Go north for decent sailing breezes.....that’s the message being brought home by the Galway crew of the Irish National Sailing School’s J/109 Jedi as they continue to benefit from much firmer mainly westerly winds over the north of the country writes W M Nixon.
They are now speeding down the Irish Sea within 50 miles of their start/finish point in Dun Laoghaire, on track and sailing at 6.8 knots in best J/109 style. This should keep them a whole day within their self-imposed target of getting round Ireland in a clockwise direction within a week.
But while they may look like staying within one limit, they’ve already exceeded another in style, as their declared target of raising at least €3,000 towards helping the 85 patients receiving Cystic Fibrosis treatment in Galway University Hospital has been swept aside.
They went through the €3,500 mark while breezing along the north coast last night. And as the fund-raising stays open until mid-August, who knows what stratospheric total might be possible for this effort led by Mossy Reilly & Paddy Shryane, with full support from their crew of Dave O’Connor, Louis Cronan, Sophie Skinner, and Jonathan Curran.
Not only has it all been in a very good cause, but they return to Dublin Bay inspired by the magnificence of our coastline and the hugely varied life of sea creatures of all types and sizes to be seen and admired when making the incomparable circuit of Ireland.
