It was a nice enough day, not too cold, hardly any wind and just slightly overcast. Not a bad day to be out at sea. We had a small crew of 3 and launched the boat in Rosses Point.
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Looking back at Rosses Point from the water. |
We left Rosses Point and went out to sea past Oyster Island and Coney Island. Even though I'm not living too far away I had never been out on the boat here before. Our usual territory is the River Shannon. I was amazed that within a few minutes we saw 2 lighthouses and a very tall and camp looking fella standing in the water (with a seagull on his head) pointing at Rosses Point.
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| The lighthouse on Oyster Island |
We went around Coney Island towards Strandhill where the sea was picking up a bit of a swell. Nothing too wild, just a little bit of bounciness. We had to keep an eye on all the lobster pots out there to make sure we wouldn't get our prop caught in any ropes. We did make it to Strandhill without any issues. It was mad to see the place from the water. It looks so different. I normally only ever see it from land when we go surfing there (yes, it's a good spot for surfing, just have to keep an eye out for rips and undercurrents...swell and waves are generally good).
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| The lighthouse off Coney Island |
The way back was fun, too. We tried to stay on the same course that we had taken coming in to Strandhill and we managed pretty well. It looked like we were heading into nicer weather going back to Rosses Point. The view was lovely with Benbulben in the background and it is amazing how relaxing it can be flying across the water in a little RIB (okay, maybe not that little, but not very big either, it's a 4 seater ;o)).
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| The lighthouse off Coney Island with Benbulben in the background |
Then we had to pass the camp fella again. I guess he was put there as Rosses Point is a fishing village and he was used to guide the fishermen back home. He's been standing there for quite a while now (years and years and years).
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| The ever so slightly camp looking fella pointing towards Rosses Point (note the seagull on his head :)) |
Once back in Rosses Point we had a meeting with the organizer of the race to make sure all boats and kayaks etc were in the right place to cover all swimmers in case of any emergencies. I was amazed at him because he was wakling around barefoot all day, regardless of what surfaces he was faced with (I wanna be able to do that!). Once briefed we went out to sea again, this time around Rosses Point to the beach where the swimmers would race 1500m from one beach to the next. We had a bit of down time then, floating a few hundred meters away from the beach and waiting for the race to start. This was the perfect time for a little picnic. Thanks to our commander we had some really nice food (yummy tuna snack mediterranean style) for lunch (ok, a very late lunch as it was nearly 6pm at that stage...). Nevertheless it was very enjoyable.
When the race started the guy who had briefed us earlier was in the water first...man, he was a fast swimmer (I think he won the race, too, but couldn't say for sure as we stuck with the last swimmers, so the first ones were long finished when we got anywhere near the finish line).
After the race it took a while to recover the boat as tons of other people wanted to do exactly the same. So we waited patiently and let everybody else go ahead of us. Once the boat was back on the trailer I could finally get changed out of the dry suit and the pretty heavy life jacket. What a relief after going around in that gear all day.
We ended the day with a lovely meal (this time on land) before heading back home. It was a really nice and interesting day, the crew was brilliant and we had some great fun out there. Can't wait to do it again. Apologies for the not so great quality of photos, I only had my mobile phone with me...no zoom or anything. Next time I will bring my camera and hopefully the photos will turn out a little better then.
Take care all!
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