4 dinghy sailors made the voyage to join our Commodores past and present in beautiful Schull for a few days racing
William Walsh, Ben O’Shaughnessy, Eoin Byrne and Oisin Pearse with Simon Hanley for the delivery trip sailed from Dun Laoghaire to Cork on the August Bank Holiday, supported by the Boats owner Alex.
The First 33.7 Ulysses headed off early on Friday morning arriving late in Kilmore Quay for the last Kebabs in the village, having battled through the viscous tides off Carnsore Point for a few hours.
Saturday was much nicer Eoin got up with the crew asleep and headed off his native Dunmore East. The boys stopped off for a days farming in the beautiful Waterford Village and trip to town for a few haircuts.
Sunday was a fast days sailing under spinnaker and 15 knots behind us in speedy trip to Cork Harbour, where the crew was met by Peter O’Shaughnessy and Ruairi the Red Settler and a bucket of chicken wings from a rib off Rochespoint. Typically Cork welcome to one of its own as Ben was very happy to back in the Rebel County after his various trips abroad.
We left Simon here to head back to his exams in Paris and picked up another serious local Oisin Pearse.
After a few days of sailing the crew were delighted that the only thunderstorm of the summer arrived on Monday and put off our trip to Schull until the wind was truely on the nose again.
Hospitality was too good for us at the Royal Cork but we had to get to Schull at some point, so Wednesday was the day.
Off early and a long day on one tack got us to West Cork but not before we had a punishing evening of heavy swells and winds until we got to Clare Island.
The last bit was easy and crew needed a quick spin to town to get acclimatised. Unfortunately we missed the Fastnet race on Tuesday but happy to have completed the Epic Voyage.
West Cork is a beautiful place at the best of times but Calves Week showed the venue at its optimum. Amazing scenery and fantastic racing in the bay. Super friendly local club members and a great atmosphere for the sailors.
We made a good go of the racing up against some quality team but as one of the boys put it, they are in racing boats and we are brining our house around with us. …
Staying on the boat had its perks. Amazing night skys and quick swims for a shower. Town was packed but we were happy to get in for food and meeting up with other boats.
The final days racings was the lightest days sailing and gave us a chance to try out each of the 5 crew at Helm. Most of the discussion on deck was about trying to sail a 5 tonne cruiser like a 49er which had mixed results but we had a great tussle with the Jones’ Oceanis 40 under Asymmetric into the finish. Not sure who won in the end. We will call it a tie.
A wonderful holiday and the only problem now is getting the boat back. But long days with no phones and hours of coastline are good for the soul. Congratulations to both commodores, Peter and Rosemary, picking up prizes on Chris Moore’s Powder Monkey and Anne Kirwan’s Orca.
Alex Walsh
