The bulk of the Round Ireland race fleet is fairly tightly bunched to the west of Loop Head in 10 to 12 knots of breeze from abaft the beam. Ian Hickey's Cavatina still leads IRC overall, but only four hours of corrected time separates the next ten boats and with more than half the race to go, that’s not much under the current circumstances. Liam Shanhan’s Ruth stays in 2^nd place but the lowest rated boat in the fleet, Kuba Szymanski’s Sigma 33 Polished Manx, is well in there in 3^rd place.

Up ahead, the line honours race is starting to turn in favour of Monster Project, who’s greater waterline length is giving her a 15 mile advantage over Teng Tools Kilcullen.  Monster has rounded Blackrock on the Mayo coast and has a light to moderate breeze on the nose.  The light and variable forecast winds will require careful covering of TTK to ensure she stays ahead.

As the wind starts to head the fleet, it looks like Donegal Bay is going to be a dead upwind leg in a gentle breeze, allowing the bigger boats to regain some of the lost ground.

As always with this classic race, the north east coast will probably be the most significant factor in the battle for supremacy. The timing of the approach to Rathlin and of the passage of the North Channel are always crucial.

Plenty of racing to come.

@RoundIreland out looking over at blaskets to see local boat Amazing Grace come through, tracker says she's close!! pic.twitter.com/RRLtAQ2CLh

— Ruth (@rconcann) June 30, 2014

Interesting tactical decisions made by @MonsterVO70 & Teng Tools Killcullen at Belmullet coastline #RoundIreland14 pic.twitter.com/jrWA6OZJwH

— Noel Davidson (@noel_davidson) June 30, 2014

#roundireland – The leading yacht in the Round Ireland Yacht Race has just reached the halfway point and the fleet is now experiencing a modest east to southeast breeze. As has been the trend in this slow race, the larger yachts will encounter lighter winds while the main fleet carries the pressure up to them, effectively resetting the clock back to zero, reducing the race length and favouring the lower rated boats.

At the head of the fleet, the Volvo 70 Monster Project has opened up a 12 mile lead over Teng Tools Kilcullen, equivalent to a projected 2 hour advantage at the finish, although it will only be a class win and not an overall victory. 

Back at the Blaskets, Cavatina maintains her overall lead, some two corrected hours ahead of Dillon father and son sailing two-handed on Big Deal, and just ahead of Liam Shanahan’s Ruth who seems to be winning the battle of the J-boats.

Joe McDonald’s News talk for Adrenalin is comfortably ahead of Libertalia in IRC Z, while 2012 winner Inismor leads IRC 1. The Harris/Riggs Sydney 36 Tanit is ahead in IRC 2, J109s Ruth and Mojito(Dunlop/Cox) top IRC 3, while Cavatina leads in IRC 4,5 and 6. 

The fleet can expect lighter, heading winds as it makes for the Galway and Mayo coasts, once again favouring the lower rated boats. 

Midnight Tuesday is probably the very earliest that the leaders will finish, more likely later in the morning, with the IRC winners coming in some 24 hours later.

Selected 'Tweets' from the race course below: 

Race around Ireland has be unreal photo of Great Skellig @BowWaves @RoundIreland @Ireland @GoToIrelandCA pic.twitter.com/EawlEZ83CV

— Thomas O'Malley (@ThomasOMalley12) June 30, 2014

Richard Harris on Tanit at the Skelligs around 6am @RoundIreland @ClydeMarLeather @SaturnSails #RoundIreland14 pic.twitter.com/kNJFUBnNAL

— Roisin Harris (@RoisinHarris) June 30, 2014

@SailingLogic @RoundIreland a busy night trimming on #ArthurLogic kite up & flying nicely and stunning sunrise too pic.twitter.com/t2r3m12j1S

— Jennifer Smyth (@jsmyth12) June 30, 2014

@BowWaves @RoundIreland @AfloatMagazine @sailing_news variable 5kts at Galway, you gonna have to hang on 'till wednesday before it freshens!

— Port of Galway (@portofgalway) June 30, 2014

#roundireland – After an almost windless night on the southwest coast, dawn on day three finds the 2014 Round Ireland Race fleet occupying a relatively small portion of the ocean between the Fastnet and the Blasket Islands.  The slow progress to date suggest that the overall winner of this year's race is likely to come from the lower rated portion of the fleet, increasing the chances for Cavatina to become the first three time winner of this 704 mile ocean classic. 

The “ocean greyounds”, currently leading on the water, have been made to look like mongrels with gimpy legs by the ‘slack variable flow” that currently covers Ireland.

Adding to their woes is the fact that the more northerly progress they make, the further they are getting from the short term pressure development on the Kerry coast later today. 

Already more than 60 hours behind on predicted corrected time at the finish, the only hope for the big boats is to hook into a new system on the north-west coast that leaves the slower boats in the “doldrums”. 

However, this is an unlikely scenario as less than 60 miles separates leader Monster Project from back marker Amazing Grace, who must be the only boat delighted with these conditions as it has allowed her to get back in the race after her forced restart.

While Cavatina remains the notional leader on IRC, it is far too early to speculate on an overall winner, as the congestion on the Kerry coast becomes worthy of an AA Roadwatch report. 

@RoundIreland @sailracewin ah lads! You have to have a decent meal!! Potatoes are cooking!! pic.twitter.com/uBcdF6gosl

— Cavatina Irl3861 (@cavatinaireland) June 29, 2014

Anxious eyes will be on the boats’ galleys now to see if the catering department have allowed for prolonged spells of ‘parking’.

Enjoy the scenery crews, you’re going to be seeing a lot of it!

#roundireland14 – 24 hours into the Round Ireland race 2014, the fleet is unusually compacted with only 70 miles separating the on the water leader from the second to last boat.  Amazing Grace, following her return to Wicklow to resolve some damage, is still some way behind the fleet, but with the forecast light winds, has a good chance of returning to the mix. Cosmic Dancer experienced some damage when rounding the Tuskar Rock resulting in their retiral and return to Dun Laoghaire.

