The last two or three weeks for Heydays crew has been spent in the bosom of families and grandchildren, a festival or two, and for Chris, the celebration of a big birthday. In the meantime,  Heydays has been lifted out and had a new stern gland (re-packed to be precise), together with a flush through and check of the cooling system, a check of the cutlass bearing and a general clean up of her bottom.

She was due to be lifted back in on Wednesday, but the hoist promptly failed, requiring a specialist part from Italy. Therese, the manager in the yard at Malahide was brilliant at keeping us up to date, but with flights already booked, three of us decided to head back to Ireland anyway, ready to make a getaway once the part arrived (for Chris, the lure of quality time with grandchildren was a bigger draw). With Heydays still on dry land the yard made arrangements for us to have access so we can stay on board…albeit having to traipse out to the loos. They also organised for the night watchman to let us in, with ladder access to the old girl.

Still  hopeful for the part arriving Friday, and for a Saturday getaway, we caught the night flight from Southampton to Dublin. An hour delay meant that we didn’t get to Malahide until around 11pm, but everything worked as planned and we finished off the evening with the odd rum or scotch…

Having left at the end of August in shorts, T shirts and sun cream, it was something of a shock to find that we needed warm clothes and jumpers.

Friday morning gave us a chance to inspect the old girl more thoroughly…

…and mostly looking good.  The copper coat has done a great job so far and the propeller seems to be fine as well.

Although there is a frustration at not being launched, and we glare menacingly at the hoist every time we pass…

….it’s an ill wind as they say. Malahide is not a bad place to be holed up.

The part is now due to arrive on Monday, but the winds are not to be trifled with at the moment…

….the ill wind allows us to get on with several jobs which had been on the list for a while, and we take a bus into Swords which is just near the airport and has both BandQ and a marine chandlery. 

The bus only takes coins (not notes and definitely not cards). The driver looks at the shrapnel which Yee Tak has in her purse, about €3, and says “don’t worry, just give me that”….this amounts to roughly half what we should be paying.

…but even better, we get to the town centre where the bus terminates and ask where to catch the bus out to the out of town mall for B and Q.

“Stay there” he says as the bus empties. He then shuts the doors and drives us in our own double decker to the mall. The generosity, and loose interpretation  of rules of the Irish never ceases to amaze us.

Dinner at a heaving bar called Gibney’s…

Saturday, is very blustery, with winds whistling and wining in the rigging, but its fine, so no excuse not to get on with jobs.

With a polished hull, transducers antifouled and reseated, we decide to make the most of a break in the rain to take the train to Howth and stretch our legs.

The little harbour is actually quite a major fishing port…

…and the dockside is lined with fishmongers, fish restaurants and the most amazing hardware/chandlery. It’s a struggle to get John out, but we replace a tired fender which gets some quizzical looks on the train…

We buy fish and oysters for our lunch tomorrow,  and settle down to an early dinner in Crabby Joe’s….just a light seafood platter and some tempura prawns…

Some hardy souls have been out racing, and we watch them returning with varying degrees of control. Interesting to note though, that anything looks easy if you have a crew of 5 or 6 tame gorillas…

A harbour seal watches us lazily…

As for any sailing content in this blog? We’ve talked a lot….what is doable, what plan B and C look like if the winds keeps blowing through etc etc. The stretch north up to Fair Head is ok in a blow….especially if the wind stays in the west, but the north coast past Ratlin Island is not to be triffled with. Lots of water from the Atlantic trying its hardest to force its way between Ireland and Scotland. We’ll make decisions closer to the time.