Dublin sailor Gary “Ted” Sargent’s project to sail clockwise from Schull round Ireland in a Laser is well past the halfway stage, as today he is battling with light winds in the approaches to Ardglass in County Down writes W M Nixon.

The challenge, aimed at raising funds for the charity ChildVision which is dedicated to the education and therapy needs of blind and multi-disabled children, is being undertaken with a high degree of safety awareness - he is accompanied by a RIB with a shore support team. But even so, in a boat as small as a Laser, it can be a long and lonely voyage.

Ted departed from Schull on May 14th, taking on the Big One – the West Coast – almost immediately, as he cheerfully admitted that otherwise it would seem to appear bigger and even more brutal if he left it until the latter half of his circumnavigation.

But in terms of fair winds and reasonable sailing, while the West Coast may not have been a great big pussy cat, it certainly provided fast and efficient passage-making. However, since then he has found the north and east coasts increasingly frustrating with light winds and unavoidable strong to very tides all the way from Malin Head through the North Channel to the South Rock off the County Down coast.

But today, more than four weeks after leaving Schull, the South Rock has finally been put astern, and he’ll have normal tides until he’s in the area of Skerries. But quite when that will be remains to be seen – sailing round Ireland is something very different when you’re in a boat the size of a couple of bathtubs rather than one with which you’d be allowed to do the Volvo Round Ireland Race. Get the full story here