With chances of an overall IRC win fading for the on the water leaders, the focus turns to the battle for line honours.  The light northerly winds facing the fleet as they round the Fastnet is turning the race into a tactical hunt for wind pressure. It’s at the head of the fleet where the decision making is currently most crucial.  The headwinds rule out the rhumb line option and the other variables take on a new meaning.  The hunt for more wind is probably the dominant topic on board the on-the-water leaders right now. With only a couple of miles separating the ocean racing thoroughbreds Monster Project, Teng Tools Kilcullen and Libertalia, the wind speed issue is all consuming.  In lighter winds, a 4 knot wind speed difference can mean a 7 knot boat speed difference on these boats.  In these conditions the decision making becomes crucial – will there be more wind through land effect, or will it be cleaner offshore?  How close can we go? How close should we go? Is the tide an issue around the headlands? 

#MonsterProject first yacht round #Fastnet at 12.20 @RoundIreland pic.twitter.com/DgOQKumeuT

— Peter O Flynn (@Flynner004) June 29, 2014

Still to round the Fastnet, the bulk of the fleet is not faced with such choices as yet. Close reaching to the famous lighthouse, it’s straightforward for now.  Cavatina still holds the overall IRC lead but is joined on the leaderboard by a cluster of J-Boats enjoying some really close racing.  Liam Shanahan’s J109 Ruth is currently 2^nd but is being chased hard by sister ship Mojito (Dunlop/Cox), while Philip Bourke’s J105 Jet Dream is in 4^th place.

@RoundIreland 12.30 TenkTools passes #Fastnet Rock pic.twitter.com/2A32apReTP

— Peter O Flynn (@Flynner004) June 29, 2014

Forecast winds suggest the peloton will enjoy increasing following winds along the southwest coast tonight, while the on-the-water leaders will struggle with lighter airs further north.

So two fascinating battles being played out with many a twist to come. 

#roundireland - As the sun sets on the first day of the 2014 Round Ireland Yacht Race, the bulk of the fleet have cleared the Tuskar in time to avoid the worst of the building flood tide, although the smaller boats bringing up the rear of the fleet would prefer it to be at neap strength.

The following breeze on the east coast made the run to the Tuskar fairly straightforward, with most boats sticking to the rhumb line, the asymmetric boats generally taking short jibes to avoid straying from the shortest distance.

As the boats enter the Celtic Sea, the fresh breeze is moderating, allowing the slower boats to save their time.  Twice a previous winner, Cavatina, now under the ownership of Ian Hickey, shows up as the early leader, and is joined on the first page by competitors with similar ratings.

The larger boats are struggling to gain the advantage of their waterline length and with the breeze dying away from ahead and no significant increase due until Thursday, it seems that this race will, once again, favour the smaller boats.

2013 Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race Winner, Amazing Grace, one of the oldest and slowest boats in the fleet, but also considered a handicap favourite, made an unexpected return to Wicklow harbour only minutes after the start following a collision.

Taking on water and with no idea of the extent of the damage, the Tralee Bay boat returned to harbour to assess the situation. 

A fist sized hole in the transom appeared very fixable to owner and boat builder Brian O'Sullivan who made immediate quayside attempts at a repair. The Kerry boat has now rejoined the race and the light winds forecast will not rule out her catching up, but she does have to contend with an adverse Irish Sea tide.

Follow the fleet via the Round Ireland Race Tracker

#roundIreland – Wicklow Harbour was looking its very best in sunshine as the start time of the 18th Round Ireland Race approached, but then the sky clouded over as the serious business of getting cleanly over the line came swiftly up the agenda comments W M Nixon.

The first couple of miles of the race, out of the bay and southward round Wicklow Head, can be a very nervy business.

But it was a cruel irony that the only shunt on a close-reaching start - made more difficult by a sluicing ebb - should be between two boats which had voyaged all the way from the West Coast to take part, with a too-close encounter between Amazing Grace from Tralee and Lynx Clipper from Galway.

With 704 miles to be raced, an understandable reluctance to be recalled - with all the hassle of returning over the ebb – saw several boats making conservative starts.

But the Open 60 Teng Tools Kilcullen (Enda O Coineen and Eamon Crosbie) demonstrated nerves of steel to hit the line spot on, and if you think it looks easy-peasy, then clearly you've never tried manoeuvring a specialised 60-footer.

Teng Tools Kilcullen was skilfully placed just as the start sounded, and soon was cleanly away. Photo: W M Nixon

As Teng Tools Kilcullen began to gain power, her speed relative to the smaller "normal" boats was very impressive. Photo: W M Nixon

With the close-reaching conditions and the ebb setting ever more strongly towards the Head, it was a neat decision as to which sails to be carrying, but aboard the big Wicklow entry, David Ryan's chartered Volvo 70 Monster Project, they had things set up to perfection, and she roared away down the line in pursuit of TTK, which in turn was also finding extra speed. However, it wasn't exactly cheering for those hoping for a bit of excitement. To think that this brief dash to Wicklow Head might have experienced the best speeds we'll see recorded for the entire race.

Here comes the Cavalry. After a conservative start, the local favourite Monster Project was soon developing full power........Photo: W M Nixon

....and was soon in hot pursuit of TTK. Photo: W M Nixon

Monster Project romping along. Wind expectations for the next few days are so muted that this might be the best burst of speed she'll have in the entire race. Photo: W M Nixon

In the body of the fleet, the stylish Rodman Judel Vrolik 42 Phosphorous (Mark Emerson, RORC) successfully compensated for a conservative start by having exactly the right cloth set forward of the mast. This allowed for the ebb to carry her the vital little bit to weather of the course to clear the Head, and she milled her way through the fleet in the wake of the stylish Farr 60 Newstalk for Adrenalin, sweeping past the defending champion, Laurent Gouy's Ker 39 Inis Mor, in convincing style.

But then, Phosphorous does rate 1.136 to the 1.122 of Inis Mor, so she should have been ahead in any case...... And this is going to be one long slow race. Most boats will have their moment of glory at some stage.

