Ireland – Page 2 – Dauntless at Sea

Rock’in and Roll’in All Night

Waterford is by pencil point. Look at the strong gradient.

That’s what we’ve been doing all night. Winds have been 20 gusting to 35 since yesterday afternoon. Waterford is in a relatively sheltered spot in Ireland, so I’m guessing the winds are really howling in the north and west.

During the night, it was like I was sleeping in one of those rocking cribs. Really nice; made even nicer knowing I am tied to a dock that isn’t going anywhere. It even made me think about why I don’t miss our beautiful Manhattan apartment with the roof top garden oasis, we built a few years ago. I did the design and found a carpenter to do all the hard work. The apartment is now rented; we may sell it this summer. But lying in bed last night, feeling the rocking motion of the water, brought home to me how close I am to nature here and how comforting that is. So while I miss my NY friends; the apartment Julie and I loved so much for 7 years, less so.

20130619_122134 (from Home Dell N2) — Our Manhattan Roof Top Garden & Oasis

Fundamentally, maybe that’s why in the middle of the Atlantic, thousands of miles from anywhere, we were at peace. In fact, the lure of the blue ocean, to just jump in, was unbelievably strong. Never something to fear, we embraced it. The ocean was also noticeably saltier than near the coast.

Back to now, these winds would have been much more stressful if we were on anchor. I would have gotten only a few hours’ sleep, at most.

The main reason for lack of sleep on anchor is that in spite of the various anchor alarms I use (alarms that use GPS and sound an alarm if we move a specified distance). On numerous occasions, I have convinced myself that we are moving laterally. I don’t think I have ever been right either, but the feeling is so strong, I must get out of bed, and run to the pilot house, prepared to fire up the engine at the first sign of danger. Being in a dark forward cabin is one of the factors that cause this. It has certainly made me even more aware of the dangers of vertigo that pilots face in dark, FIR conditions. And the only cure trusts your instruments and not your brain.

So for the last few hours I have been finishing the pilot house reorganization. 90% of the stuff is put away and I’ve just been doing the odds and ends today. I’m writing this post now, sitting in the salon, because while in the pilot house not long ago, I realized I was getting sea sick!

Yes, tied to a dock, going no place, I was getting sea sick. Maybe I just needed a little water, but that is usually the first sign. 20 minutes later, I’m fine now. I think having my head under the helm station for an inordinate amount of time was the culprit. But we are also bouncing in a non-rhythmic way. Since Dauntless is tied to a floating dock, under such conditions, the lines pull on the dock, resulting in a jarring motion.

I’ll adjust the lines again. I let you know the results.

Not Much is New

I haven’t posted much in the last weeks, because, at least in my mind, I haven’t done much.

I got back from NY last Tuesday and promptly got a cold. That forced me to rest and by drinking a lot of

I feel almost like new again.

I’m in the last stages of the big reorganization, or probably better described, the first organization. Hey, I’m slow sometimes. It’s taken me two years to figure out, what I need where.

I have also firmed up our cruising plan for July and August. June and September is more vague, but I am planning on leaving Waterford May 25^th.

phone 142 — Mary in one of her more resigned moods, wearing my hat.

That’s my mother’s birthday, so it’s fitting, as Dauntless has replaced my mother, in so many ways.

Dauntless in Waterford March 2015 — Dauntless in Waterford
March 2015

Lessons Learned Living on a Boat in Northern Europe

So far, as I learn something new every day; I’m sure to keep on learning and even on my last day on Earth, I know I’ll learn something new; like how I die!

Having kicked the cans down the road of Greece and the Ukraine, we can now talk about boats again.

So, what have I learned up to now living on Dauntless in Northern Europe:

Waterford has turned out to far exceed my expectations and at this point, it is hard to think that I could find a better place anywhere in Europe for next year. I have 10 minute walk to the bus that whisks me to the airport in Dublin for only 20 Euros. In NYC, it takes 90 minutes to go 12 miles and that includes three train changes, which means many staircases, up and down. (We got a man to the moon 50 years ago, but NYC still cannot keep an escalator running more than a day or two before it breaks down for three months).

