Festival crowds salute fleet's departure

Tide of emotion washes over crew as crowd cheer appearance of only Irish entry – the late taoiseach Charles Haughey's 'Celtic Mist'

SHIPS’ MASTERS may train for the elements, and relish first sight of land. However, such was the quayside programme’s pace at this year’s Tall Ships festival in Waterford that there was a certain unspoken relief yesterday to setting sail.

And setting sail proved effortless for the fleet as it navigated the Suir estuary towards Hook Head early yesterday morning in light southerly winds. Fog on the river delayed departure by an hour from the city berths, but the ebbing tide swept the mist out with it beyond Dunmore East.

From shortly after dawn, crowds had begun to gather at vantage points on the riverbank, from Cheekpoint and Passage East to Arthurstown and Ballyhack. Leading the fleet on parade was the Russian ship Mirand the Polish Dar Szczecina, while the British Lord Nelsonwas last but not least on the pilots' schedule drawn up by harbour master Darren Doyle.

Celtic Mist, the yacht owned by Charles Haughey, which has been donated to the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, was taken aback by the waves of emotion transmitted from shore.

“People broke into the national anthem. They roared and cheered and offered us donations – for the IWDG, of course!” skipper Fiacc Ó Brolcháín said. “There was always going to be a natural curiosity about the yacht, but the fact that we were the only Irish entry participating seemed to move people more than we had anticipated.”

When the race started from Waterford in 2005, three Irish ships – the national sail training brigantine Asgard II,the J eanie Johnstonand the Dunbrody – led the fleet to sea.

Three years later, the Asgard IIsank off the French coast, and was neither salvaged nor replaced desspite initial government promises.

However, the incident has been held up as a barometer of the success of sail training, in that all of the 25 aboard survived in a textbook evacuation.

Not only was it the Irish representative, on the first leg up to Greenock, but the Celtic Mistalso bore the cachet of a "royal yacht", one onlooker at Dunmore East observed. Capt Ó Brolcháín is something of a tall ships anorak – or oilskin – as he undertook his race passage in 1970 with the original Asgardskippered by the late Capt Eric Healy.

Travelling at just over one knot, he could spot many of the international craft he has also crewed on before. Capt Ó Brolcháín’s crew – Gary Davis, Eithne Griffith, Conor Ryan and trainees Siobhan Ardener (19) from Killarney, Co Kerry, and Keith Cleere (19) from New Ross, Co Wexford – estimated that it could take 36 hours just to reach Carnsore Point, unless the wind picked up.

The fleet is smaller than in 2005, but each of the 40 craft has a story to tell. The British Royalistboasts the only female captain, Angela Morris (40) from Devon, in the race. The ARC Gloria, from Colombia, sported a supersize Colombian flag, bearing the colours of South American liberationist Simon Bolivar, which drew a particularly large cheer from shore.

Guard ship for the race start, and for the parade at Dunmore East, was the Naval Service patrol ship, LE Aoife. The Irish Coast Guard Waterford search and rescue helicopter performed a fly past, while the RNLI Rosslare lifeboat patrolled.

The most serious incident at sea appeared to be the good-humoured dousing which the Waterford tug Bargarthdistributed liberally from its fire hoses as it passed the navy ship.

Vigilant trainees may make a few unusual sightings up the east coast – recent reports indicate sightings of an adult killer whale just southeast of Howth head in the Kish bank area.

And next weekend, July 9th, weather permitting, members of the Foyle Rowing Club aim to raise money for Foyle Hospice by rowing from Port Ellen on the Scottish isle of Islay to Lough Foyle on the east of Inishowen peninsula.

The Colmcille Challenge, as it is known, has been endorsed by writer Brian Friel and former SDLP leader and fellow Inishowen resident John Hume.