The 42ft Phosphorous (white sail) starting to do the business........Photo: W M Nixon

....and mills her way through the fleet, while the 60ft Newstalk for Adrenalin (right) shows that size does matter. W M Nixon

#greystones – Ireland's newest marina at Greystones harbour has welcomed in two Round Ireland race competitors for Saturday's nearby race start from Wicklow harbour. As previously reported on Afloat.ie the new 200–berth marina will be home to a chartered Volvo 70 Monster and a Farr 60 until shortly before Saturday's 2pm start. 35 boats are entered for the Wicklow Sailing Club biennial race that can take up to one week to complete. Greystones Marina manager Alan Corr told Afloat.ie he is delighted to be able to offer convenient deep water berths for the high tech visitors.

#woodenboats – On Midsummer's Day, W M Nixon looks back on the already busy and event-filled Irish season of 2014, and reflects on the extraordinary longevity of some boats, their remarkable variety, and the diverse characters who own them.

When I shipped aboard the former Bristol Channel Pilot cutter Madcap to sail the Old Gaffers Division in Howth Yacht Club's Lambay Race on June 7th, it wasn't the first time I'd been out and about on a boat built in the 1870s. But as most of my experiences on John and Sandra Lefroy's 1873-vintage iron-built classic 58ft Victorian steam yacht Phoenix on Lough Derg took place in the 1970s with the most recent jaunt being way back in 1982, sailing on the Madcap was indeed the first time afloat in a boat built 140 years ago.

It takes an effort to get your head around the most basic notion of such an age. You find yourself reflecting on the delights that still awaited the human race at the time, things that were still far into the remote future in the 20th Century. During the 1870s, industrialisation was still gaining traction, but the very idea of warfare on the industrial scale which was to be experienced in the Great War of 1914-18 was beyond most people's imagination, and way beyond anyone's experience. That said, there were more than enough other ways of experiencing an early death, with a range of particularly unpleasant illnesses which have been largely eliminated today.

Yet it was increasing industrialisation which created the circumstances that enabled both boats to be built. The Bristol Channel Pilot cutters evolved rapidly in the latter half of the 19th Century in order to provide pilots for the more numerous and increasingly large ships which were coming into ports such as Cardiff and Bristol. They reached their peak of performance around 1900, by which time they'd achieved a remarkable stage of development, being fast and able, yet comfortable at sea, and capable of being handled by a very small crew after the pilots had been delivered to incoming vessels. When their working days were over as they were replaced by motorised vessels, they proved ideal as seagoing cruising yachts.

There was nothing work-oriented about the pleasure yacht Phoenix when she was built to the designs of Andrew Horn in Waterford in 1873. Or maybe that's being a bit naïve. After all, she is down as having been built by and for the Malcolmsons of Waterford. They were a remarkable clan who brought many industries to Waterford in the 19th Century, and they created the miniature industrial town of Portlaw westward from the city, off the south bank of the Suir Estuary.

The 58ft Phoenix, iron-built in Waterford in 1873, performing Committee Boat duties at Dromineer for Lough Derg YC. Photo: Gerardine Wisdom

So in building the Phoenix themselves, so to speak, they were creating a subtle advertisement for Waterford expertise, with this new miniature of an ocean liner being constructed in the highly-regarded Lowmoor iron. And she's a powerful statement - this lovely old vessel has lasted much better than many of the Waterford enterprises which outshone her at the time of her building, so much so that if, in Waterford's current recessional woes, they sought something to symbolise what the city is capable of, they would do worse than put some resources the way of the Phoenix for her continuous maintenance.

Five years ago she made a very stylish appearance as the Committee Boat in a classics regatta at Dromineer, and that in turn produced an astonishing photo which included Ian Malcolm's 1898-built Howth 17 Aura. It was the first time a jackyard topsail had been seen on Lough Derg since before the Great War, and all that together with a raft of Shannon One Designs (which date from 1922 onwards) and a fleet of Dublin Bay Water Wags from 1902 onwards meant that the total age of the boat in the photo was pushing towards the 2,000 years mark.

Phoenix and the 1898 Howth 17 Aura (Ian Malcolm) at Dromineer with rafts of Shannon ODs and Water Wags. The combined age of the bots in the photo is well over a thousand years. Photo: Gerardine Wisdom

To be aboard Phoenix is to be transported right back to the 1870s, as she has a beam of only 10.5ft, which on a length of 58.5ft make for one very slim and potent hull. She has long since had her original steam engine replaced with a diesel, and back in 1982 when I was last afloat in her, it was October, and we were the Committee Boat for the annual IYA Helmsmans Championship, raced that year in Shannon One Designs with Dave Cummins of Sutton the winner, crewed by Gordon Maguire.

Being late season, the Phoenix's injectors needed a clean, but as the Race Officers were those perpetual schoolboys Jock Smith and Sam Dix of Malahide, they were delighted by the Phoenix's ability to emit a fine plume of smoke from her funnel at full speed, and after the championship was resolved they tore across the lively waters of Autumnal Lough Derg at full speed while – from another boat - I grabbed some photos which made Phoenix look like a destroyer in action at the Battle of Jutland. One of them subsequently appeared as the cover of Motor Boat & Yachting, and as I seem to have mislaid the colour slides, if anyone has a copy of that particular edition I'd much appreciate a scan of it.

Moving on from the 1873-built Phoenix in 1982 to the 1874-built Madcap in 2014 is quite some saga, but we'll edit it by sticking to events this year revolving around the developing annual Old Gaffer programme in the Irish Sea. Last year Dickie Gomes' 1912-built 36ft John B Kearney yawl Ainmara from Strangford Lough won the inaugural Leinster Trophy race in Dublin Bay which marked the OGA's Golden Jubilee, and she did it despite now being bermuda rigged. But as she was returning to her birthplace in Ringsend for the first time in 90 years, she was treated as an honorary gaffer.

