The latest storm was called Agnes, the one before might have been Nigel – not sure if giving the weather a name makes you feel better about it? Anyway these conspired to keep us in Howth for a whole week, not all bad though as we got to catch up with friends Liz and Liam from the ARC+ rally 2015, our first transatlantic passage. Just as we left the harbour on Friday the Coast Radio Station put out yet another Gale and Small Craft warning, but no going back as the marina needed the berth. At least the wind was favourable. We made good progress going inside Ireland’s Eye and Lambay islands and inside Rockabill lighthouse with very little sail set. And we did get the tide right for the North Channel getting a good boost though the wind had died away and we ended up motoring. Our course took us close to Ailsa Craig. There was enough mobile signal to update our Border Force/Customs online report form a couple of times and we tied up in our berth in Kip marina at 16.30. We were flying the Q flag as in the instructions (had it up all the way up the Clyde) but nobody came to inspect us. We were glad to get back; it seemed to take an age to come from Southern Ireland. We were away for 135 days in all (not sailing every day of course), and covered 4795 nautical miles. Portugal and especially the Azores were lovely.

We’d been at the Royal Cork, Crosshaven for a week of adverse winds, too strong winds or downright foul stormy weather; we’d meant to stay just one night. The ladies in the office were lovely extending our stay each day. Finally departed last Wednesday afternoon after the storm on Tuesday though we probably shouldn’t have – we hit a big swell as soon as we were out of the shelter of the Owenboy river, the seas were mountainous off the harbour entrance, some of the worst we’ve been in anywhere. We set just the small staysail to run eastwards along the coast, this gave us plenty of speed to get to the corner as the tide turned in our favour. But in the middle of the night the wind dropped, the sea calmed and we ended up motoring round the SE corner of Ireland and Tuskar Rock light and up the Irish Sea. All day in calm and sunshine as we motored north we heard a succession of small craft warnings for strong winds out out by the Irish Coast Radio stations – very surreal. The wind was just getting up as we anchored at midnight near Dalkey Island on the south side of Dublin Bay for a few hours sleep. We realised how sheltered our anchorage was when we left first thing next morning to cross a very choppy Dublin Bay, dodging the big tankers and ferries going on and out, then the few miles round the corner to the nice sheltered marina at Howth. And our early arrival gave us time to explore the town. Howth, apart from the smart yacht club, is all about fish – a plethora of wet fish/ fish and chip and Seafood restaurants all along the harbour. There are also some lovely cliff walks. Now waiting for weather (again) to carry on north.

Sailing in sunshine from Bantry Bay passing Mizen Head and Fastnet to Castletownshend, then Kinsale (lots of herons and two historic forts) then Cork (Crosshaven) where it rained. And rained. Further upriver is Drakes Pool where he anchored his small fleet among hills and woods to escape the pursuing superior Spanish force, who failed to notice the sharp left turn and went away empty handed. Sadly too many moorings there now to anchor reliably.

Rest and Recovery or Repair and Recreation. Probably all four! It was a lovely peaceful place to recuperate from the Atlantic crossing. Luckily it got warm and the sun came out as we had a lot of drying of the inside of the boat to do and a list of jobs: making a new deck can stowage board as the port side one had been broken by a wave, fixing the engine room door, generally securing stuff that had worked loose, such as the anchor connector (😮), the aerial array, removing weed from the rudder. Also exploring the island, lots of historic sites. Everyone here is so friendly and helpful.

We left Horta on 26th August finally bound for home – we’d been delayed nearly 2 weeks due to getting Covid and missing our weather slot. “Mid August” had turned into “nearly September” and it was starting to feel quite autumnal. We set off with grey sky and a lumpy sea on a close reach. We saw (usually just on the AIS) about one ship per day and we actually saw and spoke to (on VHF) one other yacht, a French guy sailing solo (apart from the cat) and heading for Brest. As expected, we had to use the engine on a couple of days to get through light wind high pressure areas. We had one day of nice downwind sailing. What we didn’t expect further on in the passage was to get persistent NE winds (coming from exactly where we wanted to go) instead of the expected prevailing westerlies. At one point we seemed to have a choice between heading towards Iceland or Brest! We realised there was no way we could make Cork and decided to aim for Bantry Bay instead. Hard on the wind in a big sea we were taking a bit of a battering, too much sail and the side deck would be under water, too little and we’d be stopped and every so often the boat would hit a wave head on and it would come crashing over the cabin top and down the ventilators and hatches. Luckily at least our off watch bunk was comfortable even under these conditions. Slowly we got closer to Ireland. 2 days out we started to see fishing boats and the VHF radio came to life with broadcasts from Irish Coast stations. We had seen hardly any wildlife, just Shearwaters seemed to be there most of the way. On our 2nd to last day a tiny bird flew into the cockpit and stayed a short while perching under the spray hood. It didn’t seem too impressed with our offerings of breakfast cereal, but wasn’t at all frightened of me. Apparently it was a Willow Warbler (thanks Jayne). As we closed the coast we started to see Fulmars, then gulleimots and gannets, and dolphins. Finally after 11 days and 2 hours we were able to sail up Bantry Bay to Bere island and the little marina at Lawrence Cove. A lovely calm and peaceful place and the sun came out! N.B. The phone came to life as we sailed up Bantry Bay – 474 unread emails!

