On to Strangford lough

The tides to help us on a southerly course were only starting to run down the east coast of Ireland from late in the afternoon. Initially the plan was to do a leisurely 19 miles or so and split the journey to Strangford Lough at Donagadee. However a pessimistic late forcast for the following 24 hours made me rethink and decided to take advantage of the nice weather to crack on and make Strangford in one go, this would mean a late arrival ( probably after midnight ). We left Belfast with a bit of regret as it had been a very pleasant stay, however the weather was very fine indeed and there was a lot of interest to be seen in the harbour.

We left the marina in Abercorn basin, (off to the left in the above photo) at 1.30 pm.

The port was busy but we were lucky to have an un impeded exit to Victoria channel, it was interesting to listen to all the traffic on channel 12. As soon as it was practical we left the channel and raised sail.

We laid a course towards the Mew island and the lighthouse on Lighthouse island. I had decided to try the channel between the Copland islands as the tidal stream began earlier than the inshore passage.

The weather was glorious and it was shorts and t-shirt weather, or no shirt in my case!

There were a  large number of boats out for a day sail from Bangor Marina, however as we approached the lighthouse they all faded away and the open sea beckoned, As the wind was light and off the stern quarter it seemed a good oppertunity to fly the Gennaker, I wrestled with the unfamiliar setup and soon had it up and pulling, it set beautifully even though there was barely enough wind to ruffle the ensign.

We were 'Ghosting' along at over 4 knots.

As we entered the race known as the " Ram race" the largish waves knocked some of the wind out of our sails but I struggled on, determined to learn how best to trim the monster! As the wind came more on the beam our speed dropped, I pulled down on the tack and sheeted in and voila! Over 4 knots again. We sailed on into the evening, it was over 20 miles to the entrance to Strangford and as we approached the Skulmartin buoy the wind headed us and we dropped the Gennaker and rehoisted the Genoa. From being on a very broad reach we were now close hauled.

The wind continued to be light, and as the light faded we were given an amazing sunset which began as a rose tint and finished in gold flames.

The night deepened into inky black, and as we passed the fishing port of Portavogie we were forced to thread our way through a small fishing fleet who seemed hell bent on ignoring the Colregs. Not for the first time our AIS system proved invaluable. Fishermen, the taxi drivers of the sea!

We made good time to get down past the south rock and eventually the fairway buoy was abeam and we could turn for the run in to the narrow entrance, this was agin a buoy hopping exercise but made quite stressful by the pitch black moonless night and the fact that with the tide going with us we were doing over 9 knots over the ground! The huge boils and tidal surges were grabbing Dark Tarn and spinning her around like a toy. I was having to make big correction with the tiller to compensate while trying to keep oriented with the lights. We passed Portaferry and Strangford just as the ferry crossed, as the tide carried us further on any possibility of spending the night on a pontoon there was lost. We sped on  following the main marked channel and decided to try and find Ringhaddy sound. Unfortunately the actual channel is unlit, it's also absolutely chock full of moorings, a careful approach and a last minute detour to avoid the unlit ( and in the morning all too obvious ) spit sticking out halfway across the channel, we found a vacant mooring and after the second attempt picked it up and secured Dark Tarn for the night. We retired to the cockpit for a celebratory nightcap and then away to bed, it was after 2 am in the morning.

In the morning it was decided to vacate the mooring we had purloined and move on to Down cruising club.

This meant a short but intricate journey through the hemispherical islands and avoiding the underwater drumlins known as " pladdies", as we approached the channel separating Rainey island and Skeltrick Island the tide was running at about 3 knots, this made the approach to the pontoon fairly tricky but Lynne did a superb job of stepping off and quickly attaching a bow line while I ferry glided her in using the engine to hold her steady. All done with no drama and as usual when we pull things off perfectly no audience!

The club is famous for having as their clubhouse the lightship Petrel.

It certainly is an unusual place to house the usual 'facility's'.......

So all tucked up and comfortable, it felt a long way from the City we had recently been in!

We also were now back in a cash economy, I hadn't thought of that, it looked like a long walk to an ATM was going to be on the agenda for the afternoon.

Walk done a good six miles to the nearest ATM and shop at Balloo, however what a shop it is, an unassuming exterior hides a rabbit warren hiding a butchers an iron mongers, supermarket, stationers, newsagents and a coffee shop, it's brilliant. I managed to buy a couple of yachting magazines ( Lynne calls them my 'comics' ) I was unable to buy in Belfast. Long walk up a not particularly safe country road, if we had been patient the berthing officer for the sailing club would have given us a lift.On the way back we had to stop off at Daft Eddys on Sketrick Island for an ice cream before going back to the Lightship.

Oh and it really does light up at night!