Honour being the theme of things, this meant we were honour-bound to bring her south again to defend the Leinster in 2014, but this was given an added impetus by a plan to link up in Dun Laoghaire with Martin Birch's 1902-built Espanola out of Preston in Lancashire. From 1912 until 1940, the 47ft Espanola was a feature of the Royal Irish YC in Dun Laoghaire, owned by noted sailor Herbert Wright, who in 1929 became the founding Commodore of the Irish Cruising Club when he cruised Espanola with four other yachts to Glengarriff where the ICC was founded on July 13th 1929. The Espanola links, together with the fact that the RIYC is now in partnership with Wicklow Sailing Club in hosting the fleet for the biennial Round Ireland Race, made for a fortuitous combination, as Dickie Gomes of Ainmara was Mr Round Ireland between 1986 and 1993, when he held the open Round Ireland Record and also had been overall winner of the 1988 race.

Espanola as she was in 1929, when Commodore's yacht at the founding of the Irish Cruising Club

The 1902-built Espanola as she is today

Thus all the stars were in alignment for an historic and convivial meeting of the two old boats at the RIYC on the evening of Friday May 30th, the night before the Leinster Plate race was due to start just round the corner in Scotsmans Bay. But while stars may have been in alignment, ducks failed to get into a row, as Espanola with her exceptional draft of 7ft 6ins failed to get out of Preston over the shallow bar in the one tide which would have suited, on May 16th.

This situation is a useful illustration of the problems the old gaffer people face in keeping the show on the road with limited resources. Martin Birch, having been a lecturer in Lancaster University, had found Preston's little marina an ideal place to keep and maintain Espanola, and the marina in turn regarded the old girl as their pet boat. But Preston is longer a busy commercial port, so the channel has been left to is own devices, and with the huge tides of the Lancashire coast, getting Espanola to sea is quite a challenge as sometimes there's only one day in any month when it can be done.

So there we were, faced with the prospect of Hamlet without the Prince with just ten days to go to the historic gathering at the RIYC. But Jim Horan, affable Commodore of the Royal Irish YC, took it all in his stride and told us to bring Ainmara along anyway, it would be a good excuse for a Friday night party and he was keen to meet the skipper who had made the Round Ireland challenge very much his own 28 years ago.

Jim Horan, Commodore of the RIYC, told us to come on and be welcome even though Espanola couldn't make it. Photo: W M Nixon

With the foul weather of mid-May, while Ainmara had got afloat from her winter quarters in a hayshed at the Gomes farm on the Ards peninsula in County Down, further fitting out was difficult in endless rain, and the skipper came down with a massive cold. But then the weather perked up, and he did too, so at lunchtime on Thursday My 29th we headed down Strangford Lough from the Down Cruising Club's former lightship headquarters at Ballydorn to catch the start of the ebb in Strangford Narrows at 1430 hrs.

Progress was good with a light to moderate nor'easter, but Ainmara and her crew (there were four of us – Brian Law, Ed Wheeler and I together with Dickie) have got to the stage where nights at sea are regarded to be the result of bad cruise planning. Yet if we were going to be comfortably in Dun Laoghaire for Friday evening, then only Port Oriel at Clogherhead made sense as an overnight. But Port Oriel, home to some of the best-maintained fishing boats on the coast, can become a very crowded place on a Thursday night.

However, a phone call to the uncrowned king of Clogherhead Aidan Sharkey – whom I'd first met back in the 1980s when our two boats were moored in Seal Hole at Lambay, where he was diving on the nearby 1854 wreck of the Tayleur - ensured there'd be a berth for us, and when we arrived in at sunset there was the man himself to direct us to a corner where we wouldn't inconvenience fishing boats, and moreover had access to a set of proper steps.

Port Oriel at Clogherhead provided Ainmara wih a handy overnight stop. There was more space available (below) as most of the 30-strong local fleet were away fishing the south coast. Photos: W M Nixon

Aidan's commitment to the maritime life is total. He's of an old Clogherhead fishing family, and he and his late brother Feargal were the backbone of the local beach-launched lifeboat crew. The banter was mighty on board Ainmara, leavened with tales of lifeboat experience which would curl your hair. The laughter through the companionway attracted others board, and soon Sean the razor clam man (all of his catches go straight to China) was in the hatchway with glass in hand, and when we asked where we might get a new deck scrub first thing in the morning as somehow the ship's own one had gone AWOL, Sean said not to worry, he'd throw one on board, and we could just leave it on the big fishing boat beside us as we left next day.

Ashore, I went up to Aidan's house in the village as he'd said he'd something to show me, which was an understatement. He was into the diving much earlier than most, thus when he got to wrecks which today are known to everyone, there were still intact bits of the cargo to be salvaged. Most east coast divers have fragments of chinaware, pottery and other artefacts from the Tayleur, but Sean had so many complete pieces, together with many other items of special antique value from other wrecks mostly in Donegal, that he would be well able to provide complete afternoon tea for the entire choir, all served on 1840s china. But it wasn't tea I got in the Sharkey household, it was Aidan's present of a large bag of fresh crab claws, and a selection of his own-cured salmon – smoked and gravid lax both – which sustained us through the next day's sail.

Aidan Sharkey of Clogherhead with some of his remarkable collection of salvaged chinaware. Photo: W M Nixon

The sort of sailing cruising folk dream of. Ainmara shaping up nicely to take the first of the fair tide through the islands at Skerries. Photo: W M Nixon

The morning brought the welcome gift of a decent little sunny east to nor'east breeze, and a lovely beam reach all the way down to Dublin Bay, with the south-going tide caught to perfection at the Skerries islands (and yes, I know it's superfluous to talk of the "Skerries islands", but that's what they're called to differentiate them from the Skerries off Holyhead).

Anyone who was involved in last weekend's ICRA Nationals at the Royal Irish YC will know how this premier club can lay on the welcome with effortless style. In the last weekend of May, Ainmara and her crew had the Royal Irish treatment all to themselves. Sailing Manager Mark McGibney ushered us to the prime berth right at the club where we found ourselves in a miniature maritime museum, with the Quarter Tonner Quest close astern (she was to become the ICRA National Champion a fortnight later), while just across the way was the S&S 36 Sarnia – back in 1966, the Sisk family set Irish sailing alight by bringing this very up-to-the-minute fin-and-skeg fibreglass boat back from builders Cantiere Benello in Italy, where they'd started series production on this ground-breaking Olin Stephens design before the same hull shape became better known as the Swan 36 built by Nautor in Finland.

