Monday 20:30hrs - Back in the days of sail, the guidance for shipmasters trying to get unwieldy old square riggers safely out of the stormy west end of the English Channel bluntly stated: “Ushant Should Not Be Sighted”.

In other words, so many vessels came to grief among the tide-riven west-facing rocks of that totally exposed outpost of northwestern France that it paid in the long run to give it plenty of searoom - and then some - no matter how much extra time this added to your voyage.

At the moment on this Monday evening, it rather looks as though the same could be applied to the West Coast of Ireland for Round Ireland Race 2026 Competitors. But it’s for the totally different reason that along the western shore the wind is coming and going with faint enthusiasm, and those tearing their hair out in frustration might well be contemplating simply heading west and west again with any breeze they can get, until they’re in an oceanic rather than a coastal summer wind situation.

TWO DAYS OF TOTAL RE-POSITIONING

Way back in 1972, Dick Nye and designer Jim McCurdy were racing Transatlantic from Newport to Spain in Carina, the wonderful 48 footer Carina that they’d created together, and from some garbled radio messages typical of those distant times, they realized that – unusually - a mighty calm lay over northwest Spain.

With classic Nye decisiveness of the Gordian knot variety, while passing the Azores they simply decided to head due north for two whole days without getting any nearer Spain before trying to make any more easting, and on this hunch Carina won overall by a mighty margin.

Designer Jim McCurdy (foreground) and owner-skipper Dick Nye enjoying cigars aboard Carina in 1972 as they race to Transatlantic victory after taking a successful two-day flyer. Photo courtesy Sheila McCurdy

For a while it looked as though the handsome veteran Farr 60 Venomous in the current Round Ireland was trying the same ploy by heading west from Kerry, but she was getting nowhere at all and is now back with the crowd, struggling north and virtually becalmed.

Up ahead, the on-water leading Botin 56 Khumbu was doing well getting along towards Connemara, but no sooner had we mentioned this in our previous bulletin than she came to a halt, but now appears to be cooking with gas once again, albeit on a low flame.

Black Charge — The Botin 56 Khumbu powers through the Round Ireland Race fleet, her crew stacked on the rail as the race leader on the water presses north along Ireland’s rugged Atlantic coastline. Photo: Afloat

Johnny Murphy continues to lead overall with sheer tenacity on the J/109, while the lowest-rated Cavatina is now shown as being sixth in the reckoning. But the Outrajeous showing is something else, for although she’s listed as 21st in terms of line honours, she’s clear first in all four other categories for which she is eligible.

Skipper Murphy seems to have the networking skills of the coastal salmon fishermen who used to add an extra hazard to this race, something which permitted Mark Mansfield to demonstrate that a controlled broach could get you unhindered over one of those long nets.

ALL IRELAND CREW PANEL

But in Johnny Murphy’s case, it means that he draws on an enormous all-Ireland crew panel of exceptional talents, a group so numerous that inevitably from time to time, they lose a friend and shipmate to one of the diseases of the day.

Race with a purpose – Outrajeous leads in honour of the memory of Matt Davis of Skerries

So for this Round Ireland, Outrajeous is doing a Lap for Matt in honour and for fund-raising for their friend the late Matt Davis of Skerries, who died far too young at the age of 49 back in April, depriving Skerries Sailing Club and Skerries Rugby Club and the Irish offshore racing scene of one of their great life-enhancers. Donations are welcome to the Mater Foundation.

Outrajeous crew and their Red Bow Ties for Matt are (left to right, back row) Suzie & Johnny Murphy (HYC) and Killian Collins of Cork, front row (left to right) Bryan O’Donnell, Joan Molloy (Mayo SC), Louis Molloy (Mayo SC), Aodhan Fitzgerald (Galway Bay SC) and Graham Curran (Howth).