Risso's

Today, glorious weather with light winds and calm seas, we set out from Castletown mid-morning. The race off Langness was minimal, so we decided to potter up the East cost of the island again.

Going round Langness we spotted one of these:


Risso's Dolphin


and more...


they came very close (engine off!).

A school of c. 20. Never seen Risso's before, and they obviously liked us because they came and played for around 15 minutes before moving on.

Heading North we poked our noses into Derbyhaven



and then we passed the construction for the airport runway extension..



and came across one of the giant barges supplying the stone for the promontory



before meandering up to Port Soderick



We weren't the only people skiving off...



this chap had come a long way .....



Of course there were other denizens of the deep around...


The picture doesn't do justice, this fella is the best part of a metre across.

So what's it like boating in the middle of the Irish Sea then....

Ideal conditions for a small planing boat, we had held a steady 20 knots up the East coast, had lunch in Port Soderick, and cruised back at a more sedate 7-8 knots. But we got back to Castletown bay in good time, so Mrs. S decided to "open up" a bit and took Carraghyn up to 25 knots, the fastest she's helmed so far. It takes a bit of practice, Carraghyn is very light really, and at high speeds quite twitchy, needing a light hand on the wheel. Not to be outdone I took the opportunity of the millpond state of sea to have a burn-up as well, seeing 28 knots on the GPS (against the tide) before going sensible again and pottering back into harbour.

Watching the Seals

It was a glorious day, HW at 12:07, and at the end of November clearly a bonus opportunity to get out on Carraghyn, so with no particular aim in mind we grabbed some supplies for a picnic and out we went ......


The obligatory wake shot, leaving Castletown. With the slight breeze coming from the NorthEast heading west seemed like a good idea, so we planed across a flat sea past Port St. Mary before dropping back to displacement speed and meandering along under the cliffs. The sea turned very choppy for a while, much more so than expected, which we put down to the strong currents of the spring tide.


We made our way to Calf Sound, where the visitor centre, beloved eatery of a well known YBW forumite of military origins, was bathed in sunlight.


Akshully, the Calf was looking quite attractive too.


There were seals lying about everywhere...


Now that was what I call a party.


Some seals ventured into the water..


and took the opportunity for a gawp at the boat..


Here's lookin' at U, Neddie..


They even came in pairs..


but, just like some forumites, some old farts were just too tired to get out there and do it...


We weren't the only ones out. While I was shooting seals this chap was huntin' fish.

Whilst it looks calm in most of the photos it wasn't universally so - approaching the sound from either side the intersection of strong currents on a spring tine made the water quite choppy.


So we meandered back to Port St Mary, Mrs. Seagoon at the helm, and drifted a while whilst eating our picnic


Mrs. Seagoon didn't finish hers.


And then returned to Castletown, feeling very smug that we haven't taken the boat out of the water.

First Catch Your Fish...

Mrs. Seagoon and I decided to get out "for the fishing" today.



'twas a glorious morning leaving Castletown, with Mrs. Seagoon at the helm (this is the wake shot!)...

So we ventured round Scarlett Point into Bay Ny Carrickey and mooched around waiting for the fishfinder to bleep. It was quiet as the grave, a handful of boats out in total, one of which was Drew's, whose path we crossed. We paused to say hello before carrying on with our fish hunting.

Plenty of hunting, but not a lot of fish. Still, in the last few minutes before we were to head back in - success.



What a Pollack.

And so we returned to Castletown, intending a quick bite at the Gluepot.

It was not to be. I went up to the bar and enquired "Are you serving food?", "No" came the sullen reply. So I said to Mrs. Seagoon, "Let's drop in to The Shore on the way home".



This is "The Shore".



and this is the view from the tables outside. Bay Ny Carrickey, we're sat about 400 yard from where we just caught our fish.



And this is the sign outside.......

So I'm just about to step inside and order lunch when Mrs. Seagoon says "I wonder if they'd cook that fish"....

So I asked (I think you can probably see where this is going now  )



This is Richard, one of the Two Fat Chefs...



