DRONE TESTING
AND SPEARFISHING
IN IRELAND | 2021

3-days trip from Kinsale to Crookshaven, new stops on the way, and magnificent nature.

If you have only 2 minutes - check out this video!

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Two odd events when were sailing just off Kinsale
Spotted around 10 basking sharks in Bullen's Bay close to the Old Head of Kinsale. Never seen more than one basking shark in the vicinity of the boat. It looks like nature cleansed during the last years of Covid and sea species are more often seen close to shore. We reported the sighting to IWDC (Irish Whale and Dolphin Group). You can check many more reports from other observers here

Ran into 2 Dutch tech ships nearby, one of them being the Maersk Maker (marine traffic link). You may be interested to know that you can track the route and the current location of such big ships all the time on the websites MarineTraffic and VesselFinder (link)

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Mavic Mini2 drone testing
Tested a new drone (Mavic Mini2) while going under sails. It was an exciting and a dangerous moment (when your drone can easily be lost to the sea if it can't keep up with the boat's speed or is attacked by seagulls). The first attempt near Kinsale was a success, while the second attempt near the Galley Head Lighthouse was almost a failure. This came about because it lost connection with the old phone we were using to operate it while the remote controller was still working. So it stayed hovering at some altitude, and we were forced to find it with our bare eyes. We had 10 minutes to turn the boat around and locate it visually, otherwise it would have made an emergency landing (into the ocean).

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Rabbit Island anchorage
Discovered a new quiet place for anchorage near Rabbit Island. Our drone captured beautiful videos and panoramic pictures of this gem.

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Fishing
For the first time we had a spear fishing hunter on board. He tried to catch only sea bass, but brought up a mullet, a lobster, and a big spider crab. There was a competition between him and us, who were fishing from the boat. We caught several pollocks and officially ruled it a draw. We were fortunate to have a seafood restaurant on the boat that evening and couldn't decide which dish was better.

As a captain I learned how to use the freediving equipment and want to buy some for myself, not exactly because I'm "hooked" on it (sorry! couldn't resist), but because I can definitely feel safer if someone on a boat can swim in 15°C water for a long time. Two on the main problems you have to deal with on a boat are fishing lines or bouy lines.
When either of these tangle up the boat's propeller, it usually takes a lot more than 15 minutes to get them untangled and avoid the serious problems they can cause.

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The Art of Coffee
One of the crew members was a professional barista named Pavel. He brought a French press, smart scale, and two types of roasted fresh-ground coffee to please us with a perfect brew. The first thing we did every morning (almost religiously) was a hot cup of a filtered coffee with a slightly sour taste and aroma from Ethiopia and Kenya. During the long passages we were delighted with another experience of an Irish coffee from the same barista: he added a shot of Jameson to the coffee being kept warm in a thermos, manually whipped cream and added grated chocolate on top. That not only warmed up our bodies frozen after long hours exposed to the sea breeze, but also brought us to a next level as coffee lovers.