The ship sailed on through the rest of Thursday night headed for Ireland. The choppy seas were taking their toll making a lot of people (including Carsten) sea sick. Even worse, they caused Solvej to spill boiling water on her foot causing painful second degree burns. Suzanne said this was one of the injuries she had worried about, but thankfully the burns were quite small. After a few hours with her foot in a bowl of cold water the pain had reduced somewhat – it could have been a lot worse.
Visitors look down on the ship at Port Oriel
We arrived at Port Oriel, near Clogher Head on the Irish coast at around 4 in the morning. This is a busy fishing harbour, complete with a population of hungry seals used to getting fish from the incoming boats. Amazingly, within a couple of hours of our arrival, word had got out and visitors started to arrive. Some of the crew were woken at 7am by reporters turning up with their cameras and wanting an interview. There were also some Viking re-enactors who’d flow over from Denmark for a Viking festival this weekend at the nearby town of Annagassan. The crowds remained through the day with a constant stream of well wishers arriving at this little-known harbour.
For the crew Friday and Saturday were days of rest and relaxation, either in the tents or in one of the many pubs in the nearby village. Then at Saturday lunchtime Carsten announced that we would be setting off that evening at around 10pm. As the time approached dark clouds rolled in and the rain started. Fittingly, our final sail would be in the dark and in the rain! Despite the conditions there were a good number of people at the quayside to see us off.
Entering Malahide at Dawn
Most of the crew decided not even to attempt to sleep preferring to savour every moment of the last significant stretch. With a decent wind it was a straightforward sail of about 6 hours and once again we arrived in the very early of hours of the morning. Our final stop before Dublin is Malahide. The approach here was a little hairy – there’s a narrow channel between sand banks that in places was only 2.3m deep. Despite its size, 'Sea Stallion' needs less than a metre of water – these boats were designed to be able to navigate up rivers and sail right up close to the shore. Things were tougher for the 'Island Fox' support vessel which was right at the limit. Both vessels made it in, however, and just as daylight appeared we moored up at Malahide Marina.
Now the crew could sleep at last and many slept through most of the morning. This afternoon the preparations for Dublin start. The ship needs to be cleaned and tidied, luggage sorted out, and everything needs to be dried out ready to be packed and sent home. For Carsten there’s a huge sense of relief at having made it so close to Dublin bang on time. With just a few miles to go 'Sea Stallion' could even row the whole way if the winds aren’t right. Only a big storm would disrupt the plans now. Barring that, we will be in Dublin as planned for Tuesday lunchtime.
