Atlantic Fog

[oceanfroggie]

A short clip for winter digestion. Atlantic Fog at start of trip last season routing from Dingle to Limerick single handed. Both bilge alarms went off about 15mins after I exited the harbour mouth into Dingle bay, my heart was in my mouth for a few seconds, I pulled some floor boards down below and inspected with a torch, no problem, just a little water in the botton of the forward and aft bilges that had moved due to swell motion. But I needed to know then had there been a problem and not a few hours later off the Atlantic coast when far from help. An erie start that morning. Made it back up to Killaloe that evening and after spending the summer cruising the Cork coast based in Kinsale. Nostalgic looking back at it now.

[video]

 

[Firefly625]

brilliant video, those bridges looked low and that hydro electric power station lock looked awful! Thanks for sharing

 

[burgundyben]

That lock is amazing!

 

[oceanfroggie]

brilliant video, those bridges looked low and that hydro electric power station lock looked awful! Thanks for sharing

Cheers. It was a long day and had to be mentally sharp for the last hour transiting those bridges and the hydro lock. But better and earlier than last time we came back from Sea, we arrived at the dam at 23:00hrs after an 9am start 155miles away, arriving back at marina in the dark at 1am. This passage was less tiring yet a little stressful at the beginning because had the fog not burned off I’d have had to divert to an alternate as we’d miss the new sunset limit at the dam had I had to continue in the fog at displacement speed all the way as far as Kerry head, and missed the flood time back up the estuary.

 

[Wavey]

Very nice video.

The locks look a bit daunting single-handed. How do you manage?

 

[Croftie]

Those bridges look very low, what is your air draft arch down? Is the arch hydraulic or manual move?

 

[oceanfroggie]

Those bridges look very low, what is your air draft arch down? Is the arch hydraulic or manual move?

Yes the tidal bridges in Limerick look lower than they actually are. At LW which lasts about 5hrs there is plenty of airdraft due to the half tide caused by the weir to the tidal estuary. In th video the downstream flow was gentle, but on an ebb tide after rainfall with all the turbines running upstream at the power station that city stretch of water can run at 12kt (almost white water). Our air draft with the arch down is 3.3m on the Broom. But at mid tide our last FB boat at 3.7m could fit under ok. The lowest bridge is actually the last one in the video.

Very nice video.

The locks look a bit daunting single-handed. How do you manage?

Thanks. Fortunately a fair bit of single handed offshore passage making experience positioning boat for family, plus loads of close quarter handling inland on the mighty River shannon navigation with the locks on the river sections. The lock looks scarier than it is, the rise and fall is very slow with little if any water turbulence. It’s fairly easy to hold the boat on station amidships using a 3m length of rope thrown over the hooks. You move from hook to hook with rise or fall. Preparation is the key having fenders preset before entering the lock. I’ve been transiting it for 15years. First time solo I hovered on the engines but too much fumes build up down that mine shaft. So it’s easier to stand midships on side deck and gently hold the short rope.