Cross over to Ireland 16-06-06 to 27-06-06

Day one, Saturday the 16th. Our new group arrives, total of 5 guests and a crew of 5 people. The wind is weak but the weather is good. We leave in the afternoon and start working in shifts as soon as we leave the harbour. Because of the number of people on board we decide to defied the group in two and work a 6 on 6 off shift. Jan and Jannette do the 6 to 12 shifts and Gijs, Loes and myself do the 12 to 6 shifts. The guests (seeing as it is their holiday) get the choice between the two and so the morning and evening shift consist of 6 people and the night and afternoon shift consist of 4 people.

Day two we see the French coast and on the other side of the water we think we see the white cliffs of Dover. But still there is no wind and we have to use the motor to get moving.. we have to get to Ireland!! Slowly all of us get used to the rhythm of the shifts.

Day three we decide it is time to take a rest. We have crossed the Canal over to the English side and head for the Island of Wight. Although you may not write it the same way, the island of Wight actually looks white from a distance. We stop in Yarmouth, a small town on the island and the first thing we do is walk the dogs! We have got two Friese Stabij dogs and they where so brave, never seemed to complain during the whole trip that they deserved to set foot on land first. The night watches seemed to get to me, so I went to bed early, we would leave again the next morning!

Day four, finally WIND!! We set sail just before the Needles and tack our way out of the narrow waters onto open sea. Ireland is where we want to go, but maybe we will stop somewhere along the English coast first..

Day five, and so we do, we stop in Dartmouth. As we approach the entrance of Dartmouth harbour, rain and wind set up. With waves from the side and rain that seems to fall/blow horizontally we try and find the lighthouse that is supposed to be there, somewhere. Steady we sail in and as we pass some pointy rocks we see the light straight ahead. And the further we go, the calmer the sea and the weather get. And out of the blue we see houses build up the hills in as many colours as the rainbow seems to have. With a slight drizzle and hardly any wind, we tie up between two moorings where we will stay the next day or so.

Day six is a rest day. Some of us go for a long walk and others stay in Dartmouth and enjoy the beautiful weather. In the evening we go ashore to see the football match between Holland and Argentina.

Day seven, we leave early and set sail to go to Ireland. We have decided not to visit the Scillies or another part of England, instead we will try to stop in a few Irish harbours.
Shifts stay unchanged and so after setting sail, I sleep even though I just got out of bed, I might need it in a day or so.. Then in the evening after dinner there is a lot of rumour on board, we get hoisted out of bed as the evening shift screams DOLPHINS!! Our first sighting of these beautiful creatures. Unfortunately they don’t stop to play with us, but we did get some nice pictures!

Day eight, again we sail on during the night and I love it more and more every time. There is so much to see during the night that you don’t see during the day! For example, at night the sea seems to light up. On the side of the boat and especially in the bow waves the water seems become a totally different universe. The algae’s light up like stars and fill the empty hours of the night. On the aft of the Tecla you see the airstrip under the keel filled with little lights. The clear blue water looks like the water you find in tropical swimming pools. Steadily the Tecla sails over the waves and without the sound of the motor the world sometimes seems to disappear.

Day nine, we arrive in Ireland and on a misty morning we enter the harbour of Kinsale. There is no room for us to moor on the side, so we throw anchor a bit further up the river. After a small nap some decide to go a shore. For me the time to go a shore has not yet come, I am content just guarding the ship.

Day ten, we are close to Cork but are not all that anxious to go to the big city. Courtmacsherry is our destination for today. After a short sail trip we enter the harbour. The harbour is small, but there seems to be an open spot on the quay. We asked the local fisherman whether it was possible to moor at the quay and he said it would be possible if we would tie a rope around the mast and attach it to the other end of the pier, oh and the quay was a bit crooked so we should be careful not to capsize inward…So again we threw anchor. That evening we went to the pub to see the Holland Portugal football match, we lost and the whole Courtmacsherry population mourned with us.

Day eleven, last sailing day with destination Cork. And as if they knew it was our last day a group of dolphins showed up just ahead. They came towards us and played with the bow for almost 15 minutes. We went up the river on to Cork and for the first time during this trip we felt like we where heading for the “civilised” world again.

The next morning our 5 guests left us and went home.
For me it had been a beautiful and impressive trip. Now Ireland lays before us and I can’t wait to see more!

Deckhand
Jet Sluik