Ballyconneely

ND on mooring in Bunowen

 

 

Tony and Aonghus called into Bunowen (Ballyconneeely) near Slyne Head to be met by our friend Cathal who gave us a great welcome. We also called to see our old sailing instructor John Roberts. We discussed with him whether or not we should attempt Joyces Pass the following day. John as always was a great encouragement to us and said that he would usually go through the pass unless conditions were very bad. We took his advice and sailed through Joyce’s Pass the following morning – see below.

Slyne Head Light

 

 

 

We went around Slyne twice in 2008 – both times through Joyce’s Pass. Heading North Aonghus and Tony went through (nervously) at extremely low later with the depth sounder alarm ringing in our ears, against a strong current, following which we sailed north to Bofin. On the return trip Connie and Tony sailed through in light airs at high water – again the current was west to east. The sound was unrecognisable compared to the earlier trip. In our discussion with John Roberts, John had advised against excessive speed through the sound as the strong current could combine with high speed and result in damage if one was unfortunate enough to hit anything. (in descibing the width of the sound John had looked around his front room where our conversation was taking place and said in his calm  style “well the Pass is about as broad as this room….” . Apparently his remarks regarding speed were based on a large yacht going through the week before at 8 knots and causing damge, resulting in a  call out for Clifden lifeboat. Next time we will have to have the cameras at the ready!

The ICC Sailing Directions for the sound recommend not passing through the sound in anything over F4 which sounds about right. It is quite practicable to go “for a look”  through the sound and see if you fancy it – if not swing the boat  and take the long way around. Having a number of waypoints preplotted ( in our case 3) to identify the dog leg course through the sound at least puts you in the right place. After that it is a skipper’s call.