Day Seventeen : Around the Fastnet Rock

We don't usually eat out for breakfast but today we made an exception and walked through the country lanes to Rolfs Country House on Baltimore Hill. A change from our usual muesli on board, we had sourdough bread and a full "Irish" plate of eggs, sausages, bacon and black pudding (looked identical to a full English to me).

Then back to the quay to await the delivery of the repaired mainsail and hoping it would arrive in time for us to depart as planned. The rain gathers momentum and visibility turns quite poor as we motor out the harbour entrance and set sail for the Fastnet Rock. Frustratingly, the wind is right on the nose and as it's quite a rocky coastline, we feel it's safer to proceed with the engine on.

After Clear Island, we lose sight of land in the mist and set course for Fastnet. Last year, I raced out here in the Rolex Fastnet Race and never saw the Irish coast as the lighthouse is a mark of the course and is rounded to port before setting course for the Isles of Scilly. Thus, I hadn't realised how close the Irish Coast actually is to this famous light house. As we approached, the waves were crashing against the rock and the rain intensified. Once round the rock, we headed back towards Baltimore and did some fishing in the harbour entrance hoping to catch that elusive sea bass before heading in. 5 mackerel and 1 unidentified pollack-type fish later, we still didn't have any bass so packed up the lines and headed towards Sherkin Island.

Tonight, we were supposed to meet up with the other crews for a beach barbeque but with the weather raining stair-rods, understandably this was postponed. Instead, we gutted our 'pollack' and stuffed it with the fennel leaves (picked from the Iles of Scilly) lemon, onion and parsley before baking for 45 minutes and serving with new potatoes, carrots and white wine. There was more than enough for 4 people and it was absolutely delicious - whatever it was.

Meanwhile, in England there is a heatwave.