This morning we left Dunmore East for Dublin at 6am and headed out onto the sea yet again. The weather was lovely and after a spattering of rain this morning the sun was shining and we had a beautiful 20 knots of breeze. We spent the late morning and afternoon tanking up the Irish sea ever closer to Dublin at 12 knots. At one point we had a spinnaker up along with three sails; a full main, mizzen sail and mizzen stay sail.
One of the highlights of the day was the the Skipper, in search of the perfect photo on a brief excursion to the top of the mast while under sail. Asked for a "Daily Rona" quote, the best he could come up with was "I'm getting old, you have to take these chances when they come" and "I keep forgetting how high it is up there" after returning safely to the deck.
After spending 8 hours steaming up the Irish sea in the blazing sunshine with speeds reaching 15 knots, our karma was equalised by a complete and utter spanking from a squall which necessitated a rather abrupt dropping of the spinnaker during which it was ripped in several places. Currently we are now blasting (under white sails!) towards Dun Laoghaire where we plan to stay overnight before proceeding to our final destination of Dublin for lunchtime tommorow.
Skipper's note:
The crew has been busy and eager to get out for some well-earned shore leave, hence the rather short update above. I will expand on it: even after our race across from Spain, which was excellent, if somewhat hard work, today was one of the best day's sailing I've ever had. Rona II was on fire, perfectly sailed by an excellent crew and excellent afterguard - one of those perfect spinnaker broad reaches where every gust just adds speed, not weather helm. We had a rooster tail off the stern and absolutely blew past two other Tall Ships making their way up the Irish Sea. Now, we're all really looking forward to showing Rona II off to the crowds in Dublin. :)
After that, we will be back home on Saturday - unfortunately!
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