Experienced West Coast sailors know that their Atlantic seaboard's rainy reputation is only part of the story, as the conspicuous mainland mountains tend to draw down two or three times as much rain as the less elevated offshore islands.
The Galway Bay Sailing Club Cruising Group - Captained these days by Alan Laine, who hails from Guernsey but has made Galway his home - demonstrated this recently when some judicious choices made while they cruised the Aran Islands and then went on round Slyne Head to Inishbofin after visiting South Connemara resulted in several sunlit images of the impressive fleet in anchorages whose very names conjure up visions of Hy Brasil for sailors on the tamer East Coast.