The Waterford City Marina, being right downtown, has given me the best of all worlds. On one hand, I am five minutes from downtown and only a 15 min walk to my favorite bakery and butcher. Yet the dock itself is very secure with a gate that is electronically activated, but it also has a chain and lock, making it really secure. The first few times I left Dauntless for any length of time, I was really nervous, but now only a little bit.

The people in Ireland are very nice, like Midwesterners, but with a NY attitude, meaning they are loud, talk fast and curse a lot, and really nice in doing it and helpful all the time.

Having Julie in NY, Dublin is only a 6 hour plane ride away and the tickets are about 60% of the cost of flying to the continent. So it’s terribly convenient and already, while I like exploring new places, for our next and last winter in Europe, I will be hard pressed to find someplace that has all that Waterford and Ireland offer.

I’m fluent in the language, for the most part. There have been a few times, that not understanding something and having them repeat it three times, I am still clueless and just hope for the best at that point. The first time this happened, one of the passengers on the bus could tell that I did not understand and explained in words I could understand.

I haven’t gotten run over yet crossing the street, only because I look in both directions three, that’s 3 times, before I step off the curb. And every time I do, I think of all of those who thought crossing the Atlantic was dangerous. I’m far more likely to die crossing the street here.

The Lexan storm windows that Julie, Richard and I made and installed in the last days and hours in Rhode Island, have really made a difference. While on the ocean they gave us peace of mind, since I have been here, I am so pleased that they really insulate the boat. Dauntless is far warmer, having the double pane up. In addition, I so not have any condensation problems, as the glass windows stay just warm enough. Two of the storm windows in the pilot house are 4 inches short, and it that one spot, I do get some condensation on really cold days. Well, I did, but have not seen any in two months.

Even without the Wallas heater, this Krogen stays warm and dry. I have been using a little 2000 watt electric heater when I am on the boat. But I have been so pleased that I do not have the dampness and condensation problems I have read about by many who live on their boats in the winter.

I have like 10 lines on the boat, all 5/8” thick. The Fastnet boat docked behind me, a steel boat used to ferry crew to the oil platforms, about the same size as Dauntless, has 4 lines, and they are not even ½”, probably 3/8”.

I suppose that’s the difference between docking a boat that is also our home and a work boat.

The Pity Party

I was feeling sorry for myself last night.

As I laid myself down in bed, this intense loneliness came over me. Hadn’t talked to any friends in a few days, and was reminded again that so far the only down side of this boating, moving home life, is being seemingly cut off from those close to me at times.

And as I’ve lamented before, even those close to me seem fewer, are fewer.

But then as I write this, being objective, I am forced to remember the wonderful times I just had in Italy: an abundance of time, connecting with those whom I have known more than half of my entire life, the true intimacy of friendship. People I can be so open with, because they have truly seen the good, the bad and the ugly in my life. But I wasn’t thinking of that last night.

No, last night, I had a terrible headache and just thinking about why seemed to make it worse, as it usually does. Especially since I knew it was due to drinking red wine and eating dark chocolate.

Then finally I said enough of the pity party.

I’ve just a wonderfully hot shower, I lying in a warm, cozy bed and I have enough fuel to go 2300 nm, 4000 km, that’s all the way to Nova Scotia, or north of the Yuzhny Island (Banana Island for those in the know), or the Cape Verde Islands, or the west coast of Africa.

The world is my oyster and I only have to open it.

So, give yourself a pat on the back and go to sleep.

I did.

And this morning the Lyric FM, a wonderful Irish classical music station,

Dauntless 2015

2015 starts for me like a blast from the past. Meaning, for the first time in a very long time, I don’t have this tremendous weight pressing on me. The challenges of the last 15 years have been overcome, and the fact that I am writing this while in Ireland, on Dauntless, means we have been successful.

Only in the last week however has this really sunk in, though maybe sunk is not the best term.

Since the end of our Atlantic Passage, the last four months have been a blur of activity. Since September, I have traveled to and around:

England,
the Netherlands,
driven up and down the coast of the United States, from NYC to Florida and back, then
flew to Denver, then
Seattle and Mt. Rainier, returning to
NYC for a day, before
flying back to Ireland for a day before
flying to Italy for three weeks.

