2nd August 2013 - Dingle to errr..... Dingle

With the prospect of a second weather day looming after this one, the thought is crossing my mind that I have to get Merlin back across the Irish Sea. The easiest and cheapest way is to have Stu drive it around the rest of the course and back to Neyland Marina where the car and trailer are parked. There is no indication of a let up in the weather, so I start looking at ways to get back to West Wales. 
With the help of Chris at MBA, I eventually work out a plan. 
Stu and I enlist the help of the Suzuki truck guys, to get to Crosshaven near Cork. We speak with the loacl Suzuki dealer there who hooks us up with a cabbie who will take us all the way to Rosslare in time for the last ferry that night to Pembroke Dock at 8.45 pm.
Its a long way and we make it with 40 minutes to spare. 
The ferry docks at 01.00 am and leaves again to go back to Rosslare at 02.45 am. Just enough time for me to take a taxi to Neyland Marina, hitch up the trailer to the car and get on the 02.45 am sailing. Also with us is a Father and Son team from Belgium whose boat name is Oban. Their boat took a pounding coming into Dingle and is now considered too badly damaged to continue so they are returning for their trailer as well.
By 01.45 am both teams are waiting to board the ferry with trailers in tow.
I take a cabin once onboard and get 3 hours sleep.
The ferry docks at Rosslare at 06.55 am and before long we are rolling through the irish countryside in the direction of Dingle. Just a note on Irish geography, Dingle is on a peninsula. If Dingle was any further west it would be in Manhattan. Its a fair old drive, but we make it by 2.00 pm and proceed to the marina slipway to recover Merlin onto the trailer. Quite a few of the challenge crews still in the event are milling around the pontoons. 

Prepping for the tow back from Dingle, the stainless steel under deck fuel tank has split from the pounding

We winch Merlin up onto the trailer and I undo the bung that drains the bilge.
Pure petrol runs out...lots of it. We have to get some containers to take this fuel, before we can continue draining the bilge. 
Its becoming clear that the huge underfloor stainless steel tank has taken a big impact and split somewhere. This means the definite end of the challenge for Merlin. I flush the spilt gas down the slipway and flush fresh water through the outboard. With the boat settled on the trailer, we set off for Rosslare hoping to catch the 20.45 pm sailing that evening. We make it with 30 minutes to spare. By 01.00 am we are driving off at Pembroke Dock, heading for the North East UK.

Waiting at Rosslare terminal for the 20.45 sailing back to Wales

The Irish adventure over for 2013