Howth in sight marking end of first leg around Ireland

An early start today from Kilkeel harbour. 6.30am all up and raring to go. Des, Danny, Tobin and I all anticipating a pleasant sail to Howth. Approximately 12 hours sailing ahead, unfortunately it was short lived. We hit a 33 knot wind that's a force 7, storm conditions, 11 miles off shore and had to run for cover.



The nearest shelter was up the Boyne river into Drogheda. This is only a commercial port with no facilities for pleasure craft whatsoever. The harbour master was very helpful giving us permission to tie in between two mooring buoys right in the middle of the river. 4.5 miles upstream there was a fast flowing current coming out and we got into difficulty with the mooring lines being wedged behind the rudder. After eventually getting the ropes freed, 2 hrs later we had the dangerous row to the banks of the Boyne with several trips to eventually get our gear on land.

Unfortunately our roller reefing system was seized and we decided to call it a day and return to Derry. We plan to get the boat motor sailing in a few days down to Howth marina so we could get the problems sorted from a pontoon, we need a bigger dinghy.

The banks of the Boyne. We were glad to see them, thanks Ian for getting us home.