And a close-up of "lunch".



Mrs. Seagoon says we're having fish tagliatelle for supper.

Shark !!!

Well the weather so far this "summer" has been middling at best, so while Carraghyn has been out a few times in May & June, nothing to write home about! I am currently taking a week of holiday, and the weather gods have not been in favour of boating. F4 - F6 is not comfortable to be sitting around in a small motor boat - OK-ish going somewhere, but not the best conditions for drifting while picnicing and fishing.

Today though a brief respite. Wind 5-7 knots from the South, lots of sunshine, and slight seas with a gentle swell. So out we went...

Blue sea, blue sky.

We are just approaching our destination, intending a picnic lunch before fishing, when I spot something in the water and cut the engine fast!

Basking Shark

These magnificent animals are not uncommon around the Isle of Man during the summer months, but we haven't seen one close to from the boat before. The shark is bigger than the boat.

We watch for a while then move on the little bit further to our picnic spot. Settle down with our sandwiches and beer, and then...

Another Basking Shark

This one is much bigger, it is quite a distance away, but the dorsal fin is huge!

Having finished lunch, despite the local denizens of the deep we fearlessly cast our fishing lines over the side. Hmmm, don't think my 30lb line is going to hold a shark tho.

Instead I caught a useless, ugly, large Ballan Wrasse. Not what I wanted for the supper table so back it went, interesting getting the hook out, I resorted to fishing pliers, this thing had teeth that it must have nicked from a Pirahna. I didn't catch anything else more edible, but a very pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

Mrs. Seagoon came up with the goods though...

What a Pollack!

Mission accomplished, and no more fish taking our bait, we pottered gently back to Castletown, hugging the coast close in as we passed Scarlett Point, to look at the rocks & cliffs from the sea, having walked along them with the dogs at the beginning of the week.

First Pleasure Outing

We went out on Carraghyn today, to give visiting daughter a cruise and meet up with Drewstwos on Freebird. Daughter took 74 photos! I haven't put them all up

Leaving Castletown



Freebird in sight



A fishing party



Drewstwos



Then we sped off to Bay Ny Carricky





And drifted a while, Mrs. Seagoon & daughter enjoying the sunshine



Dogs chilled out



I pinched the remains of Mrs. Seagoon's lunch (a spicy beef tortilla wrap) and put some of it on a hook to try out my new rod.... Somewhat unbelievably it caught a fish, a small male Cuckoo Wrasse - glorious colouring



But it wasn't really a fishing trip so Mrs. Seagoon fed the rest to the waiting gulls...



Before we said farewell to the Bay Ny Carricky and headed back to Castletown.


The picture we didn't get was of the Dolphin that came to visit, glorious to see nevertheless, basculing out of the water besides us. Might be quicker with the camera next time!

Carraghyn Launched

My first go on a mobo!

A breezy day here in IoM. We met at Port St. Mary to slip Carraghyn into the water, but Drew, a local acquaintance from the YBW forums, had just been to the slip before meeting me and advised that the wind was blowing across it, so while we might get her off the trailer OK, getting back on if we wanted to would be troublesome. We went and had another look, decided it would be too much, and chose to trailer her across to Castletown where the slip is more sheltered.

So heart in mouth I trailered her across to Castletown. No need to worry, the trailer rode well, the Range Rover barely noticed the load, and thanks to extensive practice with Mrs. Seagoon's sheep trailers I had no trouble making the confined turn and reverse to line up with the slipway

Here's the rig




I drove down the slip, Drew donned his waders, pushed her off the trailer and guided her around to the side:



Drew had kindly brought some more fenders and warps because my trip to the swindlery on Saturday had been something of a failure - there has been a run on fenders at Peel due to the recent storms!

We spent a little while faffing around checking how things worked, and then we were off, Drew at the helm, me fending:



Leaving Castletown outer harbour



And out to sea.

Cue obligatory wake shot!



