We had been in Kilmore Quay for a few days, but the weather looked favourable so we were off. We left just before low tide because at low tide the tide out at sea would be going in our favour, but we might have issues leaving because of depth and waiting until after low tide would mean that we would of wasted a lot of the tide going in our direction. We departed Kilmore Quay, cautiously because the harbour walls are quite high and it is impossible to see any boats approaching, luckily the boat that we encountered was just outside the entrance, so even though we were in a channel there was enough room to avoid him.

Once we had left the channel we steered towards where we wanted to be and for once we were able to sail. I can not describe how happy we were, we both had huge smiles on our faces and the sense of calm that you can get from sailing was with us. We tried to describe how good we felt and although these descriptions get you partly there, it is the internal peace and the oneness with nature that is just fantastic. The sea state was calm as well so that the sail was smooth, so added to the joy.

The sail was not completely fantastic, we had failed to close one of our lockers and the contents of the locker had spilled out all over the top of the toilet. It just brings home the fact that even on a quite sail like this one, it is very important that you secure everything. Lockers closed, table leaves secured and the toilet seat down. If you can find ways to avoid bangs and breakages during the passage then do so, they can be quite frightening because you don't know the cause of the noise and for some reason, you always seem to think it is more serious rather than just the contents of a locker being spilled out.

So that we could enjoy the sailing more we had to turn Annie off because she was chuntering too much and Beverley had to stop chewing her biscuit, because her teeth were too loud. A really daft thing, but we wanted to make the most of the silence and the tranquillity that we were feeling.

One of the manoeuvrers that we did while we were out in the sea was increase the sail area. To do this we

• Initially shortened the Genoa, from 125% to 100%. With Salty Lass we find that we effectively need a Jib sail to heave to effectively
• Center the traveller.
• Start the tack, keeping an eye on the boom
• Once the front sail is backed, oppose the turn with the rudder.
• The main should have no pressure on it from the wind so is in a great position for you to adjust the main in some way

We heave to, so that we could increase our sail area, so for that particular manoeuvrers we

• Released all the reefing lines
• Winched up the main

Once the sail was up, and in the correct position, we completed the tack by

• Putting the rudder in the central position
• Letting the Genoa fly and pulling it on the tack
• Increase, the sail area if required
• Adjust the lines like, the traveller, the sheets and other lines as appropriate

By increasing the sail area, our speed went up to 2.9knots and by sheeting in our speed increased to 3.2knots.

Other techniques that we were using were:-

• Lee bowing - which is where you tack into the tide so that the tide compensates and your course made good is closer to what you want
• Close hauling - In fact our courtesy flag was in exactly the right position to show where the wind was between the two sails, and you could see how you could use the two sails to make an aerofoil

As the weather was so calm we decided to anchor outside Dunmore East, in the bay just outside the village. I dropped the anchor and once it was set, we checked that it was set by taking a transit and applying power and checking that the transit did not move. Once we were happy with the set of the anchor, it was time to tidy the boat

This day was an example of what I want to do which is sailing and anchoring, but regardless of what I want to do, I am having to go back to Liverpool because my Mum is not very well.