michael's round the world adventure

There has been a long delay in writing this blog, and I can only apologise for that and offer the following excuse: the welcome in Kinsale has been just too good! Since we arrived here one week ago, there has been such a lot going on in the town, and such a lot of friends and family visiting, that finding a quiet moment to sit down and write this has been difficult to say the least! What a great complaint to have!

So, to backtrack a bit, the last time I wrote we were just off the Grand Banks, with the rest of the fleet hunting us down as we set off across the Atlantic Ocean. The remainder of the race went well. The strong winds we were experiencing continued, and we carried getting good speeds with full main and the poled out yankee, Kev setting the record at 17.1 knots. As the wind built to over 40 knots, we did put a reef in the main. We held this though for just about 8 hours and were then back up to full sail! The high speeds did see us struggling with the shaft break once more as the new line snapped, but a replacement with strong spectra seemed to do the job. Soon, the sea state calmed sufficiently for us to change to the medium-weight spinnaker, for some truly awesome ocean sailing! With these great winds and high speeds, it was not long at all until we came into sight of the Irish coastline. During the morning of the 27th of June, Mizen Head started to appear out of the haze of a glorious sunny day, and soon we were spotting familiar features along the south west coast of our home country.

As we rounded Mizen Head we were treated to an extra special welcome, as Irish Air Corps flight C-252 performed a number of slow and low fly-by's of the boat. The crew of the aircraft came through on the VHF radio, and welcomed us back home. It was a fantastic first taste of the welcome that awaited us, and was really appreciated by all on board. They even came back around for another run so Wayne could get some better shots for the TV show!

The next milestone was rounding the Fastnet Rock. This famous lighthouse is known by sailors everywhere, and is the turning point for the classic Fastnet Race from Cowes in the UK. We were lucky enough to pass in daylight, on a clear day, so could see the rock and the lighthouse in all their glory. Hannah, despite sailing past or around it about 10 times previously, had never seen it as clearly - on the other occassions it was either dark or foggy... So the weather was holding nicely for us, the rest of the fleet were still around 100 miles behind us, and we were on schedule for an early evening arrival in Kinsale - everything was looking good for a perfect finish as we approached the Old Head of Kinsale.

We soon spotted a RIB of the RNLI approaching, along with a couple of motor boats with photographers on board. The RNLI approached and welcomed us, and stayed with us all the way in. At this point we were heading a little way south of the Old Head, still flying the medium weight kite, on a port tack. We had to gybe around the Old Head for the finish line, and with our little group of 5 or 6 boats following us, the pressure was on to make it a good one! With Keith on the helm, I headed to the bow and, after getting the new pole ready to go, we got it out and set, before taking in the old pole in a textbook manoeuvre. With us just at the old head, and just about able to hold course to the finish line with the kite up, I took over the helm for the final push. I had been honored to be chosen by the rest of the crew to helm over the line, it really meant a lot to me that they had selected me for this. So, while we tried to push the boat as close to the wind as possible to keep the kite up while making the line, we became slightly aware in the periphary of some more boats showing up and sailing or motoring in with us. By the time we approached the line, there was a flotilla of around 50 boats around us! It was such an amazing thing, we couldnt believe that so many had made the effort to come out and greet us - particularly as we were arriving almost a week ahead of schedule! We managed to hold the spinnaker for longer than expected too - in fact, we could probably have held it right up to and over the finish line, except we would have been short of space to drop in time after the line without heading straight on into Charles Fort... So, shortly before the line, with the yankee 1 already hoisted to take over, Kev spiked the kite to release it from the end of the pole, and the rest of the crew gathered for another perfect evolution. With all these spectators around, it had to be great, and it was a great moment as Noreen on the halyard worked in perfect harmony with the gatherers to ensure that the kite came down with just the lightest of touches on the surface of the water before being sent safely down below. After that it was a straightforward job to aim directly for the committee boat to cross the line as close to them as possible. The noise of foghorns as we crossed the line, and the number of boats around, was simply mind-boggling. As we motored in towards the marina in Kinsale, we saw people in vantage points all along the coastline out to get a look at the boat as she came in. With a RIB from the port authorities, and a couple from Kinsale Yacht Club, to lead us in and help us moor, we were being well looked after already. There was a nice moment when we needed to come up into the wind to drop the mainsail. The area we needed to change course into was filled with wellwishing vessels, so a quick word to the lads from KYC on the RIB, and the three support boats spread out and cleared us an area in moments. Nice.

And so we were soon onto Irish soil, for the first time in approaching a year for some of us. We had a wonderfully warm welcome from the yacht club, who provided drinks and a fabulous steak dinner for the entire crew. The Mayor of Kinsale, Michael Frawley, was on hand to advise on the top locations to visit, and a long night ended up back on the boat with a bottle of rum provided by the White Lady Hotel! Since then, there has been a stream of family and friends coming down to get involved in the festivities. My sister and three neices moved their visit forward and arrived down on Tuesday, with my Mum and other sister arriving on Wednesday, Dad and my brother-in-law arriving on Friday, along with uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends from Dublin, Derby, Galway, Navan, and all over the country throughout the week. It's been an amazing stopover so far, on Wednesday we head for Cork City before setting out on the penultimate race for Ijmeuden in the Netherlands. So it's now time to start thinking about going to sea once more, and getting our race face back on. Lets see if we can keep Phatty trucking all the way up the English Channel and competing with the Clipper 68's!

Go raibh mile maith agat Kinsale!