After effectively a day of rest we walked to see James Fort, across the river from Charles Fort but not as interesting as there was no access into the fort itself.  Apparently there were chains laid across the river bed between the two forts which could be lifted off the river bed to tear the bottoms out of any maurading ships!  

After some shopping we moved off the marina to anchor in the river again before setting off for Glandore on Monday morning.  Melody arrived into Kinsale while we were breakfasting but by the time we were sorted they had hot footed into the town for breakfast so we didn’t get chance to say hello.
The trip to Glandore was uneventful, bright sunshine but a bit chilly and never quite enough wind to achieve a decent speed under sail so we motor sailed for most of the day.

A third of the way into the trip, off Seven Heads, we caught up with another yacht behaving very strangely, letting her Genoa flap then tacking with the Genoa aback.  At one stage she seemed to be heading back to Kinsale but she turned around again and followed us.  When she got closer we noticed she still had 3 fenders over the side, very odd.  We speculated as to whether the crew had been drinking or were novices or people smugglers!  We opted to hang back and let them go into Glandore ahead of us. We were in, anchored off Union Hall, and tidied up while they were still motoring around deciding what to do.  All very strange!
Union Hall is a fishing harbour with plenty of fishing boat traffic.  The village itself was quite pleasant but quiet on the bank holiday.  A walk around helped stretch our legs.

Tuesday was forecasting much stronger winds from the SE, up to force 6 at times, so we expected a rapid downhill ride for the 31.8 miles to Crookhaven.  We were not disappointed.  With 2 reefs in the main and 3 reefs in the Genoa we were soon up to 7 knots. At each leg of our course we had to bear away so that we were reaching at 8 knots for most of the time.  Our last leg, from Cape Clear Island to Crookhaven was dead downwind with big seas and wind up to 30 knots at times.  Dead downwind was too dodgy so we broad reached, putting in two gybes on the way.  

By this time it was raining heavily and the visibility had closed in but we were still able to pick up the Rock Island light at the entrance to Crookhaven and were soon into sheltered waters, picking up a mooring off O’Sullivans bar at 14.45.  Still raining heavily so we tidied up ship and got down below to dry out with the Eberspacher.
We were planning to linger in Crookhaven for a day as we wanted to try and visit the Mizen Head signal station where Marconi developed wireless telegraphy and sent the first transatlantic wireless communication.  We thought we could walk there but Dermot, the landlord of O’Sullivan’s put us off the idea then kindly offered to lend us his car!  The visit was well worth it, not just for the history of wireless communication but also for the twisted and folded rock formations which formed the sea cliffs.

 The bridge crossing the inlet to the signal station was also a fantastic piece of engineering.  The original bridge was replaced in 2011 by a new pedestrian bridge which had to be built around the existing bridge, which was demolished as the new structure was built, a fantastic feat of construction.

The other reason for lingering was that Diana, our now sadly deceased, neighbour in Torquay had a brother, the film production director Geoffrey Kirkland, who now owns some of the properties associated with the Rock Island light.  

Diana’s granddaughter, Ashley, had been in contact so we knew that Geoffrey was in the USA but his friend and location director, Rory Enke, was at the house and came over to meet us in O’Sullivans for a beer and a chat, after which Rory took us to Rock Island and told us about some of the history of the properties when they were owned by Irish Lights.  We finished off the day with a good dinner at Nottages restaurant, next door to and run by O’Sullivans.  All in all a good day.

After a quiet night in New Grimsby Sound we opted to leave on Wednesday morning in bright sunshine but with a variable forecast, wind variable 3 or less, becoming NW 3 or 4, occasionally 5. The outlook was N or NW 3 or 4 occasionally 6 becoming variable.  A very mixed bag but we reckoned over the length of the passage to Kinsale, motoring in the quieter bits, and making use of the lee bow effect of the tide we wouldn’t sail too much further than the 135 mile straight line distance.  WRONG!!

Outside the Northern entrance to New Grimsby Sound the wind was firmly NW, force 3 to 4.  With North East going tide for a few hours we opted to head West on Starboard tack until the tide slackened then tack on to port.  The wind wasn’t having any of that although we did get a few hours of W wind allowing us to sail almost straight towards Kinsale.  

