Into The Mystic Cruise 2013 - update 25 part 2

Some memories from Scilly (now that I've downloaded the HD camera)




Leaving St Anthony Head in a flat calm.




Scilly landfall, at Peninnis Head.




Anchored off white sands, in a turquoise sea.




Wave riven rocks...




...jut from the water...




....mellowed by the setting sun.




Half land, half water. A dragon toothed seascape.




Teeth that claimed an entire British fleet, returning from the Toulon blockade, in thick weather.




A sobering thought to ponder.




A land of historic sailing craft. From small (Breton style) luggers....




... to full sized pilot cutters;




Stargazer keeps good company.




Rowing ashore to....




....deserted sandy coves.




A delicious confection of crags, sea, sand and boats.
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Location:Kinsale, Ireland

Into The Mystic Cruise 2013 - update 25

Sat 20.7.13: Kinsale, Ireland.




The Kinsale Yacht Club jetty is a convivial hubbub of comings and goings. Everybody has their tale to tell; but wants to hear yours first.




Stargazer is rafted outside Alan, aboard Serene - a Macwester out of Conwy, bound for Portugal.




Four hours, filled with cruising tales, slipped unnoticed by, whilst we secured lines, yesterday.




The Garda, have been aboard, to clear us through Customs.




We talked, over a pot of coffee, in the cockpit: Whale spouts have been sighted off the Old Head of Kinsale; rumours of them anyway. Will I be staying awhile, now?




Tamalou is out of Vannes, in the Golfe du Morbihan. She came in overnight. This morning, like Stargazer, a line of freshly washed shorts and polo shirts, dances from her rigging, in the breeze.




Arial is a merry boat, round from Cork, for a weekend of the hailing of old friends; and of young, raven haired, women.




Aboard her, the clink of glasses provides a melody line, to the music of chiming halyards and backbeat slap of wavelets, against our hulls.
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Location:Pier Road,Kinsale,Ireland

Into The Mystic Cruise 2013 - update 24

Fri 19.7.13: Kinsale, Ireland.




Stargazer unravels a broad white feather of wake behind her.




Our last sight, of Scilly, is the slender finger, of the Bishop Rock Lighthouse; raised in warning, through the heat haze.




We stride across the Atlantic swell, towards the land of Finn Mac Coul. The Cruising Chute, bellied and taut, provides our seven league boots.




We are suspended between sea and sky, reeling off the miles to the Old Head of Kinsale.




We skim down its bare rocky flanks, in the dawn light; seeking out the harbour entrance, hidden amongst the green folds, of the rolling hillsides inshore.




We round the point, into the calm of Kinsale harbour. We've made good time. My first meal, in Ireland, is going to be breakfast, instead of lunch!
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Location:Scilly,,Ireland

Into The Mystic Cruise 2013 - update 23

Thr 18.7.13: On passage from Scilly towards Ireland

Log: 10.00
Pos'n: 49.55N 06.25W
Course: 320
Wind: ENE 14kts Apparent
Speed: 6.2kts SOG
Rig: Main & Genoa

"Smell the sea and touch the sky,
Let your soul and spirit fly, into the mystic." (Van Morrison).


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Into The Mystic Cruise - update 22

Wed 17.7.13: The Cove, St Agnes, Scilly




Jellyfish orbit Stargazer, in the crystal clear water: cobalt blue mushroom caps, when they inhale; veined with saffron, when they squirt forward, tentacles trailing.



It looks as if the north westerly breeze will start to veer, north or north east, from tomorrow. If it does: we will have our slant for Ireland.
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Into The Mystic Cruise 2013 - update 21

Tue 16.7.13: Wingletang Down, St Agnes, Scilly




The old lighthouse, peers over hedgerows studded with the vibrant orange, vermillion and gold, of wild flowers. Escapees, perhaps, from the neat handkerchief sized fields, hunkered down behind, lichen covered, stone walls; once commercially tilled for cut flowers.

I've rowed ashore, my lunch and a Geography text book in my backpack. What better place to read up on plate tectonics, granite landscapes and coastal landforms; than in the midst of real life examples? I sit, on Wingletang Down, surrounded by granite tors, wave riven cliffs and sandy beaches.

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Update 20 - part 2

(Part 2 of 2)







An 09.00 start should see us well clear of coastal hazards and shipping, by nightfall. There's an almost full moon, for most of the night, this week, to light our way. Dawn light will help us to negotiate the Kinsale Gas Rigs; and we should make our landfall, in Southern Ireland, by lunchtime.

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