What started out as a means of cutting the carbon footprint by using only wind and tide on a six day voyage from Brest ended up cut short by the vagaries of the Irish sea.
But it has nevertheless been a remarkable journey and the first instance of such a cargo being imported here under sail since the 1800s.
Destined for the Irish market each bottle on board bears the label “carried by sailing ship, a better deal for the planet” but for a time on Thursday evening 30,000 bottles of French wine from the Languedoc-Roussillon region were becalmed off Greystones, Co. Wicklow.
The prospect of an ebb tide and fog off the Kish lighthouse left the skipper of the 'Kathleen and May' with little option but to revert to the age of diesel.
The copmany also claims that it can compete with conventional power due to the rise in fuel prices and is planning other trade routes too, regardless of the absence of wind on Dublin bay.
Fair Wind Wine, the company behind the ground breaking move back to sail says each bottle will have saved 4.9oz of carbon emissions.
The three–masted schooner is berthed at Custom House Quay and it is open to the public. To celebrate the maiden voyage the crew are sampling the 23 tonnes of its cargo (10 Euro per head) this weekend.
