We refuelled from a road tanker and left mid-morning from Killybegs for Broad Haven, 60 miles away, relieved to get away from the noisy, smelly diesel generator charging the batteries of the trawler beside us. The light winds built gradually to about Force 4, then a great black cloud came over, and with it heavy rain and a squall that registered 35 knots on the wind gauge (gale force). Double reefed main and rolled up the genoa.
An hour later, it settled down, and it was calm by the time we were inside Broad Haven, a lonely place near Belmullet in Mayo (scene of a big Irish controversy in which the locals are fighting Shell and the government over a gas pipeline). Lonely, except for the reassuring sight of an RNLI lifeboat moored quarter of a mile further into the bay, by a small village. Night at anchor. Saw Paul for the third time – he was also at Aranmore and Tory Island.
Passage notes: 62 miles, 11.5 hours, max SSW 8 (squall for less than half an hour), min S 2, visibility good except in heavy showers.
tide by tide 