And I’m not even a Medallion on Delta Airlines anymore for the first time in 25 years!

Finally, by the third week in Italy, under the loving care of long of friends wo are more than even family, I was able to decompress and appreciate just how much we have done in the past few years.

And even take a breath. Getting back to Dauntless this past Saturday at 3:30 a.m. and finding her in the exact same mess I left her in so suddenly weeks earlier, was a relief. Just as I tried not to worry about the consequence of an engine failure in the middle of the Atlantic, I also tried not to worry about the Boat, while I was thousands of miles away and there was nothing to be done in any case.

It worked, but as the Dublin to Waterford bus got ever closer in a windy, rain storm, my imagination did start to become hyper active. So it was with great relief to find her, all as I left her, with no vagrants living aboard, still afloat and the lights still on (signifying the fridge and freezer were getting power).

As I was flogging my little rental car driving from Budoia to Bergamo for my late evening flight, I thought about the last months and all we have accomplished. A real feeling of contentment came over me. Knowing that even getting all of the traveling done this past fall, now allows me to concentrate on the projects that need to get done in the coming months. Maybe I’ll even put away the crap that has been in the second cabin since before we left the U.S.! That’s the real reason we have guests on board, it forces me to clean and organize.

It’s now Monday morning, 12 January 2015, and as I write this one of my projects is already done. I replaced my 120v radio with an automotive one of 12 volts. This stereo system was the last thing that was demanding I run the power inverter, to turn my 12 volt battery power to 120 v household current. Since the radio only used about 1 amp, but the inverter used 3 amps, it constantly irked my sense of efficiency.

And with every project completion, I learn a little more about the boat and every time I think I understand something, I learn a bit more. I have become a far more resourceful person in the last few years. In large part due to the Trawler Forum and Cruisers Forum; on Trawler Forum in particular, I have learned so much, but one of the most important lessons is there is seldom one right answer. If I were to ask an innocuous question like, “While tied to the dock this winter, should I start the engine periodically?” The answers would range from: “What, you have an engine” to “What, you turned off your engine?” But this range of responses is helpful in helping me see there are always many solutions to any particular issue. It helps my open minded brain be even more open minded.

But I still find I do many things two or even three times before getting it just right. For example, yesterday, I pulled two cables thru the boat, from the engine room to the pilot house, quite pleased with myself, until I realized that I had a three wire cable I should have used. So after ruminating about that for an hour, I decided to replace one of the wires with the new one, and leave the one unused for now. Finally getting into my cozy bed at midnight, I realized that I needed to change the on/off power source, which I did promptly this morning, but not before moving the wrong wire at first and wondering why nothing was working.

I’m quite entertaining at times.

Dauntless’ Spring & Summer 2015 Cruise Plans

Currently Dauntless is wintering over in Waterford, Ireland, a wonderful town in the southeast of the country, full of really nice, interesting, outgoing people. Ireland has so exceeded my expectations, it will be hard not to return next winter, but we have six months of exploring and cruising before that decision must be made.

As of now, I am subject to the 90 days out of 180 days Schengen Visa requirements. Worst case, this means I can only be in the Schengen area for 90 days and I would then plan those 90 days to be 1 June to 1 Sept. There is a possibility that the Schengen area countries will offer a 180 day Visa in the near future. That clearly would solve my issues and I could stay in the Schengen area for April, May and September.

Ireland, Scotland, the U.K. and the Channel Islands are all out of the Schengen area.

So worst case, only 90 days,is once I leave Ireland in the spring, stopping in France and Belgium only for a week or so, before retreating to the Channel Islands. Then by the end of May, start heading east, first into Holland, then Germany ending up in Gdansk by mid-July, starting our Baltic explorations as described below.

