and reached more open sea, these sheets
of spray became waves which came
crashing over the bow and into the
cockpit. Much time was spent bailing
that day, but as we bedded down
on the sopping planks that night
our thoughts turned to the promise
of high pressure coming our way.
Sadly for us this was to be short-lived,
and Lughnasa’s fl oorboards remained
saturated until several days after
our fi nal return home.
At just 340kg, much of the Lugger’s
weight comes from her heavy
steel centreplate, which behaves
admirably in choppy water.
With most of the boat’s
weight here I was keen
to avoid risking the
centreboard crashing
through its casing in the
event of a capsize. Not
only would this damage
the boat, it would make
the job of righting her a
nightmare. As there is nothing
to hold it down (I’ve recently
heard of Drascombe’s
intentions to remedy this),
I attached a cleat to the teak
centreboard casing, to which
we could secure a line when
the plate was down. We
happily didn’t have to test
this one, although we came
as close as we dared.
After 11 hours of beating on
a 44-mile leg from Inishmore,
heading for Inishbofi n, we were
becoming accustomed to the heavy
sailing that came with squalls of Force 6of the RNLI; an obvious choice, but
a worthy cause.
With Fergus stuck in school until the
end of May, Dad and I spent several
weekends down in Cork de-wintering
Lughnasa and making some minor
adjustments to her rigging and hull. I
was keen to keep our boat as original as
possible, but since the tragic capsizing
of a Drascombe Lugger in West Cork last
summer there were several important
changes I wanted to make. Our stock
vessel came with a fi xed mainsheet
block which always twisted when under
full sail, making spilling wind in gusts
almost impossible. Although the jib is
the most important sail to release in
squally conditions, fi tting a swivelling
block was the fi rst item on my list. This
initial job worked exactly as I’d hoped:
so far, so good.
Lughnasa’s original bilge pump had
developed a small split in its bellows over
years of use and had begun spurting water
into the aft locker, which we discovered
early on during our Easter shakedown
cruise. Likely to get worse under heavy
use, it quickly became a major item on
our to-do list. Twenty years of salt water
had well and truly seized it in place,
making every attempt at removing it
more and more diffi cult as the screw
heads became ever more rounded. With
all of the Ogdens lending a hand, it was
Fergus who fi nally got it unstuck. Not a
moment too soon either, as we set sail the
next day. With the benefi t of hindsight,
this proved to be one of our most valuable
pieces of work, and I’m glad we persisted
with it. The stormiest summer Ireland had
experienced in over four decades meant
our new bilge pump was as welcome as
any bit of new kit we had, and we wasted
no time putting it to use.The fi rst leg
Our fi rst leg from Baltimore to
Crookhaven, just 14 miles, began in a
fresh Force 5-6 headwind, sending sheets
of spray across Lughnasa’s beam and into
our faces for the fi rst few hours of sailing.
Once we left the shelter of the islandsLughnasa enters
Kilkeel HarbourA stop for dinner
at Smerwick HarbourJohn WhiteA Lugger round Ireland
➜
KilkeelCORKDUBLIN•BELFASTBangorKilkeelJohn White
Clifden
Belderrig
Portnablagh ••
PortsalonPortaferry •Malahide•Rosslare
Portrush
BangorDun Laoghaire•Dungarvan•- Achill
Kilronan,
Inishmore •Smerwick
Harbour- -^ Portmagee
Derrynane • - Castletownshend
Baltimore
Crookhaven •Dunmore East• •
Kilmore QuayCrosshaven•
Kinsale•START/
FINISH- Arklow
Slyne
HeadInishbofi n(^) •
Donaghadee
- Carlingford
Aranmore •- Kilbaha Bay