along the buoyed channel, and the fog as definitely lifting. We could see from one channel marker to the next, and the white pillar, called Lot's Wife, showed well on the hillside above us. Then we were through the harbour mouth, to discover that the fog was not merely thinning; the sea ahead was blue and the coast line eastward showed clearly.

We got the sails up, shaking out all the reefs, and turned off the engine to sail on a reach so broad that I asked Julian to put the preventer on against the chance that the swell would roll the boom across the boat. We had a lovely sail in light airs, with the swell rolling under us and the tide helping us along at 3.4 to 4 knots. Three yachts came past in the other direction, heading west under motor. We saw one sail across our bows, coming out of Castletownend or Glandore and heading south.

The Stags off Toe Head

As we passed between Toe Head and the Stags the wind shifted and almost died. The main tried to gybe across but was stopped by the preventer. Once we were back on course and there was some slack in the preventor line I undid it, and gybed the main across properly. Soon after this we rounded Toe Head and gybed the main again, then hardened up to sail into Castletownsend Bay.

We sailed through a line of numbered buoys, uncertain what they were for, then say another abiout 200m away and realised they were lanes for a race.
We turned round head ot wind and lowered the main, then motored slowly into the harbour area, looking for a place to anchor. As we did so 5 or 6 racing skiffs came out, with safety boat escorts. Julian steered Robinetta carefully through the moorings just off the town quay to leave the race course clear.

We dropped anchor just up river of the town, near a 35' gaff rigged yacht. “That's a Wylo,” said Julian. The couple on board waved, and invited us over for a drink, saying “We're OGA too!”

Granuaile at Castletownsend

Once Robinetta was properly tidied up with her sail covers on we rowed Worm over to Granuaile, and had a lovely evening talking to her owners Richard and Eilish Wylie, who plied us with wine, and fed us dinner. Richard built Granuaile,  and their travels make Robinetta's look tame.