Ireland’s first-ever Vendee Globe entrant, Enda O'Coineen with his IMOCA 60 Kilcullen Voyager, was in his home port of Galway this week for the presentation to First Port of Galway Sea Scouts of a cheque towards the renovation of one of their boats at Galway docks. Rasa is a 24–ft sailing cruiser which has been put back into service through a work programme over the past two seasons by an enthusiastic group of leaders and young scouts under the leadership of Alan Delaunty and Kieran Oliver. The boat, entirely crewed by the young scouts, participated in the Annual Blessing of the Bay last Sunday.
The presentation was made on behalf of the Cruising Association of Ireland, which has about five hundred members around Ireland. Clifford Brown, CAI Commodore, says they are delighted to contribute to such an excellent project giving training in sailing and seamanship to young people in Galway, and hopes the Rasa would next year be able to join one of the local CAI cruises.
The presentation was made aboard Kilcullen Voyager shortly before Enda O’Coineen set off a training session of four hundred miles out into the Atlantic prior to his single-handed handed Vende Globe challenge, starting on 6th November from Les Sables-d’Olonne in the Vendee region of Biscay France. Before departure for this week’s venture, he told the young Sea Scouts that he started his sailing in their troop back in the 1960's under Captain Whooley.