Spring and Summer 2015 Cruise Plan

When	Where	What
March	Waterford, Ireland	Prepare Dauntless for the cruising season
Early April	Depart for France/Belgium	Channel Islands, enter French Canals, Dunkerque-Escaut, in NE France or go to Belgium direct
April, May	France/Belgium or Channel Islands	Explore NE France & Belgium Canals, subject to our Air Draft of 4.5m
June	Head NE, Belgium, Holland and Germany	Find the most interesting route to the Kiel Canal, the Baltic adventure begins
End of July	Germany and Poland	Eastern Germany and Poland, Gdansk last two weeks of July
August	Baltic Republics	Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland. Russia?
September	The Baltic or the North Sea	Finland, Sweden, Baltic Republics, Russia???
October	Winter Haven?	Returning to Ireland ,Scotland or the Orkney’s

Life is Good

I’ve been out of touch.

I just got back to NY last week, but I have been somewhat discombobulated, in that I have not had my laptop computer because we had a little accident.

It’s dark; it’s 05:15 a.m., the Dublin bus leaves at 5:30. I’m hurrying; suitcase is top heavy, because I put all my electronics in the top compartment, for easy removal at the airport.

It’s dark; I lean over the rail of Dauntless to stand the suitcase on the dock. I let go and am stunned to see it topple over into the River Suir. I jump off the boat onto dock, get on my knees, not worrying about my suit and fish the suitcase out of the water before it gets carried downstream in the swift current and floats off into the Atlantic.

I was pleased it hadn’t sunk and was not in the water more than 10 seconds.

Hopeful that my electronics had not gotten wet, laptop, tablet, Kindle and iPod, I didn’t have time to check as I had to literally run to catch the bus to Dublin. Only 500 meters, so the driver was able to see me scurrying up the last block, so he waited and I boarded the almost empty bus.

This was the milk run, taking an hour and half longer than the direct run, but finally, four hours later, at the airport, I open my suitcase.

Well, there were no fish inside, but everything was wetter than I had expected, though not dripping water, just wet, but not dripping water 🙂 I wiped everything dry and hoped for the best.

I was hopeful all would be OK.

When I got home to NYC, I let everything dry for two days before attempting to power up.

Wrong, right, wrong, almost wrong.

The laptop is still away having the mother board replaced. $200.
The tablet was fine.
The iPod needed a new hard drive $59 and then it took me a full day to get it to sync (I had to re-index the music files).
The Kindle took another three days to recover, but was then OK.

So, my lesson learned, even packed away, I will pack all electronics devices in plastic bags from now on.

But I must say, having crossed the Atlantic has changed my perspective of everything.

Incidents like this that would have caused all sorts of major anguish in the past, due to my own stupidity, are now just minor annoyances.

And for all those four hours on the bus to Dublin, I thanked the Fates for getting me to Ireland safe and sound, for landing me in such a nice land with wonderful, friendly people, like the bus driver who waited for me, which is so typical of the people in Ireland and lastly, I was thankful that the stupid bag hadn’t sunk or otherwise been swept away.

Basically, I’m much less hard on myself.

Life is Good and I can’t wait to get back on the water.

Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker

As I got off the bus today, pleased with myself that I am starting to understand the bus routes, I headed to my first stop, the butcher, you know, the butcher who showed me his meat last week.

So he asked me how much pork belly I wanted and I told him it was just for me, so he cut me, what turned out to be 4 ribs and then cut it again, telling me as he wrapped the now two packages that I could freeze one. The pork belly here is sold as the pork belly we get in NY plus the ribs that we don’t get. So tasty. I did marinate it for a few hours in a Korean style marinade (but I keep the skin dry).

I then headed to the baker, Cupcake Couture. Their cupcakes are to die for. It puts the overpriced, oversweet, over chemicaled cupcakes of the specially places in NY, in their proper place, much like Crumbs Inc., RIP.

This small place has only two showcases of baked goods and they don’t try to be everything to everyone. They pride themselves on “All goods are crafted by hand in front of your eyes in the open kitchen”. Umm, I wondered why the guy serving me had a chef’s uniform on covered in flour. If you ever come to Ireland, come soon and I’ll take you there and you too will know heaven.

