bay 30 miles offshore or should I hug the coastline and look for shelter,
I for one knew stoney b and her capability in heavy seas we experienced this in Drogheda bay when we ran for shelter into the Boyne but this time conditions were deteriorating the latest forecast had a small craft warning of a 6 to 7 but there was a eary swell taking president over the waves your on the top of it and suddenly you surge down into the depths with a sea wall all around us in darkness, to add to all this the fuse kept blowing on the relay for the battery we had three spare and blew the lot I bridged it with some tinfoil but this caused an electrical fire suddenly we had no instruments, I could clearly see the look of concern on Jim and Kens face at one point Jim asked Ken what our chances were and Ken didn't speak but answered with his hand by opening his hand and spreading his fingers waving from left to right I quickly perked up shouting " this boat is more than capable I've been in worse in her she's built for heavy seas" but inside I was concerned myself but put on a brave face.
At this stage Killybegs was a non runner and we hugged the coast looking for cover.
Darkness was falling and after two attempts to shelter in Belderg harbour and Bunatrahir bay we decided to make way to Sligo town straight across Killala bay this may have been the wrong decision but after two failed attempts previously I didn't want another one.
Visability was virtually zero it was raining heavily Jim was on the bow keeping an eye out for lobster buoys while Ken and I were in the cockpit we could see the lights of Sligo come and go as we were swooped on top of a swell and down into total darkness again and again, the wind now westerly pushing us forward sails were tucked away and we motored on very cautiously into the unknown.
Approaching Sligo on a falling tide in the dark was a dangerous manoeuvre some might say madness, the chart guided us in once we identified the flashing lights this was no easy task there were so many background lights to distract us, eventually we spotted our first port and starboard lights and proceeded with caution past Rosses point and oyster Island the channel was so narrow in parts, suddenly we came to a stop we hit a sand bank we were all OK no one overboard everyone was well prepared keeping their body weight down as much as possible I panicked and shouted for everyone to hold on to the stays midships on the port side snap on and lean out as much as possible I stuck her in reverse and frantically moved the rudder to and fro eventually we became unstuck and we were back on track moving deeper and deeper up the Garavogue river twice more hitting the bottom then slipping off by the skin of our teeth.
The pontoon right in the town centre was our destination we were running out of river we could see the traffic passing over a bridge about 200 yards away yet no pontoon in sight, tempers were getting high and a few comments made "there's no _ _ _king pontoon up here let's go back to Rosses point" but it had to be here I drove past it several times in previous years on the way to the horse fair in Ballinasloe,at this stage we were all exhausted wet and hungry the Fs and Bs were getting more frequent, we were getting closer to the bridge and still no sign of the _ _ _ _ing pontoon.
Then suddenly to everyone's delight we could hear the slapping of the haliards on the masts we came around our last starboard marker and low and behold the pontoon stood before us, we were so very nearly giving up , we quickly tied up to a French yacht the skipper came out in his pajamas and helped pull us in against the howling wind Jim and Ken tied her up,what a relief we were safe at last, it was 1.30am we had been sailing for 17 and a half hours.
Jim was not a happy bunny he grabbed his wee backsack and told us he" had enough we were all madmen and sailing was a hobby for lunatics" to which I replied "what were you expecting a teddy bears picnic".
Jim disappeared into the darkness and we never seen him again.
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