Summary: A short trip from Dun Laoghaire to Howth. 11.7 miles in 2 hours and 45 minutes. Fairly grey and damp day, but we managed a short time actually sailing for a change.
George arrived last night and we decided to try to move on a little. However, the forecast was for very poor visibility, so we decided just to go out into Dublin Bay and have a look and see what it was like. After a relaxing morning looking around town and looking at the various boats left over from the ISAF Youth World Championships, we left after lunch and managed a slow beat across Dublin Bay. We could just see the other side of the bay and so tacked over to the Ben of Howth and then round the corner into Howth marina.
It was a little lumpy coming into the marina against the tide, but a lovely route past the island just off Howth called Ireland’s Eye. The island has a lovely rock stack off its eastern edge, imaginatively called ‘The Stack‘. The only signs of past habitation on the island are a Martello Tower and the ruins of a church. The church was apparently the parish church for Howth for years, though it was eventually replaced by a church in Howth village when taking a boat to every service became a little restrictive.
We were given a berth and we managed to squeeze in beside a J-109 with just a few inches to spare. Howth is a lovely marina and large, very active club with Etchells, Dragons and a couple of local classes – Pupeteers (slightly like a Sonata) and 17 footers – lovely old wooden boats with a pronounced sheer. People were very friendly and we went into the Yacht Club for a drink – they served an excellent pint (or two) of Guinness. The night was less peaceful with rain bucketing down and a northerly 5 gusting 6 bringing a bit of a swell into the marina. All this a couple of hours after they had cancelled the evening racing due to lack of wind!
For more pictures, see the Howth picture gallery.