The last stop, not the candlestick maker, but the electric shop where I exchanged the three ton transformer that had stopped working when I plugged it in the first time. Maybe it was only 40 lbs., but I had walked to the place on Saturday afternoon, only to discover that these people have a life. Pretty much all shops are closed by mid-afternoon Saturday. Let’s not even talk about Sunday. Anyway, it’s nice being in a culture that values everyone’s time off, I told myself as I trudged back to the boat on Saturday. But today they were so nice; didn’t make me feel guilty for wanting to return or exchange it. I hate returning things, even when they don’t work. Much like my father, who while I was growing up I thought was too timid; my mother was the exact opposite, who would insist I take her to buy whatever only to return it the next week. That was harder than crossing the ocean. But the combination made them good parents and they knew to always have a united front in front of the kids; even when they argued!

So I finally have my electrical issues sorted out. The Vitrifrigo fridge and freezer are now on 240v shore power and the boat batteries are charging my cell phone and computer, but not much else. So, now leaving the boat will be less traumatic and I am going to the territory of the Angles on Wednesday.

Reflections on Ireland & Being a Continual Learner

My first full day back in Ireland and Waterford.

Started the day with Genny for an hour. Doing everything I ask, what a sweetheart. She gets us warm and toasty all over and knows enough to save some for later.:–)

In the next days, I must deal with a few issues. I need a long term way to keep the batteries up, warm the boat and have hot water. Genny makes it for me, but she is expensive and whines a bit. I need a solution that costs me little, is quiet and will do anyting I ask for as long as I want.

Typical Man.

So today, walked up the hill, passing some of my favorite Waterford places: the auto/marine store, the electrical place and then, today’s real destination, two bakeries: one that does the best cupcakes and the other, Hickey’s, that makes the best bread, chewy, tasty, with a firm crust. Bread to die for. I get there at 1:30 p.m. They are already closed! What, a baker that knows fresh bread is about the morning. This is how we got the saying: “you snooze, you lose”

By the way, doesn’t it bother anyone that in English, snooze and lose sound the same? So ooz=se and you wonder why kids have a hard time with spelling. Maybe that’s why everyone pronounces my name “boast”. Easy grammar rules, but pronunciations that make no sense. Remember that the next time you inwardly roll your eyes trying to understand a non-native speaker.

So, back to my first love, observing stuff.

I go to the butcher shop next door and ask about the bakery hours. They inform me that they close at 1:00 p.m.; I’ve already accepted that, and am now looking at his meat. I see 4 lamp chops for $5.25; I get them. I then ask about pork belly, but add that I’m not going to buy it now. He still goes to the back to get it and brings out this 3 foot long piece to show me. It looks great, he talks about the bone and the “rind” makes it so tasty. Yes, we do love pork belly too. At $2.50/lb. I say that’s a real bargain. He agrees and says that pork is cheap in Ireland. I say that in the USA too, but they have bred all the taste out of it to get to that low cost. He laments that the same is happening here. Though I do not think it’s that bad nor will it ever get to the situation in the USA. In my two mile walk from boat to bakery and then back thru downtown, I must have seen half a dozen real butcher shops and only one large shopping market. It’s clear people value quality over price.

So another word oddity, they use the word rind for skin of meat. We only seem to use it for watermelon nowadays. I don’t even hear it applied to oranges anymore, everyone says “peel”. Now, another connection, in German Rindfleisch is red meat, as in this is the meat under the skin. And on this thought of language history, the word deer in English and Tier in German, sound pretty much the same, but now mean different things. You know what a deer is, but in German, the word means all types of animals, but what you didn’t know was that our word for meat, as in meat we eat use to be the same word, deer or Tier. What changed is that for thousands of years when the Germanic languages were developing, what they ate was the animal we call deer. The word had to be modified as humans ate all the deer and then had to find other meats to eat. Thus deer took on a more narrow meaning to just one type of meat.

Another observation, Coke has real sugar in it. That tells me that even the giants like Coca Cola know what they can get away with and what they can’t. Maybe one day America will be like that again. Won’t happen as long as we keep electing lawyers with virtually no inking of science or even math.

