We were safely anchored in the Skerries when the weather took a turn for the worse and just closed in. We had planned to get off the yacht and explore the small islands in and around the Skerries, but the chop was particularly bad and we didn't feel like it was safe enough for us to get off the yacht. However, just because we were confined to Salty Lass for the day, did not mean that we were board, far from it, it just meant that we needed to complete one of the many projects that we had on-board and in my case it was splicing a three braid onto a metal shackle so that we could add it to our spare anchor.

I had gone to a splicing master class earlier in the year, so it was now time to put what I learned into practice. So in my case I was putting a thimble in the splice, so I got my splicing bag out from below the port bunk and got on with it. I was really pleased with my splice and it was great to feel that it was a job well done. Once I had completed the three braid splice, it was time to complete the big project, which was octoplait onto the anchor chain. So although we were anchored, we just got out the remaining chain and added the octoplait, relying on the two rolling hitches tided to the chain to take the weight of the yacht, while we were anchored.

I marked the octoplait with permanent marker pen. Big mistake as this has since run, so not really all that permanent. Anyway, by the time I had done my two splices and marked the anchor locker, the day was done. As the evening drew to a close the thick layer of cloud that had covered us for the day started to clear and we hoped that the next day would be better, for our trip to Carlingford Marina.

That night was quite rolly and we woke up the next day to see another yacht stranded on the rocks. Apparently their mooring had snapped in the night. I was quite glad to be on anchor, as we are sure that our mooring must of dragged, which had set our anchoring alarm off the previous night. Although the weather was still poor, there was some wind in the right direction for our trip to Carlingford.

We motorsailed to Carlingford as we needed to get to Greenore Point which is inside Carlingford Lock the hour before high tide, so that the tidal flow just by the point was reduced and we would get to Carlingford Marina, at High Water slack, making the entrance to the marina safer.

We were wise to make these decisions as the boat tied close to us had came in one hour later, and had passed Greenore Point on an ebb tide and he was tossed around so much that the sea ripped off his dinghy davits and threw them onto the deck. This was a sailor that had sailed around the world, but get a tidal gate wrong in the Irish Sea and you will suffer for it.

Carlingford Marina is dominated by a ferro concrete boat, that is actually used as the walkway between the the pontoons and the maria offices, so is rather striking. Near the marina offices, was a curry house, where we treated ourselves to a rather nice curry.