We are still greatly enjoying our stay here in Ireland. We travelled a long way south today and will visit the Dingle Peninsula tomorrow before making our way to Cork. I also was able to visit a woolen mill today and was happy. Anna bought some yarn and has started knitting a hat in Midwatch colors. Like me, she is very ambitious, she wants to make four hats. Hopefully she will not disappoint herself!
Hi
Everyone,
Well
it feels like we are on the home stretch now, about 280nm to the dock as the
crow flies. Grandpa has renewed vigor, I
caught him hand steering with too much sail trying to coax more speed out of
the old girl. Apparently he had her up
over seven knots for nearly his whole three hour shift. He is now curled up on the settee under two
sleeping bags. I just started the
heater. Looks like some sun so I am
hoping I can heat the cabin and maybe it will hold through the day…probably
wishful thinking.
I
received some nice emails from Kim that they are enjoying Ireland...made me
feel good. Grandpa is still bitter about
the Azores miss and says he could give a crap about Europe. I am not gonna win that battle!
It
looks like we will have fair winds for the rest of the trip with the exception
of some possible calm periods. We have a
bit of diesel that we can put to work if needed. I see from the charts that I had better save
some for getting into the harbor. It
also looks like there will be tidal currents to contend with as we get near
shore...o boy!
Still
trying to eat all the food Kim stocked in the fridge. It is getting down now but we are in no
danger of starving. We ran the engine
through a calm yesterday which topped up the batteries and gave us hot water
for showers. The tank still reads 3/4s
of a tank of water so we don't feel like we need to be so stingy anymore.
The
cabin is gross. The heavy seas we
wallowed in for days worked salt water into many places that I didn't know it
could. I think we will have to remove
everything from the boat and wash and dry etc.
This will be a big job. I will
also need to try and work on as many leaks as I can find and will be sure to
put everything I possibly can in plastic bags before another offshore trip like
this one.
The
salt on deck and in the cockpit is hard to describe. A thorough rinsing is definitely in
order. Nothing seems to dry
anymore. Our foul weather gear has
turned white and stiff and is cold and clammy but we love it. We paid what felt like a lot of money for
this stuff but it was worth it. Rubber
boots are indispensable.
I
am really looking forward to seeing
land. I want to sit in the grass and
smell the dirt. Somewhere in a hollow
where the sun gets in but the wind can't reach me. I still don't miss concrete or cars!
Grandpa
can't sit very well but not because of his Sciatic (sp?) nerve thing, that has
been fine. A couple days ago he was
dorking around trying to hang up his wet foul weather gear down below. The boat took a great roll and he lost his
grip and flew backward across the boat and hit his a-- on a board or
something. He keeps asking me to look
and see how big the black and blue is. “No
thanks, take some Ibuprofen and show Grandma in a couple days!"
Location:
10:30
UTC51 03 N
15 33 W
Course 86 Degrees True
speed 5-5.5kts
Wind NW 11-14 kts
Full Main, Full Genoa, Broad Reach with Otto at the helm, pretty nice!
Bob
and Bob
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