So back to my shopping. I wanted lettuce. Seeing these green leafy things in one of the butcher shops that also had Waterford apples, I decide to buy two apples and lettuce. The “lettuce” turned out to be cabbage. What was I thinking? Every butcher has the main ingredients that go with meat, cabbage, potatoes, onions, turnips and beets. I still got the apples and I was paying the 20 cents for two, when I saw a package of some of the sliced bread from Hickey’s Bakery, I grabbed a package and mentioned that I had just been there but they were already closed. He told me to take a different package, as the one I had grabbed was yesterday’s. Just another typical Ireland experience. People in every profession and every store actually seem to treat their job like it’s their profession. Makes a world of difference.

Talking about people, pretty much anyone with whom you have eye contact will greet you as you pass by. Kids, those naturally friendly 4 and 5 years olds, will say hello if you look at them. It’s a friendly place.

I finally find the supermarket. It’s in the mall downtown. I buy this great looking lettuce, $1.25, so tasty too.

So, had this great dinner of salad with apple, mandarin oranges (part of the Costco provisions, bought before we realized we would be able to buy food again) with sesame and olive oils and vinegar. The four lamb chops done on the Weber, all washed down by Vinho Verde we bought in Rhode Island (yes, we too saw the irony of bringing Portuguese wine back to Portugal. Best dinner I’ve made in a long time and it only cost $6.45 for all the ingredients.

Lastly, I pass the panhandling gypsy, every town has a few, and she is with a girl, maybe 6 or 7 years old. As I pass and the mother holds her hand out while mumbling something, the girl sticks her tongue out while trying to put this funny face on. Cleary, she was trying to be funny and it was so cute.

I still didn’t give ’em any money.

But every experience here has been interesting and insightful. New country, new things to learn and experience. Can’t ask for any more. Next weekend there is a lecture about cruising Poland presented by the Cruising Association. It’s in London, but will give me the opportunity to celebrate the birthday of my childhood friend, who is like my sister.

So for me, learning is what keeps me young. Learning the boat, the sea and now new people and places. Even the Gaelic language fascinates me. This is the name of one of the streets by the dock, “Lana Thig an Chaife” , I love seeing connections. In the word Chaife, I see a connection that clearly I never understood in hearing the words, but seeing them spelled this way in Gaelic is insightful.

I’m Back

Flying over the Atlantic yesterday, over a similar route that we had taken with Dauntless just months earlier, was a strange experience. This flight was Europe is one I have taken so many times in the last 15 years. But this time, instead of returning to my normal life and its incumbent responsibilities, I’m leaving much of that behind. I’m coming home; but not to the burdens of the past: my mother, my school, now it’s more like a vacation. I get to see friends, write, complete the writing of our Atlantic Passage and organize the pictures. I only going to eat foods I can’t or wouldn’t get in Waterford: Korean, Southeast Asian, Chinese, and Bengali & Indian.

It was great that Julie got to spend a little time in Waterford and be on Dauntless in her winter haven. It’s wonderful being able to share many of the interesting and tasty things Waterford has to offer. The bread, they call turnover, we call it Hobbit bread, because it just seems to fit. It is the best we’ve eaten since Cuccio’s in Brooklyn. Cuccio’s was a weekly ritual for the last 14 years I was taking care of Mama, so it was nice for us to find such tasty bread in Ireland. The last three weeks in Ireland have certainly been eye opening.

I never expected to eat so well and in particular, I am really impressed with the quality and freshness of virtually all baked products. Ireland has many less chain type establishments then even the Netherlands, and it’s clear that people value locally grown and produced products.

The croissants are as good as any I’ve had in France and that does say a lot. Finding delicious bread and cakes are the icing on the cake. Ireland is simply full of wonderful people. My time in Castletownbere was the perfect ending to an Atlantic Passage. Full of people who know the sea, it is one of Ireland’s five official fishing ports, I met many people and many fishermen fascinated with Dauntless and our voyage.

Waterford is looking like the perfect winter spot.

