May 2019

Baby Sadie presented herself with perfect timing. Everyone knows that you can’t schedule a birth; not the timing, the birth experience, or the health of the newborn, but she managed to do everything right. For us, her grandparents. I’m sure Jenna and Kenny would have appreciated if she had arrived on her due date, and that they would have endured a shorter labor, but, no, Sadie wanted an extra week. This way, she would be only four days old when we meet.

On Christmas Day, Kenny announced to the whole family “we have a Christmas present, but you can’t see it until August”. At that moment, we began this journey of delighted anticipation. But how do you even express the absolute joy of seeing and holding a baby that is the perfect product of your own child and his beloved wife? There’s the relief that the infant’s health is flawless, the mother survived the ordeal smoothly, and the home is prepared for the new person. All of this is insignificant compared to the potential you witness. The energy surrounding the birth of a human is monumental. She now has an entire life of possibilities that we will witness, and the development of our son into a parent is equally huge. And Jenna, our dear daughter in law, has begun the journey she has been seeking for most of her life.
Yes, we were over the moon. And having Lindsay and Erica come for a long visit with us almost put us in that spaceship.

Leaving Ireland was difficult. I wanted to seek out more evidence of my heritage; my mother is 100 percent Irish. But further travels were beckoning. At first, we wanted to head to the western coast of Scotland, some of the finest cruising grounds in the world, but the winds didn’t cooperate, sending us further south, to Wales. This was a rough nine hour trip, with winds cranking up from less than ten knots the first hour to well into the thirties. The fishing vessels , crazy currents, and drenching rains added to the challenges. Then, the marina at Holyhead was gone, demolished in a recent storm.

One dock was installed to allow about six boats where nearly 100 had sunk a few months prior. Fog, wind, and drizzle continued but we managed some amazing cliff walks anyway. The medieval church, St Cybil, still stands where a monastery was built in the sixth century.

Less than two days later, we left Holyhead with new friends, heading into the eddies and winds again. Lisken sailed for Ireland as we turned south for a 24 hour run to Milford Haven, Wales. More castles and history here, then another 24 hour run to Falmouth, England.

Pleasantly surprised at our good timing, we joined the OCC, Ocean Cruising Club, for a dinner at the Royal Cornish Yacht Club.

Formal dinner and speeches one night was followed by a casual lunch in the Marquee the next day. Six OCC boats headed up the river to continue festivities. Happy hour and dinner aboard Peter Flutter’s steel Saga 45, Tyrian of Truro, then breakfast on Alembic gave us plenty of time to listen to other cruisers’ stories, including the round the world adventures of Sea Bunny, with Susan and Richard Kidd.
Next ports were a public pontoon at Fowey, anchoring at Salcombe, and another pontoon in Dartmouth. Here we navigated through several classes of sailing races trying to gain entrance to the harbor, and enjoyed the regatta of a variety of rowing boats once inside.

Weymouth was our next port, and we tied up right behind the famous Gypsy Moth and were welcomed to a free tour.

Our mooring in Poole was far from town, but there was a convenient launch, which was followed by a bus and train to Lulworth. It seemed like we should have taken Alembic to this idyllic harbor, but many had warned us that the rolling in the harbor could damage any boat.

Winds to Lymington never materialized, so we motored there, but sailed up the river to a town Quay. We were missing family terribly at this point, and expecting a new grand baby to be born any day. At this point, she was late for her arrival!

We headed toward Portsmouth where we planned to meet cruising friends Suzanne and David, leaders of our Suzie Too Rally in the Western Caribbean two years prior, and fellow rally members Jeff and Mary from Echo. As we detoured up the River Medina, at Cowes, we learned of Sadie’s grand entrance! She was born an hour before, and all was perfect in our world.

Sharing our fabulous news with old friends was a gift. I’m sure they couldn’t peel us off our cloud during dinner, even if they tried!
Last stop, Wicor Marine, had a dock in the middle of the river waiting for us to tie to so we could leave Alembic and fly home to meet our new little Angel. Boat? What boat? I had a grand baby to meet! I’m sure I was a basket case packing up for this magical trip.

Arriving in Kinsale Ireland was quite the culmination of our Atlantic crossing. The tenacious spirit of my mom, a 100 percent Irish woman, was palpable here.

Chilly mornings and icy water temps didn’t faze the exuberant children and adults as they navigated in the fog in tiny vessels with either oars or sails. Bravery manifests itself in many ways; sailing across the Atlantic takes one type of courage, but Alembic seemed a mighty ship compared to these mini watercraft all around us. There was some type of regatta underway and no shortage of enthusiastic participants.
With solid ground under our feet finally, after 9 days of twelve foot seas, we headed for a pub. The first one we stopped in didn’t disappoint. I was not really in the mood for a beer, but the music lured me in.

Watching the children bust out into Irish Dance routines (while wearing their soccer clothes) and grandma pull out spoons from her purse and join in the merriment gave me a taste for the true neighborhood gathering.

Next, it was off to visit my brother, Al, and his wife, Ann, in Galway. They were there for a wedding and a funeral. Emotions were covering the spectrum as we met many of Ann’s large family. Paul and Margaret generously gave us a room in their gorgeous home.

Carrying on in our rental car, we visited the Aran Islands, staying in a teepee in Doolin after spending a glorious day on bikes, ferries, and foot.

Back to Alembic, we left the dock to drop anchor in the river. Anchoring is preferable for us because it’s free, peaceful, and closer to nature. Unfortunately, our trusty windlass was acting up again, so Bill dove into the tiny space up forward to explore. Being small has its advantages as he squeezed into the anchor locker.

We tried to have a new motor shipped to us in the Azores, but the delays were becoming comical, so we redirected it to Kinsale. It showed up just in time. Our grand plans for hauling the huge anchor and lengthy chain by hand never had to be put into action.

After a two day stop in Cork, only a three hour journey from Kinsale, we headed to Dublin, a 26 hour sail up the east coast of Ireland. The night was ridiculously cold and dressing like an eskimo still didn’t keep me warm, but I was grateful to be in this glorious water, sharing space with so many bird pairs and leaping miniature dolphins.
We enjoyed exploring the city, getting a taste of the culture with a visit to the busy downtown, a tour through Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin’s oldest building built in 1030, and an amazing Dance show.

While I wished I could have stayed another month, we were eager to see more of Europe, so two weeks after arriving in Ireland, we departed Dún Laoghaire (pronounced Done Leary), heading east on August 17.