It was out in a hot and humid Singapore that Simon Coveney's siblings heard the news of his election success. Three of the TD's four brothers and his sister, Rebecca, are two-thirds of the way round the world on their voyage to raise money for the Chernobyl-scarred children of Belarus.
"Yes, we are all delighted, but with mixed emotions, too," Andrew Coveney, one of the twins on board the family ketch, Golden Apple, told The Irish Times yesterday by satellite telephone. "It is a little hard to visualise the full impact of the news when we are so very far away."
This time four years ago he was one of the clan canvassing for his father in a tightly-fought by-election in the same constituency.
The circumnavigators had no champagne on board to celebrate but had a "few quiet drinks" on Saturday night, according to skipper Rory Coveney. Toasts may have to wait till Christmas, when the family reunites in Malaysia.
Currently, the four crew are preparing to leave Singapore for Thailand, and will compete in an international regatta, the King's Cup, in Phuket in mid-December.
The ketch has been in Singapore for more than a week, awaiting the repair of a damaged laptop computer. They arrived in one of the world's biggest shipping harbours on October 14th, having sailed from Batam, 15 miles to the south.
Crossing the harbour entrance proved to be one of the most difficult challenges in several months because of the volume and size of the traffic. Fortunately, their engine proved reliable.
Three days previously, on October 11th, the ketch crossed the Equator into the northern hemisphere. Several hours earlier there had been a collision with a large tree trunk in which no visible damage to the hull was sustained.
Hearts also skipped a beat a week before on the approach to Borneo. Just as they were congratulating themselves on having avoided the attentions of South China Sea pirates, they noticed they were being followed by an Indonesian fishing trawler, which had altered course in their wake.
"Fortunately there was a decent breeze, so we were able to keep up eight knots with the sails and engine, although I'd say he could have caught us if he'd tried for long enough," Andrew Coveney recorded on the ship's website log.
"We reckon when they saw the four of us (huge bodybuilders!) on deck with our skinheads, they decided to leave us alone."
Rebecca was keeping a low profile in the cockpit.
The wealthy economy of Singapore has been a stark contrast to the rainforests of Borneo, which the crew left behind in the last month. During their stopover they spent three days in the company of orangutans, gibbons and macaques in the rainforest.
Orang-utans are found in Borneo and Sumatra, living high on tree canopies and rarely venturing down to drink. The forests of Borneo generate their own microclimate, which is even more humid than most tropical regions.
