Bangor to
Carrickfergus – an ocean voyage that wasn’t…
After some rain (horror) and with the forecast of heavy
winds on Friday / Saturday, we decided that we would change our location and
have a look at Carrickfergus castle and environs. OK, maybe the culture wasn’t
the only temptation – they also have a big Sainsbury’s supermarket right next
to the marina. Ideal for stocking up with bulk stuff (remember, no trolley
shopper in support) before we leave civilisation.
The trip needed serious planning – 5.5 nautical miles and no
hazards in between. However, it did need some tide height as neither end is
particularly deep at low water. To keep
our stalkers happy we planned to turn on the AIS system too.
For the non-sailors, AIS is the automatic identification system
that lets us broadcast our position and course, speed etc to other ships. It is
compulsory for the big guys and we use their signals to help avoid them… Remember
this from the Guernsey to Falmouth trip:
The downside to the technology is that you can track where
we are and even get emails to tell you that we have headed off, stopped, gone
out of range (ominous) etc.
If you are interested, look at http://www.marinetraffic.com and
figure it out for yourself. Just search
for Rockland under “all vessels”. I
still worry about why people want to do this though. Someone even took pictures
of us in Falmouth and added them to the site. A boat trainspotter perhaps? Norman – can you enlighten us as to the
fascination with AIS stalking please?
More seriously, we always reckon that trips like this are
the dangerous ones. It is so easy to fail to plan or prepare the boat properly
for what looks like a little jaunt in relatively sheltered waters. Having a
proper standard process for departure is really important! So, having performed
the requisite checks and figured out the one course we had to steer, it all got
cancelled. When we called the marina to check they had space, the only spot was
going to be very exposed to the strong southerly winds and hence big waves we
are about to enjoy.
So, we save some diesel and continue to travel around from
Bangor instead. Not too stressful though. Another trip into Belfast to visit
the theatre:
And the other cultural highspot, the pub that the National
Trust actually own (The Crown)
It wasn’t empty though… This is Northern Ireland and people
like their beer and food in copious quantities.
We fit in so well.
Nasty stuff forecast until Saturday evening so will probably
hang around here until Sunday (ie no AIS stalking possible for a while).
Now, a trolley shopper update. Bob mailed from Grenada (the
island, not a pub in Belfast) with his trolley shopper advice. Remember, he has
taken one transatlantic so these are pearls of wisdom to be carefully digested:
One fundamental
requirement is - it must not be tartan!!!!!!!.
Provided this condition is satisfied then you can be sure you are at the
height of fashion. This also ensures that
the lady driver is upgraded from a ‘trolley dolly’ to the ‘tart with a cart’.
I did once manage to
find one with black hubcaps which was quite racy. I couldn’t find a spoiler though.
We have upgraded to 4
wheel drive which takes the heavy loads off the wrist. This will double up as a zimmer frame in
future.
So now you know all there is to know on the subject from Stephen and Bob and no,
we still haven't got one.
