China Girl, UK Circumnavigation - Year 5

Vessel Name: China Girl
Vessel Make/Model: Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 41DS
Hailing Port: Ipswich
Crew: Ann and Steve Crome
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26 September 2023 | Troon Yacht Haven
26 September 2023
26 September 2023 | Troon Yacht Haven
15 September 2023 | Ballydorn in Strangford Lough, county Down
15 September 2023 | Ballydorn in Strangford Lough, county Down
04 September 2023 | Arklow
04 September 2023 | Arklow
27 August 2023
21 August 2023 | Kinsale YC marina
21 August 2023 | Kinsale YC marina
21 August 2023
11 August 2023 | Lawrence Cove
11 August 2023 | Lawrence Cove Marina
05 August 2023 | Dingle
05 August 2023 | Dingle
24 July 2023
08 July 2023 | Port of Galway (still!)
30 June 2023 | Deerpark Manor B&B, Swinford, County Mayo
25 June 2023 | Galway Port marina
13 June 2023 | Clare Island, County Mayo
Recent Blog Posts
26 September 2023 | Troon Yacht Haven

Statistics

So, we made it all the way around Ireland at last. We've only been trying to do this since 2020.

26 September 2023

Made it...

From Bangor we need to get to Troon, CG's home for the winter. The weather is doing its best to stop us. Even at this late stage we had a few doubts about making it. It's spot the weather window again. Ray arrived on the 20th, a window opened up on the 21st to get to Glenarm, just up the NI coast [...]

26 September 2023 | Troon Yacht Haven

More rain.... Arrival of crew

Lots of rain in Strangford Lough. We arrived on the 14th, 15th we sat on the boat and watched the rain all day, did nothing, went nowhere. 16th we managed a quick hop from Ballydorn on the southern coast to Kircubbin on the north coast, about a 3 h trip sailing on the jib. A quick look around the village [...]

15 September 2023 | Ballydorn in Strangford Lough, county Down

From fog to rain

Carrying straight on from the last post. Dun Laoghaire to Skerries was 4 hours on the motor in winds up to only 7 kts, but at least it was dry. Since then our weather luck has changed. Skerries to Carlingford, 6 hours on the motor in rain. Carlingford marina has a very narrow entrance, so much so [...]

15 September 2023 | Ballydorn in Strangford Lough, county Down

Time Flies

Just found the time for an update, thinking the last had been about a week ago, only to find it's been nearly two weeks. Sorry folks. We've only moved CG five times, from Arklow to Dun Laoghaire (pron Leary) to Skerries to Carlingford lough to Ardglass to Strangford lough, 112 miles in all. The trip [...]

04 September 2023 | Arklow

Around the final corner

We left Kilmore Quay on the 2nd September to nip around Carnsore Point to anchor in Rosslare bay. The point is the end of the south coast for us and the start of the trip up the east coast to complete our circumnavigation. 3.5 hours mostly on the engine in little wind but a half hour sail towards the [...]

Swallows and fog

23 August 2021 | Loche Spelve
Ann and Steve Crome | Foggy!!
We had a great couple of days in Taynavallich which is really pretty (with a great pub!), well worth a visit by land if you are in the area. Thursday 19th we motored the short distance to Loch na Cille for an overnight on the anchor. No wind at all, but only 2 1/4 h on the motor. So quiet there, all we could here was sheep and birds. Friday we moved to Craobh (pronounced Creuve) Yacht Haven for fuel and water. Interesting trip, started on the motor in no wind, then we had both sails out in around15 kts on a fine reach, by the end of the 4h trip we had reefs in both sails and were luffing up in the gusts. Craobh has nothing to recommend it apart from the facilities, so one night there and off to....well. It was chucking it down, first serious rain we have had. So we changed our destination from Loch Spelve (4-5 h) to Kimelford (1 1/4 h) which also had the advantage of a shop to top up fresh food. We walked to the shop, about 30 mins in pouring rain, got talking to couple in the cafe over the shop, found they were yotties from the marina and had a car so got a lift back. Yachting community is wonderful.

So, in between Kimelford and Loch Spelve is Cuan Sound. Must be tackled with the tide behind you and preferably not when it is at full strength (one report we read said he was doing 14 kts along what is a narrow winding channel with lots of semi-submerged rocks. Much conflicting information on when is the best time (relative to high tide) to go. Finally, we got chatting to a chap in Kimelford who was an ex RN navigator and local. If he doesn't know who does, so we went with his recommendation and got through with no trouble, only peaking at 6.9 kts OTG.

That brings us to Loch Spelve where we had a visit last evening from a whole flock of swallows, up to 10 at one time sitting on the guard rail, others flying THROUGH the cockpit (see photo, the wire is our guardrail). Woke up this morning to dense fog, so we are sitting here waiting for the visibility to improve. currently it's up to about 1/2 mile from 50 yards.
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China Girl's Photos - Main
Seen on 1st trip from Penzance to Scillies
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Created 11 July 2019
A few photos of the collection of ships made out of matchsticks
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Created 2 June 2019
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Created 28 May 2019
No Photos
Created 27 April 2019

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