DAY 14 "It's a long way home to Donegal!"

We were up nice and early this morning, having spent the night sleeping under a Curragh. Launching at 06.30 we headed east towards Kilala Bay, strong winds were forecast from the south east so we wanted to get as far east as possible before starting our crossing to Malin Beg. After two and a half hours we started to bend towards the north and then north east. 

Half way through the afternoon the wind freshened to about 20 knots and coming from the stern quarter we managed to surf these swells diagonally towards our destination. 

Late afternoon Harry surfed across my bow just as I dropped down the face of a wave and we had a slight collision; we found Harrys day hatch half full of water but no sign of impact damage. We carried on, with only 5 miles left in the crossing we had several squalls come through and the visibility dropped down to about a mile. We picked up the lighthouse in the last mile, the tide was running out of the bay strongly, especially around Rathlin O Birne. As we started to turn northwards the Donegal coastline revealed it's self through the fog - a breathtaking sight! 

A long day on the water - 48 miles covered over ground, to make 38 miles forward.
Now sitting waiting to hook up with Vaughan to exchange data cards and perhaps grab a quick pint. Glad to be away from Mayo, as beautiful as it was, it's nice to be on the move again. God bless Donegal!

Jeff and Harry

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=54.74512,-8.71387&ll=54.74512,-8.71387&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Harry drying his clothes and desperate for a pint