"Maritime museum" at the Royal Irish YC. Ainmara (built Ringsend 1912) with the 1987 Quarter Tonner Quest astern, and the 1966-built S&S 36 Sarnia across the way in her marina berth. Photo: W M Nixon

It has to be one of the best berths in the world. Ainmara at the RIYC – it's early morning, and the flags aren't yet hoisted. Photo: W M Nixon

The hospitality flowed seamlessly as the late afternoon graduated into evening and then velvet night. Ainmara is an extraordinarily effective calling card, and the stream of entertaining visitors brought laughter aboard before the Commodore moved us all up to the clubhouse and a fine supper and much chat with Michael O'Leary, one of the most visionary minds in Irish sailing, and his wife Kate and her people with tales of how she and longtime friend Clare Hogan are in the thick of things in the very healthy Water Wag class.

The RIYC took all this in its stride despite the fact that there was a big wedding going in the clubhouse at the same time, but it all went so smoothly that at one stage Ainmara's crew found themselves being invited to join in the wedding celebrations. However, we demurred because we were athletes in training for the Leinster Trophy next day, yet nevertheless certain key players in the wedding got themselves aboard Ainmara at a very late hour.

The plan for Saturday had been changed, but we were right up to speed with this as Denis Aylmer, the RIYC's key man in the OGA, had told us over a convivial pint that the likelihood of light winds had meant that Race Officer John Alvey had moved the scene of the action from Scotsmans Bay to a more compact race area close off the entrance to Dublin Port. It was all grist to our mill, as we could make an early morning departure and head up to Poolbeg Y & BC across a mirror-like bay, lining up the crew to salute the North Bank Lighthouse in the River Liffey, as it's something of a memorial to John B Kearney, whose day job was in the engineering department in Dublin Port and docks. With his original lighthouse, he pioneering a technique of screwing the piles into the seabed. You'd have thought an air of reverence would prevail, but with Ainmara's crew of anarchists, straight faces could only be maintained for about 12 seconds.

Trying to look appropriately reverential. Ed Wheeler, Brian Law and Dickie Gomes approaching Dublin Port's North Bank Lighthouse on which John B Kearney pioneered the use of screw piles. Photo: W M Nixon

"We're only here for the breakfast". Katy O'Connor's excellent catering in Poolbeg Y & BC is deservedly popular among visiting crews. Photo: W M Nixon

While we wanted to be well on time for the pre-race briefing, the main reason for getting promptly to Poolbeg was to take full advantage of Katy O'Connor's legendary breakfast at the club, and we put away enough calories to keep us going all day. At the briefing, John Alvey told us the committee were concerned that the very varied fleet – everything from Ainmara to the big Naomh Cronan, a superb Clondalkin-built re-creation of a Galway Hooker – included some boats which, in the light airs expected, could be out on the bay until nightfall.

So the plan was for a short race taking in several marks so that it could be finished at the end of any leg. But by the time we got down to Dublin Bay, it was crisp blue with a smart little sea breeze filling in to give sailing conditions which suited Ainmara to perfection, yet some of the heavier gaffers were still lumbering slowly about in what to them was a light wind.

They may have been lumbering about, but several were very determined to make a sharp start right on the committee boat. Anyone accustomed to quick-turning and fast-accelerating modern boats will find a fleet of traditional and classic gaffers a real education. They take time to get moving, they take for ever to stop, you point them a long way out, and their bowsprits – "dock probes" as marina managers call them – seem intent on skewering everyone else.

But while our skipper may pretend to be just an old cruising man these days, his racing blood was up. We set ourselves to sweep into what we hoped would be a gap starting to appear at the committee boat seconds after the start signal. We consoled ourselves with the thought that in extremis, we might just manage to shoot head to wind leaving the committee boat to port, ruining our start perhaps, but preserving the Ainmara intact.

"Go for it, and let's hope there's a gap when we get there..." Ainmara starts to build speed towards her start in the Leinster Trophy Race 2014 . Photo: Gill Mills

So she was set at it, despite attempts to slow her a bit the speed built up, but as quickly as I'm telling this the gap started to appear and she zapped into it and just managed to keep her wind clear on Sean Walsh's remarkably fast Heard 28 Tir na nOg and Denis Aylmer's Mona. Now we had to find the DBSC marks in the right sequence, but Ed was on top of it feeding co-ordinates and giving out courses, we found that with a bit of luck we might just lay the first mark close hauled, and though Tir na nOg – whose waterline length is much the same as Ainmara's – hung in very well, he'd to tack for the mark while we scraped by it, so after that it was up jib tops'l and making hay.

But though we took line honours, we felt certain Tir na nOg would win on corrected time, as a Heard 28 sailed as well as she is can be one very potent performer, and Sean seemd to be still right on our stern at the finish. The results wouldn't be announced until Monday evening, so that Saturday afternoon we wandered back upriver to Poolbeg in sunshine so powerful that an afternoon zizz was your only man, and then we emerged on deck to find that others were arriving in port, with one of the the Welsh visitors, the engine-less Happy Quest from Milford Haven, making a copy-book job of berthing under sail, and then all was alive with the Howth Seventeens arriving in from their home port after a very close-fought passage race which had been narrowly won by Conor Turvey sailing Isobel.

Happy Quest from southwest Wales lives up to her name with a successful berthing under sail only at Poolbeg. Photo: W M Nixon

The Seventeens were there to put on a display race next day (Sunday) in the Liffey as part of the three day Dublin Port Riverfest over the Bank Holiday weekend. Inevitably for those of us who took part in the first one in 2013 when the OGA Golden Jubilee was top of the bill, there wasn't quite the same buzz, but first-timers watching aboard the restaurant ship Cill Airne assured us they found it very exciting indeed, and were especially impressed by the waterborne ballet of the two big harbour tugs Shackleton and Beaufort, while the funfairs and entertainment shows along the quays really did provide something for everything.

