Closing days

I got set to leave Union Hall on Friday with a plan to head for Kilcoe to spend a final night on board before returning to the mooring in Baltimore. No sooner had I the sails set when I got a booking for Saturday morning so I resigned to getting the boat as far as Baltimore.
I had a somewhat frustrating sail with the wind being lighter than forecast and being dead astern with the ever present swell at this time of year to make a dead run quite uncomfortable. To add to that I had somehow figured the tide was with me for the day but as I realised later it was actually against me albeit a small tide anyway but every little helps (or in this case doesn't help)
As it turns out it was somewhat of a blessing as my postponed trip lead me to go in much nicer weather and a friend of mine came along to try his hand at sailing.
We headed to Poulgorm bay for the night near Jeremy Irons castle in Kilcoe, We had a nice easy sail most of the way but the wind died out amongst the mussel beds so as it was getting pretty dark at that stage we motored the last mile into Poulgorm. We rowed to a small Island in the centre of the bay and with the help of a very powerful head torch found a little gravel beach to land on and another to light a BBQ and a camp fire. We were a little merrier rowing back.
This morning was beautifully sunny again so we sailed back to East Skeam were we anchored off and went ashore to explore, before finally sailing and motor sailing back to Baltimore.
Not bad for the end of September. It may be the last trip of the Season but there is still no sign of any terrible weather so as long as it holds out Teal will stay in the water.
There is a fantastic photo taken by Kevin O Farrell as we sailed past Cunnamore Pier into the sunset HERE

Sun setting on East Skeem

Anchored off East Skeam

Ruins on the Island

New Helmsman

Kilcoe Castle

This one is out of focus but I like it, The extra ballast has her on an even keel now so just to lower the waterline. Might go with black anti-foul next year