In Ireland last week as June drew to a close, the month’s exceptionally high temperatures were already becoming a memory, while the winds were raw along the west coast. Yet in far Southwest Cork and particularly out at Cape Clear, summer was still to be found.
The vintage Howth 17s, on tour to celebrate their class’s 125th Anniversary under the visionary leadership of Class Captain David O’Shea, found a lacuna of reasonable weather in a week of sailing among Carbury’s Hundred Isles in Roaring Water Bay, whose inappropriate title stems from the fact that the Roaring Water River – serene by the time it reaches the sea – flows gently into its sheltered inner reaches.
No hope? Rosemary in March 2018. Thanks to the skills of boat-builder Larry Archer, she was brought back to life
Even had they wished to, they couldn’t have celebrated their 120th back in 2018, as several of the class were still in bits after their storage shed had been flattened by Storm Emma in March. But what with Pandemics and other negative happenings since, it seems to have been intended that this particular week should be used for Cruise-in-Company time, as the 125th Anniversary of their very first race – on May 4th 1898 – had been marked in suitable Quasquicentennial style.
“As long as you’ve the ballast keel, the boat is not completely lost”. Anita in March 2018. Thanks to the determination of Ian Malcolm of Aura, she was successfully re-created by Skol ar Mor in Brittany
And the very best of the weather in this Week of Weeks was out at Cape Clear. But they’d every intention of going there anyway during their celebratory Cruise-in-Company, as Malachy Harkin and his team at Cape Clear Distillery were going to send the little boats back to Baltimore with cargoes of their finest products.
Very much alive. Anita (David McConnell) revelling in the sailing off the Fastnet. Photo: David O’Shea
An enchanted coastline. The Howth Seventeens chose well with the venue for their 125th Anniversary Cruise in Company
Faith fulfilled. Ian Malcolm and Aura at the Fastnet Rock. They were last here twenty years ago
But just to show that they weren’t being exclusively drawn on their way with a nose for special local spirits, they left Baltimore – where the Sailing Club’s Racing Secretary Rob O’Leary had already put in much skilled and highly-appreciated work in getting the boats safely afloat – and slugged upwind to Schull under the watchful eye of Schull’s Mr Sailing, David Harte. His Howth links through sailing and family go back a long way, and he certainly looked the part of the mother-ship in his smart new Boston Whaler, a very different animal from the original Boston Whaler.
David Harte aboard his new boat
A warm and welcoming place. Captain Dave O’Shea with Billy O’Sullivan’s in the latter’s very hospitable family pub in Crookhaven
From Schull it was upwind again on the Tuesday to Crookhaven, where O’Sullivan’s were well geared up to feed and water sixty-plus thirsty and hungry mariners and their supporting crews’ comforts. Wednesday 28th June had been selected as the primary choice for rounding the Fastnet Rock, as it cut the fleet a bit of slack with Thursday as an option if conditions didn’t suit.
But an admittedly rising westerly was their first fair wind as they began their return east, and it blew the clouds away to provide blue skies and a bit too much for topsails, but several boats went for spinnakers, and those that did reached the Rock in an hour, which for 17ft waterline is way above theoretical hull speed.
There is something supernatural about the Fastnet Rock, and Cape Clear with its much improved North Harbour is such a charmingly out-of-this world place that it might be from another galaxy, a situation which was right in tune with the developing mood of enchantment in the visiting Quasquicentennial class.
Pumping the adrenalin. Deilginis (Massey, Toomey, Kenny) getting above theoretical hull speed on the run from Crookhaven to the Fastnet Rock
Wet and wonderful – Erica (Davy Nixon) reaches the rock
Time to gybe….Isobel (Brian & Conor Turvey) streaking past the rock, with the sky suggesting they’re getting the best day of the week.
The Cape Clear ferry was at the Fastnet, festooned with photographers as the Howth Seventeens rounded the Rock
The perfect shelter in North Harbour, Cape Clear after a brisk day’s sailing
“You’ve earned it”. Cape Clear Distillery spreads the good news about its product range through Howth Seventeen sailors
Sensing that this might happen, the wise old Class Captain had left Thursday’s programme open to each boat’s choice, the only remaining item being a possible race in Baltimore Harbour on Friday morning before lift-out started at 11.00am. But it was blowing strong westerly, and it was raining, and some thought the liftout berth very exposed and possibly unusable.
The Man Who Worked Miracles. Master boat-handler Rob O’Leary (left) with David O’Shea in Baltimore Sailing Club
But Rob O’Leary demonstrated otherwise. A dozen times he gave a master-class in using a RIB as both towboat to, and fender against, a choppy quayside. And he’d a crane-driver to match. The whole fleet were out, unrigged and ready for the road in four hours.
Heartfelt thanks. Commodore Grahame Copplestone (left) of Baltimore Sailing Club receives tokens of appreciation from the Seventeen Foot Class and Howth Yacht Club
It left everyone in fine form for the concluding supper hosted by Commodore Grahame Copplestone in Baltimore Sailing Club on the Friday night, with Geraldine and her team in the kitchen cooking up a storm, and the good form and bonhomie reaching stratospheric levels. Then by Sunday night, every last little wandering Howth Seventeen was safely back on the home peninsula, with the good news that Howth Yacht Club was so pleased by the favourable publicity they’d generated in several leading outlets that they’d all be craned into Howth Harbour for free.
West Cork hospitality at its best – the concluding supper and presentation in Baltimore Sailing Club.
“Dear Leader, we all love you”. Father of the Class Nick Massey shows the Howth 17s’ appreciation for their Captain David “Daisy” O’Shea at the conclusion of an exceptional West Cork Quasquicentennial visit.
