Cynara 2008 Connemara Fri 25 Sep 2009 18:03:35
Mannin
I spent a week in Connemara, West of Ireland, in August 2008. It was quite windy at times and rainy - well, that's not unusual. The scenery was just beautiful and lovely white sand beaches. The strong winds meant we had to have secure anchoring in sheltered bays. Here's a photo of the boat in Mannin, with the Connemara Twelve Pens in the background.
Cynara with cockpit tent
The design (Pat Gaskin) and manufacture (Fiona Campbell) of a cockpit tent was a great success! It opened up the accommodation and it was much appreciated when the weather was foul in providing extra comfort and warding off cabin fever!
Sunset in the West of Ireland
The sunsets are often glorious in the West of Ireland...
Out sailing, at last
The weather wasn't great but this was a lovely day and Pat (right) and I (left) took friends out for a sail - their first time! They were most impressed.
Well and truly aground...
We left to go for a walk with the boat well afloat. We hadn't reckoned on children pulling on the ropes especially at high tide! When we came back from visiting friends we were greeted by this. We had to wait until 2AM before being able to refloat her. This required tilting the boat from the main halyard with a 50m line and the other person, me (!), in the water heaving to get the keel out of the hole she had dug for herself! It was much more comfortable sleeping on an even keel afterwards!