The strength and direction varied a lot.  By the time it was getting dark we were down to 2 reefs in the main and the 2nd reef mark on the genoa.  In the dark with a lumpy sea it was very difficult to sail hard on the wind, increasing our distance sailed.  The autopilot did a much better job than we could at steering to the wind.  It’s a shame we don’t generate quite enough power to leave it on all the time!
Sleeping when off watch was also hard work, with the boat moving around a lot and the noise of the wind and waves.  We were doing 3 hour watches although it usually took at least 1/2 an hour for the off watch person to make drinks, use the loo, get kit off etc.  The wind strength also varied in the night, needing reefs to be shaken out and put back in again.  By Thursday morning the wind was NW 20 knots with rain, backing to the W and increasing to 25 knots by lunchtime then gradually easing and backing further to SW in the afternoon.  By late afternoon the wind had dropped away and the engine went on for the last 2 hours of the passage.
At 18.40 we were entering the river, a bit after our 1500 ETA.  We opted to anchor in the river overnight and move into the yacht club marina in the morning.  No point in paying marina fees when we were not needing the facilities.  So, dinner at anchor, a glass or two and a peaceful night’s sleep.  199 miles sailed rather than 135 anticipated.  Hey ho!

On Friday morning we moved onto Kinsale Yacht Club visitors pontoon and met our friend Mathilde, who was working in the office and had made people aware that we were coming.  Gerard, Mathilde’s husband, was at work and they were going away for the bank holiday so we will miss the chance of an evening with the two of them.  We’ll have to come back!  Paul, the club manager, was more than helpful, sorting out access cards, laundry tokens, WiFi and the like and dinner at the club was excellent.
We haven’t decided when to move on yet, today has been very cold and David has been suffering with a bad cough for a few days.  A trip to the local surgery (on a Saturday morning!) resulted in a course of antibiotics and a request to rest.  A couple of overnight passages obviously didn’t count as rest!
On Saturday afternoon Debbie met Ruth, living aboard a yacht close to us in the marina.  Having been an offshore welder Ruth is now training to be a veterinary nurse!  She is also one of the crew of the Kinsale lifeboat and, over a cup of tea, offered us a tour of the lifeboat station.  The station has a new Atlantic 85, Miss Sally Anne (Baggy) II, housed in a 9 year old purpose built building.  Makes the Brixham station look quite old but the team spirit amongst the crew seems similar to the Torbay crew.

The day after our visit to Tresillick house dawned bright and breezy but the forecast showers stayed away and we walked around the entire perimeter walk around the Trelissick estate and added on a visit to Roundwood Quay and the Iron Age fort at Roundwood, a scheduled ancient monument.  The quay at Roundwood, now on the drying Lamouth Creek was once a thriving deep water trading port.

On Friday the incoming storm was starting to make itself felt, with strong winds and rain squalls.  We managed a short trip up the river to the site of the Smugglers Cottage, which we remembered as a popular stop for cream teas in our holidays when Richard and Robyn were small.  Long since closed, all the D Day landing memorabilia was gone and the cottage is now a private house, all the character gone.  Back on board we kept out of the rain.

On Saturday Storm Hannah was at its worst with very strong winds and rain only easing slightly in the evening, but by the next morning the storm was replaced with drizzle and no wind.  We left our mooring and returned to Falmouth Haven to top up our diesel and water tanks and to plug into shore power to fully top up the batteries in preparation for sailing on Monday afternoon.  On Sunday afternoon we had a long walk around Falmouth to loosen up after our enforced stay on the boat.  Returning to the marina we saw that ‘Melody’ a Sigma 292 owned by Dave Snow and Katie had arrived at the start of their Round Britain sail.  Dave and Katie have been fellow crew members racing on ‘Veto’ in Torbay.  They were planning to sail to the Isles of Scilly on Monday afternoon.  Our plan was to sail towards the Scillies and then decide whether to call in or carry on to Ireland.  Over tea and fruit cake on Lacerta we met the rest of Melody’s crew, Steve, Katie’s father and Charlie, a fellow doctor who looked impossibly young, or is it me getting older.

The afternoon sailing time was planned to get the maximum advantage out of West going tide but did mean arriving in the middle of the night.  The trip started in a good 15 knot SE breeze which died off as we approached the Lizard.  