Once again the very sight of the Seventeens – which we in Howth tend to take for granted – was fascinating in the city setting. Though the promise of a decent breeze evaporated, Race Officer Harry Gallagher managed to get enough in the way of results to declare Peter Courtney with Oonagh the winner, an appropriate result for an historic class making a show performance, as the Courtneys have been involved with the Howth Seventeens since 1907.

I watched it all from an appropriate setting, aboard the Dutch Tall Ship Morgenster, a handsome 150ft brig which should be required visiting for anyone promoting the idea of a new Tall Ship for Ireland. For the Morgenster – which was re-configured as a sailing ship in 2009 – is run as a commercial venture, and can pay her way through being the right size to be a business proposition, helped by being based in the Netherlands. Thus she has a vast continental catchment area nearby to attract trainees of all ages and abilities who are prepared to pay enough for berths to keep the show efficiently on the road. There are several Dutch-based tall ships run in the same way, and the message is that if you're going to make a go of it commercially, you have to have a large enough and readily-accessed market to make it viable, and you need a boat big enough to carry sufficient trainees relative to the size of the ship – 36 in Morgenster's case – to balance the books.

Tall ships in the Liffey, with the commercially-run 150ft sail training big Morgenster at centre. Photo: W M Nixon

Sails and the city – Howth 17s at the Sam Beckett bridge Photo: W M Nixon

There was just enough wind for the first race for the Howth 17s to show what they could do in the Liffey if the breeze held up. Photo: W M Nixon

The Dublin Port tugs have awesome power to deploy in their waterborne "ballet" Photo: W M Nixon

But enough of solemnity. We went downriver again for farewells at Poolbeg, and then away across Dublin Bay and round the Baily for a seafood feast in Howth at the new place Crabby Jo's, and a handy overnight stop before using a good westerly next morning to give us a push towards Ardglass where we needs must stop, as the tides into Strangford Lough are a door slammed shut every six hours. But as ever, Ardglass's convenient and friendly little marina provided the perfect decompression chamber, and up in Mulherron's the crack was mighty with the crew of the famous restored Manx longliner Master Frank, just the two of them with skipper Joe Pennington - aka The Rat – being crewed by a psychiatrist who claimed to be strictly on holiday, but we did wonder, as any gathering of Old Gaffers is better than a wardful of nutters.

Ainmara's mini-voyage concluded next day with a text message from Dublin to tell us we'd retained the Leinster Trophy, which surprised us, and then with an idyllic sail in a sunny sou'wester, everything set to the jib tops'l, and all sail carried right through The Narrows, across Strangford Lough and thorough Ringhaddy Sound, and on across a blue sea among green islands past tree covered shores until we handed the sails just off the entrance to Down Cruising Club's isle-girt outer anchorage immediately south of Mahee Island, in a little sheltered area which has somehow acquired the unlovely name of Pongo Bay.

Home again. Ainmara back on her mooring in Strangford Lough, with Brian Law's classic yawl Twilight astern. Photo: W M Nixon

There, Ainmara is securely moored close to Brian Law's own cruising boat, the beautifully restored classic Lion Class yawl Twilight, designed by Arthur Robb. Like Dickie Gomes, Brian does all his own boatwork in a hayshed beside the house. So closely intertwined are their interests that they readily crew for each other, and of course the exchange of information and assistance and re-fit ideas is continuous.

And there's one further fact about these guys which may be of interest to other cruising crews. Aboard Ainmara during the three seasons in which I've cruised on her since she was restored for her Centenary in 1912, there's no kitty to cover expenses. There's an underlying feeling that as the skipper provides the boat, the crew owe him on a permanent basis. Thus if we get into a port and there's a choice between a comfortable marina berth or hanging off a quay wall, the crew will simply slip away and discreetly pay for a marina berth, and then tell the skipper it's a done deal.

Equally, when ashore for a meal, one of the crew will usually sidle off and pay for everyone when no-one else is looking. But if the skipper thinks the day has gone particularly well, you'll sometimes find he's paid for it all himself, As for getting diesel, whoever is carrying the cans will pay for it himself. Then too, when stores are required, it's covered by whoever goes to get them. It all sounds like an accountant's nightmare, yet so far, somehow at the end of the cruise everyone is content with the feeling that it has all balanced out, and as it has worked well for three years and longer, the attitude is that if it ain't broke, then don't try and fix it.

It had been hoped that Ainmara could stay on in the Dublin area for a week to do the Howth YC's Lambay Race in the Old Gaffers division on June 7th, as she won it in 1921. However, there was too much work still to be done to get her completely ready for a busy cruise programme coming rapidly down the line. But as she'll have to be back next year to defend the Leinster Trophy again, who knows but the double event might be done in 2015. As it was, her need for further fitting-out nearer to home was the saving of me, as a mighy temptation arose. The ancient Madcap from the north had stayed on in Dublin Bay, and was doing the Lambay Race with other old gaffers. The word on the waterfront is that Madcap may well be sold to France to be the centrepiece of a maritime museum in La Rochelle. So the Lambay Race might well be the last chance to sail on a 140-year-old boat. A place was secured on board.

The gaffers gather......Tir na nOg, Madcap and Naomh Cronan on misty morning in Howth before the Lambay Race. Photo: W M Nixon

Madcap's sensible accommodation (above and below) reflects the seagoing needs of the pilots for whom she was built140 years ago. Photo: W M Nixon

Madcap's owner for more than twenty years now has been Adrian "Stu" Spence, a rugged Belfast barrister who has the essential determination to keep such an ancient boat going. And going places too – he has been to Greenland and several times to Spain and Brittany, and has brought his old cutter through many a problem to log an impressive voyaging record.

If you have a boat of this age, your motto is: When God made time, he made a lot of it. Thus although the Old Gaffer's division was due to start at 1135, five minutes after the Howth Seventeens had set off through Howth Sound to sail the traditional Lambay course leaving Ireland's Eye to starboard and Lambay to port in order to celebrate the centenary of the Lynch family's Howth 17 Echo, it was pushing 1140 by the time we mde our leisurely debut to follow other other gaffers, which had Sean Walsh's keenly-sailed Tir na nOg soon disappearing into the misty asterly, followed by the Galway hooker Naomh Cronan helmed by the great Paddy Murphy of Renvyle, the Cornish crabber Alice (Mark Lynch) and then Madcp in her own good time.

