There were slower boats still arriving from Plymouth in Galway yesterday evening in the Round Britain and Ireland 2022 as the majority of the fleet threw themselves into party and feasting mode in the temporary but very effective dockside Genesys-sponsored Commander Bill King Club, with evidence that some crews hadn’t enjoyed a full meal since sailing away from Plymouth on Sunday.
It was time to relax among crews and hosts alike, with members and officers of Galway Bay SC and the Royal Western YC of E developing friendships which will doubtless lead on to cooperation in other events in the future. But in the meantime, the remorseless ticking of the clock means that on-water leader Morpheus, Andy Fennell’s 39ft Shuttleworth trimaran, will be shaping up at 1700hrs this evening (Thursday) to take her departure for the long leg to Lerwick in the Shetland Islands, as her crew’s entertaining 48-hour introduction to Galway hospitality is coming to it mandatory conclusion.
Ross Hobson’s leading mono-hull Pegasus berthed right at the front door of the Commander Bill King Club on Galway Docks
Party time in the Bill King Club - it was clear that some crews hadn’t enjoyed a square meal since leaving Plymouth
Morpheus came up Galway Bay so quickly on Tuesday that the next to leave, the DazCat 45 Hissy Fit, won’t be going until 23.30hrs tonight. So already not only are the two leaders starting to have their individual separate races, but they’re now in a different sailing universe from the world of the tail-enders – the Contessa 32 White Knight from Wales (Lou Boorman) and the Italian Vertue 35 Mea - which are still off Ireland’s southwestern seaboard after some slow progress across the Celtic Sea.
Stripped-out racing machine – race leader Morpheus (39ft) has an all-up weight of less than three tons.
Longtime Connacht sailing mates Peirce Purcell, Donal Morrissey and Brian Sheridan join the throng to make the RB&I participants very welcome in Galway
As the course involved some deviating around the multiple TSS areas off Land’s End and the Isles of Scilly, almost inevitably there were some infringements with protests outstanding. Until they are resolved all we can currently say for certain is that Morpheus (as predicted here on Sunday) is the line honours winner for all divisions in Stage 1, with Hissy Fit second, while in the mono-hulls Ross Hobson’s Open 60 Pegasus was ahead as expected, but it was the Sunfast 3300 Orbit (Dominic Bowns) which provided something of a surprise for larger craft by coming second.