I recorded daily sea and air temperature. The sea went from 20.7 to 15.5 degrees C though it was 26.9 later in harbour. The air went from 21 to 14 degrees C though this rather depended on whether the sun was out. Steve toughed it out wearing shorts and sandals the whole way – underneath full waterproofs and he had switched to a long sleeve thermal. Anita caved in and got out long trousers, socks and boots for the first time since Spain. We travelled 992 nm through the water by the log (but this under reads). The distance according to the route plan was 1126.5 nm. The actual distance sailed was at least 1334.9 (adding up our track) due to tacking against the wind etc. The distance over the ground was more difficult to calculate than usual as the Chartplotter failed just before we left – it doesn’t boot up any more. Not enough time to fix it/ get a new one so we had to do without, using mobile Navionics on iPads for Navigation. Luckily our system is wired so that Log, echo sounder, wind instrument and autopilot work without the plotter. And luckily we have a totally independent transmitting AIS. What we didn’t have was the radar and the GPS feed to the radios so the VHF bleeped madly every few hours as it didn’t have a position. It was nice to be able to use Hydrovane wind pilot to steer instead of the electric autopilot – earlier in the trip it’s rudder was stowed in the cockpit locker to keep it as a spare in case of Orca attack. In fact going upwind with generally plenty of it the wind generator made us plenty of power. In the big seas at the end of the trip we used both autopilots.

You have to realise that alongside the harbour wall in Horta, as in the Crinan Canal at home, you are part of the tourist attraction. Especially when you are touching up and adding the latest date to your painting on the harbour wall – lots of folk stopped to chat. Steve noticed an add pinned up by the toilets, someone offering to paint (for money) an “artistic” yacht picture for you – I’m sure that’s cheating!

The next island along is Faial with the main harbour of Horta the major stopping place for boats heading back east across the Atlantic. Less than 25 miles from Velas it was a motor most of the way, just a short period with enough wind to sail. When we were last here it was 2020, the COVID year, and we were sailing back from the Caribbean. Luckily for us the authorities started allowing yacht people ashore after getting a negative covid test just the week before we arrived (prior to that boats had to anchor off and supplies were brought to them) so we were able to spend nearly 2 weeks exploring the island. In 2020 the harbour was full of yachts but very peaceful ashore as there were no flights, now its Sea Week in Horta, lots of yacht races, dinghy races, rowing races, swimming races and music (and of course a full complement of tourists) so it’s pretty busy though paradoxically probably less itinerant yachts. We were lucky enough to be allocated a berth on the wall in the marina.

Sao Jorge is of course Saint George. Velas is a picturesque little town, the usual narrow cobbled streets, pretty churches and buildings. Views of the peak on Pico at every turn. There is a good supermarket, the tourist information was helpful and we went to the museum. There are a couple of nice swimming places and snorkelling over the rocks by the anchorage I saw a huge ray as well as lots of colourful fish. Anita ran up the hill while Steve did the shopping. The steep hill by the anchorage is full of land birds singing all day, but as it gets dark the Corey’s Shearwaters come back from hunting at sea to feed the chicks making an amazing (but conversational) cacophony. We’d have liked to do a tour of the island – reluctant to leave the boat at anchor unattended for too long – and include a visit to the cheese factory, but we did buy some cheese and enjoyed local fish for lunch at the Clube Naval.

Sao Jorge is of course Saint George. Velas is a picturesque little town, the usual narrow cobbled streets, pretty churches and buildings. Views of the peak on Pico at every turn. There is a good supermarket, the tourist information was helpful and we went to the museum. There are a couple of nice swimming places and snorkelling over the rocks by the anchorage I saw a huge ray as well as lots of colourful fish. Anita ran up the hill while Steve did the shopping. The steep hill by the anchorage is full of land birds singing all day, but as it gets dark the Corey’s Shearwaters come back from hunting at sea to feed the chicks making an amazing (but conversational) cacophony. We’d have liked to do a tour of the island – reluctant to leave the boat at anchor unattended for too long – and include a visit to the cheese factory, but we did buy some cheese and enjoyed local fish for lunch at the Clube Naval.

Terceira to Sao Jorge: Left Angra do Heroismo as they were expecting a race/rally of 30+ boats and all itinerant yachts had to go (N.B. The race has been chasing us round the islands). Little wind from the wrong direction meant we motorsailed the whole 50 nm but did see 3 groups of dolphins. Arrived at Velas Sao Jorge about 8 pm just too late to try the small marina. Book says anchorage has room for 6 or 7 yachts but the 2 already there seemed to be taking up most of it. Little German catamaran mostly lying nowhere near his anchor buoy (maybe he has a weight on the chain?) and exceedingly grumpy Frenchman haranguing us incomprehensibly so we had to anchor twice so that we were clear of his anchor as well as his boat. Of course by morning another two boats had come in both much closer to us than we were to the Frenchman. And it was raining. After the unpleasantness and the uneasy anchorage we nearly went straight on without checking in, but got the dinghy ready to give it a try. The really pleasant and helpful marina master redeemed the situation, he was so nice. But it seems this is the one island in the Azores where you can book ahead, and everyone else has. Boats have come and gone and still no place for Timshel in the marina so we will move on. N.B. They charge for anchoring (due to government regulation apparently) half what you would pay in the marina but you do get a keycard to use the facilities.