Speedwell of Rhu Ship's Log

1 st to 4 th of September 2016 - Baltimore

We checked the tide to make sure we had it in our favour through Gascanane Sound. We passed to the west of Long Island and West Calf Island by motoring. Once clear of these we were able to sail on a beam reach across the bay. A brief motor saw us through Gascanane Sound at 3 knots, so the tide didn't seem to be helping much!  We considered anchoring by Sherkin Island as it seemed to provide the shelter we would need, however the swell seemed to be coming in through the entrance so instead we headed up to Church Strand Bay and anchored just beyond the RNLI. The forecast was for strong southerly winds and possible south westerly so this seemed to be as protected as anywhere would be in the harbour. Unlike other places, there was quite a strong tide so it was a bit more bumpy when the tide was ebbing with the wind blowing against the current. Speedwell was faced with a dilemma of whether to lie to tide or wind. Ordinarily this shouldn't have been a problem, but the winds were strong to near gale so the wind won over the tide.

The weather forecast seemed quite uncertain. We had thought to head east to Glandore or Barloge Creek the following day but the winds were forecast to go south to south east and to become Force 6-7. As a result we decided to stay in Baltimore and spend the day ashore. In the evening the weather was looking  good for a passage to Glendore the following day, with southerly Force 5s overnight reducing by morning. We set the alarm for the 6am weather forecast. We were woken by the sound of heavy rain. The weather forecast was predicting possible Gale Force 8s on the south coast imminently. We decided to stay put. As it happened the winds picked up before we got up for breakfast and we were again testing our anchor for much of the morning. We hunkered down to sewing, reading and radio as it really wasn't a day for a tender ride. By lunch time, the winds were dying down and the tide was starting to flood so we stopped veering around quite so much on the anchor and the wailing winds calmed down. Fortunately, we had again ensured we were close to the RNLI lifeboat!

It was quite windy the following day, but the forecast was for settled, albeit wet, weather on Monday. After a day stuck on the boat, we were pretty desperate to either go for a sail or run around on land. Feeling fed up with the weather, we took the tender ashore and and had a nice day ashore again in Baltimore. On the Monday, we were finally looking forward to being able to set the alarm for 6am to make passage directly for Cork Harbour. 

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