One of our luxuries on board is a dehumidifier, we bought it along because there is nothing worse than a damp wet boat, and when we are in a marina we have the power to use it. The dehumidifier also has a laundry setting. I wasn’t too optimistic that it would dry all of our washing hung on lines running back and forth across the saloon like a commercial laundry, but when we got up at 4 the next morning all of it was dry!
Because of the tides up to Bangor and through the Copeland Islands we had to leave at 4:30am. The sun was just rising as we untied Pixie, started the engine and motored off. Quietly leaving I felt we were in the middle of some criminal act, but I don’t like to desturb other boat owners who are soundly sleeping, just because we have to catch the tide.
The trip from Ardglass to Bangor was a motor all the way, there was no wind, it was like a mill pond. well a millpond with mountains in the distance and seabirds all around us. It was beautiful being on the water with no one else around, just the sun lighting the hills around Strangford Lough
On the way up the coast I thought I could see land in the distance. I could! Could it be Scotland? It seemed where Scotland should have been from my memory of the charts, Scotland! Just last week we were in Cornwall, Now I’m looking at Scotland. It wasn’t until I looked at the chartplotter I realised it was the Isle of Man, and little deflated I went back to helming.
A few hours later we did actually see the Mull of Galloway, 16 days from Gosport and we’d seen where we would spending the next few months.
We got to Bangor just before midday and refuelled, before collecting the package Crusader had sent with the bits from our mainsail. They even kindly sent an new mast gate (which we didn’t really need but heads of the screws in our mast gate, had worn so it was a nice surprise) and they also sent some slides, which was just as well because the slide we have don’t fit the new Bainbridge batten screws. Every thing was going well until I thought one of the screws could do and extra ½ a turn. I took out the pin, tightened it, and in the process of putting it back together the spring of the batten caught me out and half of the bracket that hold the pin to the slide made a break for it, and jumped over the side, into Bangor Marina.
The guys at Bangor Marina were very helpful, and we used one of the advantages of being members of The Cruising Association, their HLRs. HLRs are Honorary Local Representatives, who are members of the Cruising Association and live locally in many ports, they act as local contact to help visiting cruising yachtmen sort out any problems. Our first problem was to try to find a replacement autopilot, and then after dropping the bits over the side to get a sail maker, Peter Lyons is the contact in Bangor, and he happened to be working on his boat in Bangor Marina when we called, so we popped around to see him. Peter was in the middle of removing rotten wood from his yacht, but took time out to speak to us and give us advice from where to buy things to contacts to the best time to leave to get to Rathlin Island. He was a great help.
Luckily I found a shackle that will do the job until I can get another replacement.
We then had a walk up to Bangor Auto Supplies and got a couple of extra fuel filters, these cost us a grand total of £2.40 each, so we bought a couple.
We stopped off and did some shopping on the way back and bought a couple of big steaks. The butcher cut them for us and I might have gone a bit over the top on the thickness, but they were very tasty
The thing that I didn't realise was how much you needed to know about boats and their engineering to make a voyage like this. Best wishes. Dave.
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