When you’ve an inland sea well filled with islands, the tides running between them are bound to be quite strong from time to time writes W M Nixon. After the second day of the Morbihan Festival of Sail, the veteran visitors from Ireland – fourteen Water Wags from Dun Laoghaire and six Howth Seventeens – are wondering if there’s ever any significant time lapse between very determined tides running one way or another.
They’ve been experiencing all this before the more structured part of the programme, which for some classes in the 1400 boat fleet will include proper racing, finally gets under way tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. For Irish crews, it all looks like being a bit of a culture shock. The starting signals start going at 0900hrs. And at this mega-event, the word is that when they say 0900hrs, they mean 0900hrs.
So today was the final countdown of taking it easy. Taking it easy at the Morbihan consisted of selecting a beach for a fleet picnic, and then making a point of everyone sailing there. With strong sunshine but light summery winds, it took at least two hours to dodge inside the tides when possible in order to reach the venue, where everyone continued to be boggle-eyed with wonder at the size of the fleet.
However, the tide was still flooding when they headed for home, and they came back in less than 45 minutes. But they need a bit of racing by the Wednesday. Too much of this lotus-eating couldn’t be for the long-term good of those involved. And as for picnics, our photo yesterday (which we can’t resist re-using today) showed that when it comes to picnics, the Water Wags have incomparable form. They know a thing or two about doing sailing picnics properly. None of your vulgar baseball caps in 1887...
This is how you should dress for a sailing picnic....The Water Wags at The First Picnic on Dalkey Island, June 21st 1887. Photo courtesy Water Wags
