The Fair Head Slalom Rathlin to Bangor 02 September 2024

 

Leaving Church Bay on Rathlin in the dark.

After our short but extremely enjoyable trip to Glenarm and Rathlin, it was time to head home. Around Rathlin and Fair Head, and indeed the whole north Irish Sea, the tide is the master.  We had to leave at 06.00, half an hour before dawn, in order to catch the tide south.

Another view of Rue Point, this time just before dawn, with the light flashing.

The advantage of catching the tide is that it speeds you along the way.  With the engines operating at their usual 1800rpm we make about 8.5 to 9.0 knots - our normal cruising speed.  But we always try to catch a bit of tide to speed us along - normally 1 or 2 knots. The tides past Fair Head allow you to have fun.

The top figure is our speed through the water - what we achieve using the engines.
The bottom figure is our speed over the ground - the speed we are actually doing.
The difference is the speed of the tide, 5.5 knots in this case.  This is a fantastic speed for us, and indeed at one point this morning we touched 15.2 knots (6.8 knots of tide).
As a result our overall journey is much quicker and we use much less fuel than if there was no tide.

Fortunately the wind was very light for the whole trip, but the visibility was dire for all but the last 45 minutes.

Imagine this scene for the whole 360 degrees around you, and then for a solid 3 hours motoring. That’s what we had today.

We did see three groups of Harbour Porpoises, and a very few species of bird (this included Puffin and Storm Petrel), but little else.  Although we were quite close to the Antrim coast all the way, we couldn’t see it.

But we were going quickly!  So we arrived into Bangor marina at 10.15.  Just 4 hours 15 minutes after we set off.  We were pleased with that.

HD - Happy Days.

Our route:

I wanted to buy a pair of camouflage pants….

…….but I couldn’t find any.