Monday (Day 3) 1930hrs: With a mighty leap, our heroes have freed themselves. Eric de Turckheim and his hard men on the 54ft Teasing Machine have seen off Ireland’s entire western seaboard - that is, most of our Wild Atlantic Way - in a long day’s sail on day three of the 2024 Round Ireland Race.

Twenty-six hours Fastnet Rock to Tory Island in a wayward weaving mostly southerly wind pattern. Fastnet 1630 hours yesterday (Sunday) evening. Tory at 1830 hours this (Monday) evening. And it wasn’t done by pussy-footing around.

They knew that all the indications were of a stronger line of wind out in the ocean, and they went for it. A mighty leap indeed. At one stage, if you’d been told they were halfway to Rockall in the broad sweep of their downwind tacking, you’d have believed it.

SLAP BANG BACK INTO TIDELAND

But having dealt with the weird and wonderful winds of the Atlantic in the current even weirder spell of weather, now they’re right slap bang into Tideland. And it’s back to front with what they were dealing with off the southeast corner, as the flood in the North Channel goes south, but the ebb goes north, whereas off Wexford it’s t’other way.

But before that, from Malin Head to Fair Head through the roiling Sea of Moyle, the flood goes east as it does on the south coast, while ebb goes west. The flood is well on its way along the north coast at the moment, and will stay doing so until the small hours, then the door bangs shut for six-hours-and-a-bit as the ebb roars north and west.

WAYWARD WINDS OF FAIR HEAD

Despite its strength, they’d expect to break through in a boat this size and speed, but it’s a south to southwest wind all over the place. At 1900 hrs this evening the met station at Ballycastle right on the northeast corner was recording a hyper-gusty wind, south to south-southwest 13 mph to 24 mph. You can imagine how that will be whirling around the majestic rampart of Fair Head. We’ll see how it goes.

As it is, for tomorrow (Tuesday) after near-calm tonight in the middle of Ireland, some forecasts are confident the winds will be drawing from the north. Which is tough for the smaller boats still plugging northwards up along the Wild Atlantic Way, but is just what’s needed to get Teasing Machine back to Wicklow almost before they know she’s gone.

FARWELL TO GOOD FRIENDS MARKS END OF A WICKLOW ERA

In fact, in Wicklow there’s the sense of the end of an era. For 34 years, Chris and Anna Brooke have been the RORC scrutineers for every Round Ireland Race, but are now retiring. They were thoughtful and very proper yet friendly and helpful when we were getting our not-so-young boat up to standard back in 1992, but their job was so well done that in 1993 she won the RORC Irish Sea Race.

Very good friends to Irish offshore racing – Wicklow SC President Peter Shearer (left) and Commodore Karen Kissane (second right) express their thanks after 34 years of friendly assistance and service to RORC Scrutineers Chris Brooke (second left) and Anna Brooke (nee Landamore, right). Photo: WSC

Before all that, we’d got to know Anna’s father very well, as he was ace Suffolk boatbuilder Leslie Landamore who built the boats for the Holman & Pye-designed Hustler range marketed by John Harrison of West Mersea in Essex, creating the Hustler 35 Setanta of Skerries that won her class in the 1971 Irish Sea Championship, and came second in Class 4 in that year’s Fastnet.

So in all Irish offshore racing has been much helped by the extended Landamore family, and the many over-stressed sailors who have benefitted from their thoughtful guidance in Wicklow for three decades and more will wish them well, and give a heartfelt thank you.

Meanwhile on another tack completely, following the comments in our lunchtime update on the real existence of a place called Turckheim in northeast France, just about as far as possible from the sea as could be in France without straying into Germany or Switzerland, a helpful soul has forwarded an image of the Chateau de Turckheim with the comment that, in another era, it might have been the Schloss Turckheim.

Either way, although the Round Ireland race sometimes feels like Disneyland-plus with its extraordinary cast of characters, this attractive place is for real.

A long way from the rugged West coat of Ireland – the Chateau de Turckheim in northeast France