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Weather forecast for 0400hrs on 29 May

This was the weather forecast that got us questioning whether it was wise to stay in Bantry overnight. During the previous evening, we had found that the wind had funnelled down Bantry Bay and that whilst the anchorage had shelter, there was an unsettled slop that pushed the boat about and made things uncomfortable. The forecast showed a stronger wind coming with gusts of up to 30knots. Despite the faff of stowing the dinghy and moving anchorages, we both felt that moving was the right thing to do.

Back in Glengarriff in almost the identical spot

So at 1605hrs, after stowing all of our food shopping, we raised anchor in Bantry and set off for Glengarriff. The sky was overcast and grey but the wind wasn’t particularly strong. However, as we motored the last mile into Glengarriff Bay we immediately noticed how smooth the water was. Another yacht, Marguerite, was just ahead of us entering the bay and happily she did the rounds of the mooring buoys and the channel close to Garinish Island to find a space they liked, which meant that we could hightail it to our favoured anchorage and settle down there with plenty of chain out to allow for the forecast winds. We dropped anchor at 1650hrs in almost the identical spot that we had been in before…

Marguerite, our close neighbour for the blow

… and 10 minutes later we were joined by Marguerite who had also decided that the western side of the bay was the most sheltered anchorage for the imminent blow.

And so it proved to be. It wasn’t until early on Friday 30 May that the wind abated enough for us to feel it was prudent to return to Bantry, but we were perfectly safe and secure anchored in Glengarriff and the pause did gave us a bit of time to catch up on admin. We subsequently spoke to Allan and Claire on board Moonstone of Aberdour and they had found that even being on a mooring buoy outside Bantry Harbour was uncomfortable.  They had spoken to the harbourmaster and a couple of the yachts in the marina had moved slightly to allow them to squeeze in for a few days. We were very glad we had decided to move back to Glengarriff.

Glengarriff Bay, West Cork, Republic of Ireland