Down the Irish Coast

Since my blog last week, I’ve exchanged a seat on the Concord bus traveling down US Route 1, for the cockpit of the Lillian B., sailing down the West coast of Ireland. No internet or movie, but the view is not bad.

The connections on all legs from Boston to Killybegs went exceptionally well. Leaving on an evening flight from Boston on Wed. August 25 I managed to arrive in Killybegs early the next afternoon. Pete’s trip also went well since he somehow managed to depart Pakistan on Friday the 27th and arrive in Killybegs that same night. (I suspect that the International Dateline must have somehow been involved for that to happen, but if you want an explanation on the International Dateline, I defer you to my sister Sarah (Pete’s mother).

Once in Killybegs everything went remarkably smoothly. The mended sail was waiting on board, courtesy of Sinbad Marine Services; the KER Group showed up precisely as scheduled Friday morning and repaired the on board refrigerator/freezer; and the fueling station a mile or so down the road delivered diesel directly to the boat, saving us having to shlep filled 5 gal Jerry cans by hand. After spending Saturday and Sunday catching our breath and restocking food and drink, we literally backed out of the Killybegs dock at 1pm on Monday.

After leaving Killybegs, we sailed through last night, splitting the dark hours into two watches, and it’s now 10:15 Tuesday morning. The boat is midway down the Irish coast moving at a good clip under overcast skies … currently passing the charcoal-colored cliffs of Inishshark a mile to the east. We’ll continue to sail as long as the winds and seas are favorable, then find a convenient place to anchor or dock when the winds shift around to blow from the South. That’s forecast for later this week, but we’ll see.