In Greek mythology, at the Winter Solstice, there is a brief calm for the Halcyon Day, and this was the experience of the crew on the Limerick ketch Ilen as they headed away on Monday evening, after a busy two weeks in Ringsend which had included a series of courses in Dublin Bay for the Sailing into Wellness programme.
In addition to that, their visit – based at Poolbeg Y & BC - had coincided with the All-Ireland Hurling Final in Croke Park, for which crewman Mike Grimes hoisted the biggest Limerick GAA flag ever seen in Dublin aboard the ship.
It achieved the desired result with Limerick beating Waterford. But with very unsettled conditions in the offing, a brief weather window had to be grabbed at the Winter Solstice, and Ilen headed south on Monday night in calms and a briefly clearing sky which - for an hour and a half - offered the opportunity to observe the much-heralded conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter.
Sligo recruits to Ilen's crew – Sophie Skinner and David O'Boyle enjoyed an efficient passage from Dublin to Kinsale on the longest night of the year. Photo: Gary Mac Mahon
Then the night skies closed in as a new low approached from the south. But by the time the increasingly cold wind started to make in from the east and then the northeast, Ilen was well onto the south coast and passing Hook Head at first light, sailing with increasing speed which saw her comfortably into her winter berth at the Trident Hotel in Kinsale exactly 24 hours after departing Dublin.
The weather may be closing in again, but with a favourable though cold nor'easter, Ilen is already nearing Kinsale less than eight hours from Hook Head. Photo: Gary Mac Mahon
The passage from the Hook had been seen off in a crisp eight hours of sailing, much enjoyed by two Sligo newcomers to the crew, Sophie Skinner and David O'Boyle. The next two months will see the Ilen Limerick crew on a maintenance programme around the ship, and then in March she'll be hauled on the slip further west at Oldcourt on the Ilen River above Baltimore for a Departmental Inspection before going on to her home port of Limerick and an early season programme with Foynes Yacht Cub.
