I sailed overnight from Arklow Marina on the east coast to Cork Harbour on the South coast. About 120nm and it took 22 hours.
Departing Arklow at 1000 14 Oct it was very calm, clear and warm in the sun (with two sweaters), but jumbled waves about 1-2m high so rolly. If I had sailed it would have been very unpleasant. No wind to steady the boat, sails flogging, and no headway. Probably backway as the current was against me until after noon. Hence, I motored. and motored, and motored some more. It didn’t get windy enough to sail until nearly midnight. I had set the mainsail just before dark so I could do it with some light, but sheeted very tight. Finally it picked up I was able to turn off the engine. I set the spinnaker pole to extend the genoa in the dark, then made some nice speed, 5-6 knots. Luckily there was not much traffic and after passing a ferry near the SE tip, nothing close, except a sailboat who kept going back and forth across my stern. Almost equal speeds, but eventually he went south so must have been heading much farther west than me. Pretty cold, but dry and just enough wind to sail nicely.
Just before sunset a few dolphins showed up to play in the bow wake. They didn’t seem as playful nor jump as high as some other places, but they swam with me for 10 minutes or so. About 0200 more dolphins showed up and swam with me for quite awhile. No idea how long as I was napping as much as I could, 10 minutes at a time. There was some mild bioluminescence that made their tracks glow faintly, and when they splashed near the bow the red or green light from my sidelights their spray glowed. It was a beautiful thing to see, but too dark for a picture. Sorry! You’ll have to imagine it.
