We have reached Dun Laoghaire (pronounced Dun Leary) in Ireland, very close to Dublin. We had a blissful sail from Wexford today, about 65 nm and sailed most of the way, sometimes at around 8 knots with a maximum of 15 knot winds.. gennaker and mainOnly and very satisfying..
Less satisfying was the need to take evasive action when a foreign cargo ship travelling at a constant 12 knots and an unchanging bearing got close enough to trigger our collision avoidance alarm. When they failed to respond to several direct DSC calls, then 2 VHF 16 calls and failed to change any course or speed from a collision course, we took evasive action and they swept past at a relatively close distance. One wonders what they were doing not to notice any of our visual, radar, AIS transmit, DSC or VHF16 signatures. Our transmissions were picked up by the coastguard and a rescue helicopter flew over a few minutes later. I have removed them from my Christmas card list.
Dun Laoghaire is an enormous 830 berth marina, all state of the art. There are several super yachts here which are vast and very showy. We plan to visit Dublin tomorrow and this is a very convenient base.
That said, as I write this, it is raining hard against the windows and the wind is howling outside...it must be Ireland!
Graeme joins us tomorrow , and we are looking forward to his company.
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