Drew reported that she came up on the plane nicely, and we chugged around for a while seeing how she behaved in the conditions. Wind was in the range 20 - 30 knots (Castletown weather station recording 20 knots in the shelter of the outer harbour!), and the sea in Castletown Bay was short, choppy and confused. Glad it was Drew at the helm and not me, it was enormously helpful to be able to observe how she behaved before taking the helm myself for the first time.

We dodged a few lobster pots, and I took the helm.

Interesting! Open the throttle, bow lifted and she veered hard away from the wind before straightening up. My first lesson, light boat with a lot of windage and not much below the waterline, at low power she gets blown about (I would say "blown about easily", but note the wind speeds above), as soon as I had some revs on, and we had 5-6 knots of way, all became fairly predictable. In the chop she was comfortable at 10 -12 knots head into the wind, and 15 - 18 knots with the wind astern, any more and she started to slam. I pottered about a while, and then we headed back into the outer harbour for some maneuvering practice.

Also interesting. I am a raggie, Ameera can spin on her keel turning in her own length, not so with a shallow draught planing mobo! Definitely less precision there, at low speed it is quite tricky. Drew directed me through maneuvers to bring her alongside. Reverse is much more controlled than in a saily boat.

Out again, more play in the chop of Castletown Bay, then back into harbour for a break to digest what I'd learnt. I gave Drew the wheel while I went topsides to hook up to the wall.



Had a chat with the Harbour Master, wolfed my sarnie, and out to play some more, Drew at the helm dodging even more lobster pots.



And then me. It was quite choppy, as you can see:



Knackered and sated, I decided it was time to go into the main harbour and look for our berth. To get to the berth we had to pass under a low road bridge, so Drew nipped out to lower the VHF antenna.

I heard a shout "..... Overboard", which I interpreted to be man overboard, looked over my shoulder to see Drew grinning at me. Then he explained his hat had blown off (wasn't me - we were only doing 5 knots or so), so we turned about for man overboard practice. Two passes and Drew retrieved a very soggy hat!

I gave Drew the helm and went up to lower the antenna while Drew took us up the narrow channel into the main harbour at Castletown. Creeping in slowly was interesting again. Wind right on the nose, and no sooner had you corrected from being blown off to one side that you were veering off to the other! Still, a little more throttle brought some semblance of control, and we were soon inside, to find that we still didn't have sufficient air draught to get under the road bridge, so we tied up:



And off across the harbour swingbridge for a pint! Whew.

Pint drunk while the tide ran out, we returned and found we could now get under the road bridge and into the inner harbour where Carraghyn will live for the moment. Getting onto our berth was tricky in the wind, but we managed, and Drew set about arranging warps so that she can lie alongside the harbour wall safely as the tide lifts her up and down. We sat and waited, chatting while the tide ran out until she touched the bottom. Effective draught is even less than I thought, certainly no more than a couple of feet.

So enormous thanks Drew. Great fun, I couldn't possibly have done it without your help, and having you on the helm was a real confidence booster. I'll be out practising as soon as the winds drop.

In the beginning

I own a sailing boat. I really enjoy sailing, it is a great getaway from the stresses of professional life. I don't own, but do have, one partner and two large elderly Labradors. The sailing boat is incompatible with the dogs, who don't really appreciate the boat tipping up, love swimming, and are too big for the cockpit. So the sailing boat doesn't really work as a family together activity, although my partner is OK with it even if she finds it a little slow. Fair enough, I bought the sailing boat for sailing single-handed anyway, but my partner has discovered that she likes being on the water as well, and it is great being out there together, so my thoughts turned to the acquisition of a small motor boat for days when all of us could get out quickly and safely for a few hours fishing or pottering or whatever. And having though about it, I wound up buying one - here she is:

She's called Carraghyn, she's a Quicksilver 650 Weekend, and is a typical Peche Promenade - a hybrid between a sport-fishing boat and a day cruiser. She has a 115HP outboard which should push her at up to around 30 knots. Hopefully perfect for gentle fishing and exploring the coast here; here being the Isle of Man, a small independent country lying in the Irish sea between the United Kingdom and Ireland.