With Northern Ireland Old Gaffers Association President Peter Chambers on the helm, Madcap settled gently into her stride, showing that she needs very little steering – she'll maintain a straight line for miles without the wheel being touched or secured in a any way. It's an oddly soothing characteristic, just the thing to calm a man down after a hectic week in the High Court, and she soon was making her own best speed with a bit of bite now in the breeze, putting Alice astern and keeping Naomh Cronan handily in touch.

"Is it always this foggy off Howth?" Stu Spence and Peter Chambers with he visibility closing in during the Lambay Race. Photo: W M Nixon

The mist became fog, but as ever it was difficult to tell just how thick it was until we suddenly found ourselves surrounded by wraiths in the gloom. It was Class 0 racing towards Lambay, and overtaking us just feet away, giving dramatic close-ups of some of the most likeable boats on the East Coast, with Stephen O'Flaherty's Spirit 54 Soufriere pacing it with Chris Hourican's First 47.7 Pretty Polly and the Tyrrell family from Arklow with their handsome J/122 Aquelina.

Do not adjust your sets, it really was this foggy for a while. Stephen O'Flaherty's Spirit 54 Soufriere in the fog during the Lambay Race Photo: W M Nixon

Chris Hourican's First 47.7 Pretty Polly in close-up Photo: W M Nixon

The Tyrrell family's J/122 Aquelina looking her best as she slices through the fog. Photo: W M Nixon

The fog was lifting as we got to the island with boats everywhere – the gaffermen were most impressed. Naomh Croanan had been overtaken, and Peter found us the perfect track along the flukey north side of Lambay, with Madcap effortlessly sliding over the smooth sea on a dead run and apparently consolidating her position.

The fog start to lift. Dave Cullen's Half Tonner King One and te Naomh Cronan pproaching the east point of Lambay. Photo: W M Nixon

It could be Connemara...., .Naomh Cronan and two Puppeteer 22s off the north coast of Lambay Photo: W M Nixon

The long haul to the finish, the sun is out, and the breeze is beginning to develop enough power to suit Madcap. Photo: W M Nixon

But that was only until we started to head south back to the finish in Howth Sound. The Bermudan boats could lay it, so could the Seventeens, but poor old Madcap was even outpointed by Naomh Cronan, which Paddy Murphy very skilfully kept inside the line of foul tide in Lambay Sound and began to nibble at our lead, while we sagged to lee.

The sun was out, the sailing was lovely, we were surrounded by bustling classes of Puppeteer 22s and Ruffians 23s, and I suggested that a bit more tension in the jib luff, might do the trick, only to be told that as the bowsprit was no more than a liberated telegraph pole, it wasn't really up to the loads which would be put on it by trying to maximise the performance of a 22-ton boat, and nobody wanted splinters flying every which way aboard a boat where the mainboom looked to weigh at least half a ton.

A bite to the breeze, with little boats everywhere – and all of them on starboard. Photo: W M Nixon

The Dun Laoghaire Ruffian 23s made a weekend of it for the Lambay Race, coming over on the Friday night, partying mightily, and then going out to race on Saturday in a rising breeze. Photo: W M Nixon

As it is the loads becme quite something as the breeze freshened sunny and squally down the north flank of the hjill of Howth. By the time we made it across the line, Madcap was going well on smooth water under just mainsail and staysail. But though Naomh Cronan was still ahead and rightly delighted with themselves at getting a good second, it was Tir na nOg which had been in race of her own. Yet as Sean Walsh reported with astonishment, he hadn't been able to get among the slippy little Howth 17s, where John Curley and Marcus Lynch had a good win with Rita, Howth Seventeen No. 1.

Finally there was enough breeze for Madcap's wake to stretch satisfyingly astern while she could point better with the jib brought in, but Naomh Cronan still finished ahead to take second prize. Photo: W M Nixon

The mighty helmsman of Renvyle. Paddy Murphy (left) steered Naomh Cronan to an excellent performance in the Lambay Race 2014. With him is DBOGA Hon Sec Gerry Murtagh with a trophy he won racing round Lambay in 1986. Photo: W M Nixon

It seemed an Old Gaffers Classic Lambay Race had been inaugurated, and Sean Walsh, international President of the OGA, was most appropriately the first winner. It was something to celebrate, and it duly was, in the sunshine at Howth YC. But in time, I had to take myself away and go for a long walk with the little dog along the beach. For when you've been sailing on a 140-year-old boat, there's a need to ponder the passing years, and this crazy sport of ours in which museum pieces are part of the action.

 

#sailorofthemonth – Round Ireland former open record holder and race winner Dickie Gomes of Strangford Lough is the Afloat.ie "Sailor of the Month" for May 2014, following his successful defence of the Leinster Trophy for veteran and classic boats in Dublin Bay last Saturday.

It was on the final day of the month that the Gomes-owned, skippered and self-maintained 102-year-old 36ft yawl Ainmara swept across the sunlit waters of the bay to take line honours, and win the title on corrected time for the second year running, after a close-fought battle with Old Gaffers Association International President Sean Walsh's cutter Tir na nOg.

The win by Dickie Gomes was a timely reminder of his long and extraordinary sailing career, prompted by the fact that the Round Ireland Race (this year's is in three weeks time) provided the setting in 1988 for one of his most remarkable successes, while he also held the Round Ireland Open Record from 1986 to 1993.

These headline-grabbing achievements were made as skipper in other people's grand prix boats. But his sailing career began in earnest in 1966 when he bought the Ainmara, designed and built by John B Kearney in Ringsend, Dublin in 1912, and already 48 years old.

Despite her years, he won offshore and inshore races with Ainmara, and voyaged extensively with her. Though he was to become involved with other more glamorous craft, he has always kept the old yawl as his pet boat, and he provided her with a major refit, done almost entirely working on his own, for her Centenary in 2012.

