In the recent spell of northerly winds, the 56ft restored Limerick trading ketch Ilen had some superb sailing from a successful civic visit to Galway (where she was much admired) back to her alternative summer base of Kinsale, with two smooth daylight hops and a short overnight pause at Dingle.
The Ilen Marine School are working their way through their Kingship programme of visiting every historic port in Ireland where the harbours used to be an integral part of the original walled town. So after a spell in Kinsale with further work for organisations such as the Sailing Into Wellness programme, the 1926-built Conor O'Brien ketch will make her way eastward to Waterford and New Ross, and then on to Dublin.
But meanwhile, those who were aboard will cherish the memory of great sailing, particularly from Black Head in County Clare offshore of the Cliffs of Moher past Loop Head and then Mount Brandon and on to Blasket Sound and Dingle, Ilen revelling on the good going with all sail set.