Having the dock right downtown makes it easy for me to walk pretty much anyplace I want to go. I’ll be able to use my bicycle for longer trips. The City of Waterford wants to encourage boaters to stay and they have made it very easy. The Harbor Master is helpful and accommodating and the price for the six winter months is one third of what it would have cost me in most other places.

And then we found Hobbit bread.

Now … It’s Miller Time

B52 Its Miller Time And I’m sick. Just a cold that I felt coming on last week, but I had been feeling better and I needed to take advantage of being next to the dock and wall (instead of being rafted to fishing boats) so that I could rig the new paravane pole. It also allowed me to complete the re-rigging of the smaller lines on the winch that pull the birds and the poles up. It’s now a very easy system to deploy and retrieve when I am alone.

My first morning in Waterford, my winter quarters, somewhat nicer and warmer than Washington’s winter in Valley Forge and I probably have enough food and calories on this boat to feed a family in Africa for a year, an extended family!

It’s one of those typical northern European fall/winter day, a stale gray sky with light rain and drizzle. Probably good for me, makes me rest, as on sunny days, I have this primordial urge to hunt & gather. So instead I’m watching last night’s Jet’s game. God, they are pathetic. The poster child of what it looks like when you have an owner who cares more about appearances than winning. In other words, they make terrible choices, but instead of dealing with it, they keep on telling everyone how smart they are and there is no problem; simply ignoring the fact that the data (their record) says differently. If you refuse to reflect and admit mistakes, there is not much chance of improvement. Much like Obama, who seems to be re-inventing the Vietnam War in Syria? I wonder if he has even read books about the War. It’s the ultimate folly and hubris to think you can to run a war from the White House. All it does is annoy the enemy and get Americans killed for no reason. The Iran rescue attempt was also run from the White House. Yes, that failure still rankles me to this day. OK. Basta.

I’m hoping to have Wi-Fi at some point, it will make getting my laptop online much easier and it the main reason I have not posted more in the last two weeks. I’ll just have to make a better effort to diagnose my phones hotspot issue.

I’m also finishing the Post Mortem for the Atlantic Passage. It’s a bit wordy, so it needs some editing. In the near future there are a number of issues: the Electro Scan system is having issues with the mix motor and long term, I must find and install a diesel forced air heater.

Having spent the last three weeks in fishing harbors, Castletwonbere and Dunmore East, has been really a wonderful experience for me. Ireland has five official fishing ports, and those are two of them. I’ve been tied to fishing boats most of that time and the fishermen have been great.

You can see in some of the photos I’ve posted the similarity between this Krogen 42 and the fishing boats. In fact, almost identical lines. I had not noticed this before in the U.S., but here is was obvious. Clearly a primary reason Dauntless is so salty and as I reflect on the passage, as uncomfortable I was at times, Dauntless was in her element and could have taken far more.

In the short time I’ve been in Ireland, I have met so many great people, interested in our passage and clearly these are communities tied to the water. Even yesterday, the person who came to fuel my boat (2400 liters, 631 U.S. gallons) loved the look of the Krogen and took many pictures of her. Now being in Waterford, this will be a little different experience. No fishing boats and we’re right downtown, I ‘m currently tied adjacent to the Viking Tower. Looking out my salon window, instead of tremendous waves, I see a mud flat between the dock and the City wall. The tidal range here is 11 to 12’. Dauntless has only 2 feet of water under her keel at low tide. The river we’re on, the River Suir, is the fastest running river in all of Europe, but it’s really a tidal estuary, but I didn’t feel the need bring that up, as I was being told about the river. I like being in river like this, as it means far less likely hood of freezing and it’s in constant flush mode.

I finally was able to recalibrate the Victron system, thanks to the help of a Victron Product Manager I met at the Amsterdam boat show. This system monitors all the current (electricity) going into and out of the batteries. It’s important to monitor because whenever the boat is not running the engine or generator (which I try to seldom use) all the power is provided by the batteries, so it critical to know how much power has been taken out of them, to a maintain long term battery health. It would be over $1,000 to replace the batteries, so I want them to last quite a few more years.

OK, let me go see if I can find hydrochloric acid for the Electro Scan and not be arrested for terroristic intentions.

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