One of the early entries to the ten boat double handed division is Mick Liddy and adventurer Mark Pollock in the much hyped Daft.com sponsored class 40 yacht. It is one of only a few sponsored entries in this year's Round Ireland Yacht race. The entry is generating publicity partly because of the sponsorship drive behind it but mainly because one half of the partnership is sailing blind and is tackling offshore sailing for the first time.
As if the race did not present enough obstacles of its own, Pollock will depend on his partner Air Corps pilot Liddy for the entire 700-mile voyage.
But this isn't the first visually impaired sailor into the race, two others precede him. Michael Beggs of Bangor, County Down and Martin McKeaver of Derry confronted tidal races, gale force winds and a rocky lee shore as part of a crew of eight in the 1996 race.
More on the Round Ireland Yacht Race:
Round Ireland Yacht Race 2010 Review
Round Ireland Yacht Race, Ireland's top offshore fixture
A Round up of 80 stories on the 2010 Round Ireland Yacht Race