But he has always also lived for speed sailing, and he made his mark internationally in 1982 with the 40ft Dick Newick-designed trimaran Downtown Flyer, which he built and campaigned in partnership with Brian Law, who continues to sail with him and was one of the crew aboard Ainmara for Saturday's Leinster Trophy defence.

Downtown Flyer's successes included a win in the two-handed Round Britain & Ireland Race. After two hectic years, she was sold, but the speed bug had bitten. In 1986, Gomes skippered the 80ft catamaran Novanet in a challenge to the round Ireland record established in May 1986 by Robin Knox-Johnston's 60ft catamaran British Airways, which in turn had shaved a few hours over the superb time set by the great Denis Doyle's Frers 51 Moonduster in the 1984 Round Ireland Race.

Although Novanet's challenge was made in November 1986 in ferocious weather with fourteen hours of darkness in every twenty-four, the Gomes campaign still succeeded, and succeeded so well that his new record stood for seven years until September 1993, when Steve Fossett – his crew including Cathy MacAleavey and Con Murphy of the National YC - zapped round with the 60ft trimaran Lakota, setting a time so good it still stands today despite several challenges.

The veteran Ainmara made good use of her jib topsail in retaining the Leinster Trophy on Saturday May 31st. Photo: Carol Laird

But meanwhile regular participants in the Round Ireland Race from Wicklow reckoned that the real man to beat in getting round the Emerald Isle was Denis Doyle with Moonduster. In 1988, Dickie Gome had the boat to take on the challenge, as by this time he was skippering Brian Buchanan's Frers 49 Hesperia III. Though Hesperia was a 1975 boat, while Moonduster was 1981, these two Frers beauties were almost sister-ships. But as The Duster rated marginally higher, by the time their boat-for-boat race right round Ireland concluded, Hesperia had won, and Dickie Gomes was for two years the holders of both the Round Ireland Record and the Round Ireland Race titles.

So when today you see the gallant old Ainmara and her veteran skipper sailing the sea, you're seeing the continuation of an exceptionally varied and well-lived sailing career which has enhanced everyone who has become involved with skipper and boat alike, and provides us with a very worthy Sailor of the Month for May 2014.

#rdirl – One month to go and former winners, battle ready ISORA champions, round the world yachts, and a handful of foreign pot hunters are lined up for the 2014 Round Ireland race. But among the fleet are two stand out classics that have the ability to upset the handicap fleet.

The current Dun Laoghaire to Dingle race champion is among the confirmed entries for Ireland's offshore classic yacht race. As momentum gathers for the biennial 704–miler from Wicklow Sailing Club on Saturday, June 28th it looks like two of the oldest boats in the fleet could still add a surprise to the overall results.

A sole county Kerry entry, Amazing Grace, that won the 2013 Dun Laoghaire to Dingle race, (the first Kerry yacht to win in the 20–year history of that race) is entered and clearly intent on Ireland's other offshore prize. The Tralee Bay Sailing Club entry, an Oyster 37, one of the slowest, oldest and heaviest boats in the race  is sailed impressively by a Fenit crew and skippered by Brian O'Sullivan.

Another south coast boat, Cavatina, a Granada 38, of a similar vintage to Amazing Grace is also back for another lap of Ireland. Ian Hickey's Royal Cork entry is twice overall winner of the Round Ireland race and next month is going round again in a bid top be the the first boat to win Ireland's classic offshore race three times. It's a brave attempt but if any boat can do it, Cavatina and her steely crew can.

 Round Ireland entries to date (May 24)

Boat Name	Entrant / Skipper	Boat Type	Club	Class
Amazing Grace	Brian O’Sullivan/Frances Clifford	Oyster 37	Tralee Bay Sailing Club	4, 5, 6
Arthur Logic	Sailing Logic/ Nick Martin	First 40	RORC	2
Cavatina	Ian Hickey	Granada 38	Royal Cork Yacht Club	4, 5, 6
Cosmic Dancer III	Russell Walker	Baltic 37	Haven Ports Yacht Club	4
Dreamcatcher	James Mansell	Sun Odyssey 37	TBC	4, 7
Endgame	Frank Doyle	A 35	Royal Cork Yacht Club	3
Fujitsu	P A Caswell	J111	Army Sailing Association	2
Inis Mor	Laurent Gouy	Ker 39	TBC	1
I O S – Desert Star	Irish Offshore Sailing	Sunfast 37	DMYC	4
I O S – Sherkin	Irish Offshore Sailing	Sunfast 37	DMYC	4
Leopard Clipper	Mark Osborn	Reflex 38	Sovereign Harbour YC	7
Libertalia	Team Jolokia/Pierre Meisel	Volvo Ocean	Lorient	Z
Lynx Clipper	Martin Breen/Nigel Moss	Reflex 38	Galway	3, 7
May Contain Nuts	Kevin Rolfe	Class 40	Cardiff Bay Yacht Club	1
McGregor IV	Peter Ward	MG38	Marconi Sailing Club	4
Mojito	Peter Dunlop & Vicky Cox	J109	CH Pwllheli SC	3
Monster Project	David Ryan	Volvo 70	Wicklow Sailing Club	Z
Muskox	Neville Devonport	X362S	Saltash Sailing Club	4
Ocean Tango	Robert Floate/Chris Norton	Dehler 34 Nova Top	Isle of Man YC / Wicklow SC	4, 7
Persistance	Jerry Collins	Sigma 38	Royal St. George YC	4
Phosphorus	Mark Emerson	Rodman JV42	RORC	1
Polished Manx	Kuba Szymanski	Sigma 33	Douglas Bay Yacht Club	4
Pyxis	Kirsteen Donaldson	X332	RORC	4, 7
Ruth	Liam Shanahan	J 109	National Yacht Club	3
State O’Chassis	Kevin Buckley	Sigma 38	Royal Irish Yacht Club	4, 5
Tanit	Richard Harris	Sydney 36	Serpent Yacht Club	2
Wild Spirit	Paul Jackson	Jeanneau 40	RORC JOG	4
Wildwood	Ian Patterson	North Channel 9m	East Antrim Boat Club	3