Around Ireland...which way and why?

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Matata

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My mate and myself have moved from nite school to the pub phase of a little goal we have. As above? what time of the year is best and how long should we tell our wives were going to be away for,excluding little stops for a pint when the weather closes in! starting Holyhead. assuming 5knots, say approx 50 miles per day. ta Nik
 
AFAIK clockwise is the way to go, not really sure why but the round the island race goes in that direction and I think the west coast is the toughest section in terms of distance between watering holes and that section will have S,SW or W winds.
 
pandos said:
AFAIK clockwise is the way to go, not really sure why but the round the island race goes in that direction and I think the west coast is the toughest section in terms of distance between watering holes and that section will have S,SW or W winds.
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Plus if you get as far as say, Dingle, and decide you need to turn back, rather than carry on, you will have seen the best bits, and can see some more on the way back :)
 
Clockwise as above. Be warned, the SW/W and NW coasts are gorgeous and you may want to linger.

There is quite a long haul (~60m) without much shelter from the north side of the Dingle peninsula to the Aran Islands in Galway Bay, otherwise not difficult.
 
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Prevailing winds are SW which aids passage going north while on the west coast.

Strong tidal flows N/S in the Irish sea facilitate easy passages south with the tide on the East side.
 
Thanks for all the tips. I think that cruising book is the answer. Just to make it a little more exciting for us we thought we'd do it without a chart plotter and have an emergency hand held GPs with a few compass rose's in it. I know that doesn't sound very adventurous for you grown up people but for the "young ones" like me thats a bit of a challenge! I'll keep you posted. Ta Nik (I'm not really called Nik but my mum says I've not to use my real name on the internet because you don't know who your talking to)
 
We went clockwise for the reasons given above.

We had six weeks off to do it in and wasted a fair bit of that dawdling down the east coast. We now wished we'd put the foot down until getting to the SW corner where it goes from really good sailing to amazing.

We didn't have GPS and the LORAN was patchy. We took a LW radio for the shipping forecast but invariably missed the midnight one as we were either still in the pub or crashed out after yet another fantastic day. And of course we always slept in for the morning forecast..

We will take longer and do it properly next time.
 
Matata said:
Thanks for all the tips. I think that cruising book is the answer. Just to make it a little more exciting for us we thought we'd do it without a chart plotter and have an emergency hand held GPs with a few compass rose's in it. I know that doesn't sound very adventurous for you grown up people but for the "young ones" like me thats a bit of a challenge! I'll keep you posted. Ta Nik (I'm not really called Nik but my mum says I've not to use my real name on the internet because you don't know who your talking to)
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Pilot charts for August =>
ZKTw9hF.png


Even going old school nav it might be worth having a netbook with Opencpn on it just in case....
Great for displaying weather as well :cool:
 
looking at that pilot chart with the wind roses, I'd be tempted to go anti clockwise :)
I would imagine being in the pub while the big sw'lys blow and then taking the nw'lys as the low passes north? Particularly on the exposed west coast with limited shelter, then on the south coast you would have the sw'lys up your backside and lots of short hops and harbours to make use of them but still run away somewhere if they get a bit much.

When I was looking at going round however, it seemed pretty much 50/50 whichever way you went.

I'd definitely say as long as you can possibly get, it looks fabulous, and a lot of pubs to get round.

Read wallace clark, and the excellent peter marshall book, celtic gold, as well as alistair scott's.
 
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Matata said:
Just to make it a little more exciting for us we thought we'd do it without a chart plotter and have )
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why bother? We get fog and darkness and there are small islands and rocks many, carefully and accurately plotted, at times you will be more than happy to have plotters, radar and anything else that you might have to hand.

Surely you can think of something else to make excitement....
 
steve yates said:
looking at that pilot chart with the wind roses, I'd be tempted to go anti clockwise :).
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There's something to be said for that, Steve. I once sailed from Carnsore Point to Baltimore via Brittany for the reasons you suggest. OK, I did have plenty of time on my hands and wasn't too bothered where I went, but the S coast at the time promised a right old slog. There's no right way, but on balance clockwise seems somewhat preferred because the likelihood is that much of the beating will be under a weather shore down the E coast, rather than over great lumpy seas off the W coast. The OP would be wise to be flexible, deciding for or against the general wisdom on the basis of long-term forecast trends on the eve of his departure. With a start in Holyhead, he's well-placed to do so.
 
steve yates said:
looking at that pilot chart with the wind roses, I'd be tempted to go anti clockwise :)
I would imagine being in the pub while the big sw'lys blow and then taking the nw'lys as the low passes north?
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Counter argument to that is that the seas will take longer to die down after the fronts pass than they will in more sheltered waters.
 
I went clockwise and I left from Menai Bridge mid June. In a 25ft boat it took me a month, including holding up waiting for gales to pass through- that was all the leave I had but I wished I had more time as there are so many place to visit and enjoy. I had no chart plotter, you don't really need one as you will mostly following the coast and used paper charts but did have a GPS. Enjoy it
 
Thanks Dansaskip just what we needed to hear. For my mate he's a busy guy and always needs to keep his ear to the ground. Do you think he'd get a phone signal all the way around? I suggested txting and picking them up when available signal?
 
wully1 said:
We went clockwise for the reasons given above.

We had six weeks off to do it in and wasted a fair bit of that dawdling down the east coast. We now wished we'd put the foot down until getting to the SW corner where it goes from really good sailing to amazing.

We didn't have GPS and the LORAN was patchy. We took a LW radio for the shipping forecast but invariably missed the midnight one as we were either still in the pub or crashed out after yet another fantastic day. And of course we always slept in for the morning forecast..

We will take longer and do it properly next time.
Click to expand...

Weather also broadcast by Irish Coastguard four times daily, RTE Radio 1 four times daily, see relevant websites for times, it's also in Reeds.
 
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