Sailing to Kinsale County Cork Republic of Ireland

Departing Dartmouth

Blue Velvet headed out of Dartmouth at 1140hrs on Saturday 17 May and by the time we reached Start Point, the nearest headland to the south, the cloud had burned off and we had glorious blue sky weather once more. We slipped into our normal watch routine with me spending the afternoon asleep, whilst Nicky dodged starboard tack boats off Salcombe and then set us up for the long broad reach towards Lizard. By dinner time the wind had dropped significantly and we had to motor to make the tidal gate. Fortunately, when Nicky came back up on deck at midnight, a combination of increased wind and a tighter angle to the wind as we headed up to lay Longships meant that we could switch the engine off again. Back on watch at 0400hs I took us up to just south of Longships lighthouse and then turned to cross the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) at right angles.

Crossing the TSS with Land’s End just visible on the horizon

It was an easy crossing of the TSS and whilst there were a few ships, we just sailed across and deconflicted easily. Once across the TSS the Isles of Scilly were visible off to our left and we turned to set Blue Velvet up for the 120nm to Kinsale.

Dolphin escort

We continued on, sailing on a beam reach in bright sunshine with ‘Georgina’ the Hydrovane looking after the steering and Nicky and me swapping watches every 4 hours or so. The most significant change was that the wind became fairly light at lunchtime so during our watch change, whilst we were both up to do the work, we set the Code 0. It’s a type of lightweight genoa, set on a bowsprit, with a torsion rope furler and is supposed to be controlled by a sheet/sheets led aft to about the quarter, much like an MPS/asymmetric spinnaker. We’ve used it very little since we got it a couple of years ago and have struggled to find the right set-up, primarily due to worries about the sheet catching on and ripping off the solar panels. However, this time we tried sheeting it through the spare genoa car positioned right at the aft end of the genoa car track. That worked extremely well and took away the snagging risk and potential damage to the solar panels. The Code 0 made a huge difference to our speed which increased to 6-7knots at 60-75 degrees to the wind, and we flew it until 1600hrs when the wind had picked up to 12-13knots, at which wind speed the white sails do just as well.

Sunset on Sunday 18 May about 60nm south of Kinsale

The overnight watches were lovely with gentle sailing over very smooth seas. At midnight when I took over the watch, the loom of Cork’s cultural lights had appeared on the horizon and we were expecting to arrive in Kinsale just after dawn.  However, as we approached the land, the wind headed us so that we couldn’t lay the Old Head of Kinsale.  When I handed over to Nicky at 0330hrs she spent the next 90mins beating the final 8nm or so (as the crow flies) to the entrance to Kinsale when I joined her again on deck again for the arrival into port.

Dropping anchor by Charles’ Fort. Rhys and Niamh’s blue Zora was anchored right under the
castle walls; a beautiful spot in the fabulous conditions

With our yellow customs flag and Irish courtesy ensign flying at the cross trees, we had intended to go all the way into the harbour, pick up one of the visitors buoys and then go over to the harbour office to do arrival formalities. However, we spotted that Rhys, the OCC Port Officer for Kinsale, and his wife Niamh had anchored beside Charles’ Fort which guards the eastern side of the entrance to the harbour. It was a lovely spot in the settled weather, so we dropped anchor close by and inflated our dinghy before setting off for a slightly longer run to visit the Harbour Master.

Arrivals formalities completed and back by Charles’ Fort we were able to meet Rhys and Niamh properly and arranged to meet up later for drinks. We had been very lucky with an extremely easy crossing. Overall, we had sailed 264 miles in 43 hours averaging just over 6 knots which was not at all bad for a heavy cruising yacht in mostly less than 10 knots of wind. By taking advantage of the favourable wind direction we had made great progress west and set ourselves up to enjoy cruising the beautiful south west coast of Ireland.

Kinsale, Country Cork, Republic of Ireland