With not enough breeze to keep the sails filled in the swell we reverted to the engine for a while.  Melody, behind us, managed to keep sailing a bit longer.  While under power we were called by a car carrier, ‘Victory Leader’, who was overtaking us to say that he was going to overtake us on our port side and we could hold our course, very reassuring to know that she had seen us and was obeying the Col Regs.

Just after a fine sausage and bean casserole dinner and as it was getting dark the wind veered to the South and increased, allowing us to sail again, making 6 or 7 knots at times.  As the forecast outlook was for a further veer in the wind to the NW, bang on the nose for Kinsale we opted to head into St Mary’s harbour.  It turned into a very dark night, difficult to see the plotter and instruments and maintain night vision.  We set watches with Debbie off from 9 to 11 then David from 11 to 2 then Debbie again from 2 to 5, by which time we should be in.  We sailed much faster than planned so by 0200 we were approaching St Mary’s Sound so no kip for Debbie.  As we were reasonably familiar with the entrance we went in, probably too fast with a bit of scary pilotage but once through the sound we knew we had plenty of space for taking sails down ready to enter the harbour, picking up a mooring and being settled down by 0400.  Katie, behind us, took a more cautious approach and slowed down to wait for dawn before coming in at about 0630.

After a few hours kip, a late breakfast and lunch, we have moved across to New Grimsby Sound ready for heading for Ireland tomorrow.  Melody is hanging around for a few more days to watch the gig racing championships so our next chance of meeting up is on the West Coast of Scotland in a few weeks time.

After Monday’s events Tuesday was much quieter.  We moved the boat to an alongside berth to make it easier when Falmouth Harbour Marine Services came to do the epoxy repair on our sump pump pipe.  Cove, Nick’s son arrived in the late morning and proceeded to thoroughly clean the repair area and apply 3 coats of epoxy.  It was then a matter of waiting 24 hours for the epoxy to thoroughly cure before we could start the engine.  We passed the time doing a big shop to stock with fresh food, including some vacuum packed meat from the local butcher and a couple of freshly caught pollack fillets which we ate in the evening.  

With the weather forecast looking grim we made plans to stay in the area for a few days.  We ran the engine mid morning and all seemed well so we decided to motor up the Fal and anchor off Lamouth Creek so we could take the dinghy down to the ferry pontoon to visit Trelissick House.  We had a choice of anchoring or picking up one of 3 mooring buoys.  Trying all the options to get the best combination of enough depth but sufficiently out of the main current took a while, hence the spaghetti of our track!

 We eventually settled down to a late lunch, then got the dinghy over the side and motored down to the pontoon by King Harry Ferry.
Although we were a bit short of time Trelissick House, like most National Trust properties, was well worth the visit, containing lots of memorabilia of the Copeland family, who owned the Staffordshire pottery company, Spode.  The gardens were extensive with spectacular views down Carrick Roads.  

As there is severe weather forecast on Friday night and Saturday we may be here a while.  The winds are showing backing round to the East on Monday/Tuesday so that may be the best time for moving on if the sea state has calmed down.
If we can miss the forecast showers today we plan some woodland walks through the Trelissick gardens, and we’re still well stocked with books!

Unfortunately we’ve had to give up with our blogspot site, blogger is just too difficult with an IPad.  So this is our first post using WordPress.

We are still in Falmouth having joined the flotilla escorting Robin Knox- Johnston across the Golden Globe race finishing line for the second time in 50 years.

As Lacerta is still out of action with a split sump pump pipe we hitched a ride on ‘Maunie’, a Vancouver 38 deck saloon cutter with our new found friends, Dianne and Graham, who we met at the Cruising Association buffet lunch at the Chain Locker yesterday.  They have now left for St Mawes and to make their way back to Dartmouth while we have paid another visit to the Chain Locker for dinner and free WiFi!

Dianne photographing Suhaili and Lively Lady crossing the finish line.

Maunie on her way to St Mawes.

While at the CA lunch yesterday Debbie met up with a lady called Gina and discovered that she is Ken Falcon’s partner.  Debbie first met Ken when Fireball sailing at Chew Valley Lake and more recently at Laser events as Ken was principal race officer for the Laser association for many years.  Gina and Ken are also hoping to cruise the West Coast of Ireland although a few weeks after we do.