Oriole

Day 9 After a breakfast of flipping good pancakes (flipped by Mark), we left sunny Dartmouth bound for Portland. A firm south-westerly wind pushed us toward our next port of call. At times, the wind increased as squalls came and went. But even a brief hale storm left behind it a magnificently full rainbow. And […]

6 November Despite a much easier night passage than the previous two, the crew were soon abed for a couple of hours of much needed kip, before the sybaritic delights of the luxury marina showers were sampled by the crew prior to a walk ashore to the Dartmouth institution that is Cafe Alf Resco‘s. After […]

Blogs – Sat to Mon Saturday 2 Nov The crew started the day watching the Rugby World Cup final in the saloon (it turns out the pubs in Greystones weren’t planning to open their doors at 9am for an England game). It was a pretty disappointing result but Jane attempted to raise our spirits by […]

Today we were excited to be setting off to put our theory from the day before into practice. We set off from Dun Laoghaire and we’re about half an hour out when an alarm disturbed the relaxed atmosphere somewhat. The skipper and first mate entered into an intensive period of trying to work out what […]

Having joined yesterday and instantly dropped Jane over the side for a MOB drill, the new crew spent the (rainy) day familiarising themselves with Oriole and each other once the most amazing breakfast had been cooked by Mark. We decided to stay put rather than head south with gale force 10 winds in the forecast. […]

As the night wore on more sail changes took place and our navigators managed to get fixes while the whole crew settled into the watch system well in the pitch black night. We managed to sail all the way to the entrance to Dublin bay and only resorted to the engine for the final couple […]

The crew had a relatively lazy start to the day, a chilled breakfast followed by some exploring ashore. Our plan was to reconvene for a late lunch on the boat and finalise plans for sailing overnight to Dublin in order to get better winds and give everyone a taste of sailing at night. All onboard […]

We had a relaxed morning on Oriole today as Diane and Gary finished their passage plans to navigate us to Belfast before a team engine check and slipped lines to set us on our way. The sun made a last appearance just as the tips of Scotland disappeared over the horizon (coincidence ????). We set […]

We awoke to a spectacular sunrise this morning as we raised anchor for another sharp departure south to catch the tide. We finished breakfast on the way and with little wind settled into a motor sail towards the north channel. We chatted about charts, passage planning, variation and tides which should have us ready to […]

Oriole enjoyed a sharp start this morning so with all crew on deck at 0900 we slipped lines and headed south in order to make the most of the tide. The first couple of miles took us down the sound of kerrera and we got everything ready so that as soon as we were clear […]

Five new crew arrived today for our next voyage from Oban to Dublin. After they all settled in we had a busy afternoon with above and below deck briefings and alongside man overboard drill practiced. That leaves us ready to make the most of the favourable tide and wind tomorrow morning as we start our […]

An early start saw oriole slip lines from Scalpay finally and head out into the peaceful dawn . Pilotage our and sails up we set course for neist point and enjoyed some clear skies and good views. It was not to last though and the rain and wind came, in squalls and shifts, heavy and […]