Chased by a Hurricane
By Peter C
Jocalia’s return to the UK was planned at the Topsl Annual Dinner last November however the relaxed exploration of Southern Ireland followed by a reach across to the Isles of Scilly was disrupted by the remnants of Hurricane Erin turning up on the West Coast.
Plan A
The starting point was the delightful town of Kinsale with a planned destination of Falmouth. The crew’s preferences for stopovers and waypoints included Baltimore, Clear Island, Fastnet and then Padstow and the Isles of Scilly in Cornwall.
We had gathered at Cork Airport and taken a taxi to the Kinsale Yacht Club. Victuals had been ordered from the local Supervalue and fresh goods were collected by hand. There were also a couple of technical snags to get around before we set off, so Saturday was busy.
Shipping Forecasts
The forecast for Sunday was SE veering S Force 3-4 but the SW coast of Ireland was already being battered by Force 6. That’s Baltimore, Clear Island and Fastnet off the list. Basically, the further S or E we could go, the better the weather.
We set off tacking E and S and made steady progress. The radio was scanning the Irish Coastguard and weather reports when we picked up a “Small Craft Warning” for the Irish West Coast. This was expected. The next message was a forecast for all the Irish Sea ferry crossings. The one that caught our attention was Rosslare to Fishguard, the most Southerly. Although the wind in this area looked acceptable (on Predict Wind) the sea state was clearly not. Tacking E towards Padstow was no longer feasible.
The nearest shelter was Cork but we would then be holed up there for at least five days while the deep low moved slowly East.
Another Plan
Clearly we needed to head for Lands End and the engine was started to ensure we cleared the peninsula before the weather arrived. The comfortable reach became a 100 mile bash into a F4 Sea State 5. We set up the lee cloths in the saloon so that the off watch crew could get some rest and started measuring our progress towards Longships light. Overnight watches were enhanced by the Milky Way clearly visible on a moonless (Spring Tide) night and the pod of Common Dolphins that leapt through Jocalia’s wake for nearly three hours.
What Hurricane?
Dawn on Monday was spectacular and more relaxed as the sea state had reduced and the wind had veered to the South. We planned to intercept the Traffic Separation Scheme off Lands End then raise the sails and head East towards the Lizard.
Our timing would allow us to clear the Lizard with a positive tide and possibly reach Falmouth in daylight. Our passage report (SPCR) to Border Force was submitted as we left Kinsale and predicted our arrival in Falmouth on Tuesday; an amendment was now required.
Falmouth Haven couldn’t be raised on the telephone or VHF so the Helford River was chosen as the overnight option where we demolished a Spaghetti Bolognese and slept like logs.