Thursday, I depart Peel at first light in order to have a chance of reaching Glenarm by early evening, before dark and the tide turning. Forecast is a F4 from SE and soon after leaving harbour I pick up the breeze on a dead run. Once clear of Isle of Man the sea starts to build as the tide turns against us, however with the wind a F5 I’m able to maintain good speed. By late morning I’m half way across the north channel and with a big following sea I’m surfing down waves. The autohelm can’t cope with the sea so I hand steer. The boat seems to have a mind of its own on what direction to take as each steep wave comes from a different quarter, picks up the stern and rolls under the boat twisting it this way and that. The bow swings violently up to 30 degrees either side of the heading and presents a high risk of broaching or gybing. With concentration and applying just a little helm in the right direction and at just the right time, a reasonably steady course can be held, but every so often I lose it as a particularly big set of waves roll in. A mayday comes over the VHF, a yacht is on the rocks outside Ardlass, south of me and upwind, so not much I can do to help, and then I hear the lifeboat is on scene. By early afternoon my concentration is waning but I’ve crossed the Channel, and the tide turns in my favour so the sea settles considerably. Wind continues to rise to 22kts plus and I cross the entrance of Belfast lough doing a steady 8kts. My eta is 17.30 so well ahead of schedule. As I approach Muck island, close to Larne, the Belfast coastguard call me up. They task me to look out for a small open dinghy that has been reported as drifting somewhere ahead of me (they can see my position on AIS so know I’m the closest boat to the scene). I head inshore scanning around with the binoculars and spot the boat dragged onto a narrow strip of beach below high cliffs. I report the position back to the Coastguard who say the lifeboat has now been tasked and I can stand down, so I continue on my way. It’s a good 20 minutes though before I see the lifeboat come out of Larne, in fact both the big all weather one and the inshore inflatable. An hour later I arrive at Glenarm, one of my two most favourite harbours in NI, the other being Rathlin. But when I rang earlier in the day to request a berth, I was told they were closed from tomorrow for maintenance. They are removing the gangway and turning off power and water, but as I can dinghy ashore to the slip, and won’t need power or water, he has permitted me to stay. Thank goodness as the next two days are forecasting very strong winds, anchoring in the bay would not have been at all pleasant or even safe.
Dawn over the Isle of Man
The Adventures of Sea Orchid 