Saturday 9 June (Ardglass to Bangor)

I decided to play at being a single-hander today, and slipped all our lines and left the marina at 0600 while Cath slumbered on quietly. (I thought I had done really well until we berthed at Bangor later and Cath found I had left a line on the pontoon at Ardglass: a flogging offence that!) I left in dense mist, with visibility down to under a mile, so pot-watching became quite a strain, staring without break into the white curtain. We heard the eerie sound of the South Rock light float's fog horn from a couple of miles away, and by the time we had sighted it the fog began to burn off revealing a bright sunny day. The course was then between various rocks and waypoints with names like Butter Pladdy, Crooked Pladdy and Burial Island, through Donaghadee Sound, dodging Governor Rock, Deputy Rock and the Rig Rocks, and finally rounding the corner into Belfast Lough. We put the sails up as we bore away, but the wind was light and we could barely make 2knots, so abandoned the attempt and motored into Bangor marina at 1300. We explored the town, and I wandered along to the Royal Ulster Yacht Club, which was if anything even grander than the Royal Irish! I was shown round by a member and joined them for a drink, then met Cath back at the boat.