As is often the case, it turned out to be even shittier than I’d feared. But once underway, there’s nothing you can do about it anyway, so you just take what comes. There’s really not much else to say about this 110-nautical-mile trip. It was very rough, wet, and windy, and I’m glad that, apart from a tear in the sprayhood seam caused by waves washing over the bow and a bit of water below deck (also from those waves), nothing else got damaged.
Around 2100, I had called the harbor again and had been assigned a berth. We arrived around 2 a.m. It was still blowing a force 6 in the harbor, and I had been in the cockpit for 22 hours and was pretty exhausted. Luckily, though, there was plenty of space, and we were able to moor at a Hammerhead again—everything went pretty smoothly.
After we’d checked in the next morning, customs came on board. When asked when and where Amy had last actually been boarded by customs, I told them April 2024 in Puerto de Vita, Cuba. I guess that came somewhat unexpected. Since it was unusually warm that day, I turned on the fan below deck and that was appreciated and everybody seemed to be in a relaxed mood, so when they asked if we were smuggling drugs, I asked them back how they thought we were financing all of this. Luckily, they had a good sense of humor, so the visit went by relatively quickly and was very friendly.
We took a little look around the town of Dun Laoghaire (pronounced “Dun Leeree,” as the customs officers had told us).
The next day, we took the train to Dublin. There, we walked around and visited various sightseeing spots. The city made a very beautiful, colorful, and culturally diverse impression, and we were thrilled—but also somehow quickly worn out by all the people and cars. One street musician really stood out because he was great and it was a lot of fun listening for a while.
On the following day we had to sew the sprayhood, oil some wooden parts, and rivet a joint on the spinnaker pole. We still had time for a walk along the water’s edge, during which we saw—and heard—seals sitting on a rock.
For the next day, we had made plans to meet Ray, whom I’d met two years ago in the Azores and who, via short satellite text messages had emergency-weather-routed me to the French coast after my forestay had broken. He’s an air traffic controller and knows a lot more about the weather than most of us do. Before that, Zissi had booked us a tour of the Trinity College Library, and after we’d spent a while on the beautiful campus, we headed straight to the pub.
There we met not only Ray but also some of his colleagues, who were toasting the fact that one of them had just become a father. It was great to see Ray again and we had a wonderful time, and took the train home, feeling slightly tipsy and realized that we hadn’t eaten anything yet. So, of course, we had to head straight to the nearest pub to grab a bite to eat and keep drinking Guinness.
The next day (Zissi’s last day before her flight home), we spent the day exploring our local area. We took a walk to Sandy Cove and the fourty foot (a recommendation from Ray’s colleague), where we enjoyed a very impressive guided tour of the James Joyce Museum.
After that, we went swimming for the very first time on this vacation—not counting my underwater hull cleaning off the coast of Rügen in 14 degrees of water temperature. People of all ages from all over town seem to go here for a swim after work or school. It’s a very beautiful spot, and the locals gave the impression that they are relaxing in a hot tub or taking a dip on a warm day somewhere in the Mediterranean. So we confidently waded in, only to realize to us it felt much more like a New Year’s Day swim challenge. We tried to look like we are doing this every day and not to show our shock. In the evening, at Zissi’s suggestion, we went to a pub with live music. It was a lot of fun and a great way to end the day.
On Saturday, I walked with Zissi to the bus to the airport and we said goodbye and then I went to do a big grocery run, fill up on diesel, and stock up on water. As had happened many times before, I felt not only sad but also immediately uncertain and anxious. I had planned to continue my journey tomorrow, heading toward Kilmore Quay on the south coast (a recommendation from Ray).