Dauntless Summer Cruise 2015 Day 01 New Ross Ireland to Scilly Islands

Woke up still on the hard at New Ross boatyard.  Stephen the owner, like virtually every Irish person I have had contact with in the last 8 months, was great.  Helpful, prompt; got me two fuse blocks I had decided I needed for the solar panels.

Just a wonderful experience form beginning to end.

We were splashed at 12:30 just after high tide.  Of course, I was not ready to go, so we tied up alongside and I spent the next hour, putting tools and stuff away that had been out over the weekend.  Also go the boat sea ready, which means getting all the stuff off the counters before it goes crashing to the floor.

Almost successful.   A few hours past Dunmore East in the open ocean, seas westerly at 2-3 feet, winds NNW at 15, I hear a crash and glass breaking.  I had forgotten to put the restraining clothes pin on the wine glass rack, thus a glass walked off to its doom.  But as Julie and I often say, you can never have too many $1 wine glasses from IKEA.

All in all a beautiful day.  Decided to take advantage of the light winds and not stop at Dunmore East, but to head directly for St. Mary’s in the Scilly Islands, just off Land’s End.

I neglected to do a few things which I had actually thought about, but then in this weird sense of I know better than myself, I out thought my own plans, and didn’t:

• Prepare the paravanes for deployment ({paravanes, why would I need paravanes?) and,
• Put my Scopolamine patch on, (sea sickness, I’m sure after 8 months on land, I don’t have to worry about getting seasick).

Passing Dunmore East, I was already feeling strange.  That feeling got worse until I realized I was getting sea sick and put the patch on.  That was at 16:00.  It’s now 21:00 and I can write this because the sea sickness if finally gone and I feel normal.  I would have felt fine all day had I stuck to my well thought out plan and put the patch on before we left New Ross because I know it takes hours to take effect on me.

And of course, we feeling the worst, I realized we needed to deploy the paravanes. As we got into the sound, we started rolling 5 to 8° in each direction.  So, feeling like crap, I am up on the fly bridge with Larry, trying to show him what we need to do.

Only took 15 minutes.  Had I prepared beforehand, it would have taken 2!

Karla will have the late night watch, from 21:00 to 02:00; Larry from 02:00 to 05:00 and I’ll sleep on the bench in the pilot house, knowing it will be a more restful sleep there.

Do not expect much traffic and all systems are working well.  The AIS did warn us of one fishing boat just off the coast.

Author: Richard on Dauntless

I’m an eclectic person, who grew up in New York, lived overseas for many years and have a boat, Dauntless, a 42 foot Kadey Krogen trawler yacht. Dauntless enables me to not only live in many different parts of the world, but to do it in a way that is interesting, affordable, with the added spice of a challenge. Dauntless also allows me to be in touch with nature. As the boat glides through the ocean, you have a sense of being part of a living organism. When dolphins come to frolic, they stay longer if you are out there talking to them, watching them. Birds come by, sometimes looking for a handout; sometimes grateful to find a respite from their long journey. I grew up on the New York waterfront, in the West Village, when everything west of Hudson St. was related to shipping and cargo from around the world. For a kid, it was an exciting place of warehouses, trucks, and working boats of all kinds: tugs and the barges and ships, cargo and passenger, they were pushing around. My father was an electrical engineer, my mother an intellectual, I fell in between. I have always been attracted to Earth’s natural processes, the physical sciences. I was in 8th grade when I decided to be a Meteorologist. After my career in meteorology, my natural interest in earth sciences: geology, astronomy, geography, earth history, made it a natural for me to become a science teacher in New York City, when I moved back to the Big Apple. Teaching led to becoming a high school principal to have the power to truly help kids learn and to be successful not only in school but in life. Dauntless is in western Europe now. In May and June, I will be wrapping up the last two years in northern Europe, heading south to spend the rest of the year in Spain & Portugal. Long term, I’m planning on returning to North American in the fall of 2017 and from there continuing to head west until we’re in Northeast Asia, Japan and South Korea, where we will settle for a bit. But now, my future lies not in NY or even Europe, but back to the water, where at night, when the winds die down, there is no noise, only the silence of the universe. I feel like I am at home, finally. View all posts by Richard on Dauntless