Northern Ireland

Coming out of the harbour this morning I thought we might have to abandon for the day. The swell had built over night and Mentor was rolling around almost uncomfortably. Usually I have enough time to do the porridge dishes and turn the wet suits right side out before we reach any swell. Not today though. I had to dry the dishes as I washed them, as they wouldn’t stay on the side. Joe did an excellent job, accelerating when he could then pulling back so we wouldn’t hit hard on the back side of a wave.

We’d finished yesterday just behind Lambay Island, which offered us some protection this morning to launch the dinghy and the kites. The swell was hard work on the knees, as you had to crunch tight as you went up the face of each wave, then extend straight as a pencil on the other side. If you got the timing wrong the wave would move through and you’d either nose dive into it, or, you’d be too high causing the foil to loose traction resulting in a bubbling noise as the foil wings breached the surface of the water, and most likely you wobbling off. We got the hang of it eventually though. Usually when you’re in the water and you want to get up onto the board you do a “power stroke”, sending the kite in a big downward ark. This causes it to float further into the power window giving you the drive to get up and onto the board. I found that on some of the big waves today, I needed to do a similar power stroke, just to keep the momentum going on the up hill face.

Sadly Mentor wasn’t able to adapt as easily and continued to struggle resulting in her slow progress. Around Rockabill Lighthouse we had to slow down and wait for her, unusual on an upwind leg, as usually our zigzags mean Mentor’s waiting for us. We made the most of it and got in some head-cam filming on our way past the light.

Due to the slow progress we redirected to Carlingford Lough. But only a little way into the bay the swell died down completely, and after 3 hours 34 minutes of kiting we had to make a decision. Continue on the 5 miles to Carlingford, or go the 30 miles to Ardglass. I was already more tired than I had been yesterday after 4 hours and 20 minutes kiting, but I’d seen the forecast for tomorrow (ie no wind). We made the decision to press on.

There was a single headland with a large imposing cliff which we saw the whole day. I thought we’d never pass it. Because we were quite a distance off the coast, it was hard to track our upwind progress. Usually you can choose a tree or a building to look at, and on each tack you can use this to help judge distance. Today, it was just the big hill that never seemed to move. Slowly, bit by bit, land started to appear behind it, and we were all grateful when Joe finally started turning inward. We’d arrived in Northern Ireland.

Rockabill Lighthouse stands on the larger of two islands known as “The Rock” and “The Bill” or “Two Lips Rocks”. It is a bird sanctuary, home to Europe’s largest colony of roseate turns, the UK’s rarest breeding seabird.

Lambay Island

The winners of the 1921 Gordon Bennett Gas Balloon Race, the world’s oldest and most prestigious gas balloon race, managed to land on Lambay after taking off from Brussels, Belgium. Captains Paul Armbruster and Louis Ansermier, from Switzerland, landed on the island after flying 756 km (470 mi) at a maximum altitude of 3,600 m (11,800 ft) during a 27 hours and 23 minutes flight. In comparison the current distance record is 3,400 km for a flight in 2005 from New Mexico to Quebec.
Read more: https://dsy73arn0qite.cloudfront.net/2019/01/169183.pdf

Map of today’s route

Map Key: Stew (Red), Islay (White) and Mentor (Blue)

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