I lost the normal tracking again. The image above is from the Sailties App
I have mentioned my old outboard a couple of times. I have davits on the back of the boat to carry the dinghy. I thought the davits lifted the dinghy high enough to carry the dinghy with the out board still attached. After using the dinghy and outboard to go ashore at Helford. We then went around the Lizard and I discovered with the boat heeled and big waves the outboard leg dragged in the water. I could do nothing about it at the time. When we arrived in Newlyn the outboard wouldn’t start. Every time I have had a chance I have tried to get it going, but to no avail. I had another go at it in Ardglass, stripping and cleaning the carboretor and once again it would fire occasionally, but not run. I decided it was time to try and buy another.
I had been looking over the last few days if I had internet connection and came to the conclusion the a Honda air cooled was the best bet, mainly due to being about the lightest. I discovered I could get good phone signal and Wi-Fi in the marina building. I had found a dealer in Lurgan, that was about an hour away from both Ardglass or Bangor by road, or 2 hrs 48min by bus from Ardglass. As the bus route involved a change in Belfast it looked doable from Bangor. I phoned Sands Marine to check availability. I mentioned I was in Ardglass at the time and heading to Bangor the next day. I was asked to hold a moment. Joanne came back and said they would get one to me when they shut the shop. The price was good in comparison to other retailers and by 19.00 Nigel and Joanne arrived in their car and I had a shiny new outboard. They refused to accept anything for their journey out to me. They have an online shop, so I will definitely be looking at Sands Marine website if I need anything in the future.
Back to the trip, we set out at 07.45 for the relatively short journey to Bangor. It was quite a lively beat along the coast, with one gust of 30kts causing the autopilot to stall, so reef 3 went in. That reminds me, Michael was carrying a spare Raymarine drive and has lent it to me, so the ancient AH2000 is back down below.
We passed through the Donhagadee Sound into Belfast Logh. We had 2kts of tide that gave us a god push. A bit of rough water as we came out of the sound. We had already just missed one rain down pour but didn’t escape the squally showers as we approached Bangor.
An afternoon visit to Asda and evening eating on board.
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We are currently heading across to Port Patrick in Scotland.
Photos here https://lhyc.org.uk/ardglass-to-bangor-pictures/