An Irishwoman's Diary

The skipper of a yacht is approaching the Aran Islands, and espies a figure standing on the shore, balancing on one leg and arms aloft. A signal from someone in distress? A curious Irish semaphore? He pulls ashore, only to find himself chatting to a New York banker who has been practising Tai Chi on the strand.

Later, the skipper and crew make a foray into the local village in search of bread. A woman behind a bar in a pub fetches a loaf from her own kitchen and gives it to the visitors. She fills their water containers. They decide to push their luck further.

"Do you have showers, by any chance?"

"No, thank God," she replies. "Not a drop for days."

It is one of the more amusing accounts of a landfall made by a retired English circuit court judge, when he and crew circumnavigated this island by yacht several years ago. Andrew Phelan, originally from Co Waterford, is not the first to have undertaken the hazardous voyage, and certainly not the first to have put his experiences down on paper. Like English travel author, Peter Marshall, canoeist Brian Wilson, this reporter and others, he was attempting to follow in the wake of Wallace Clark, the master whose 1976 account, Sailing Around Ireland in his 33-foot boat, Wild Goose, cannot be surpassed.

Impressive research

Phelan's log aims to serve as a companion for the existing guides to this coastline produced by the Irish Cruising Club, and for this he undertakes some impressive research. From the point of departure in his 32-foot Westerly Fulmar, Sarakiniko out of Kinsale, the reader is given ample historical detail. A generous author indeed, the maritime historian, Dr John de Courcy Ireland, notes in his equally generous foreword.

Though Phelan does relate some interesting encounters en route, and certainly doesn't shy away from some of the more difficult landfalls, his accumulated information becomes a little overpowering at times. The odd "live" incident is reduced to several sentences in a paragraph, such as when he and his crew pick up a "Mayday" on the VHF radio, and a naval patrol ship came to the rescue of a powerless 32-foot motor launch which had been drifting helplessly towards Mizen Head. Still, his knowledge of Irish culture and heritage is very comprehensive, and his book represents yet another wonderful endorsement of the potential of this 2,700-mile coastline.

Infectious enthusiasm

One man who has never needed much convincing of that is Matt Murphy of the Sherkin Island Marine Station in Co Cork. His infectious enthusiasm was such that he won over a visitor, Barbara Ann Tower, several years ago - to the extent that she has sponsored a pocket guide to the seashore, produced by the Sherkin station and dedicated to her late husband, Tony.

The guide is a collaborative effort, written by the station's former biologist, Helena Challinor, designed and edited by one of Murphy's daughters, Susan, and assisted by Jane Clark, a volunteer biologist, and Matt's youngest daughter, Audrey. Lavishly illustrated with photography by Paul Kay and Terry Farnell, it is more than an introduction to that world before the breakers and beyond the dunes.

Beginning with the plant and animal groups, and their various living conditions, it describes the various types of seashore and the three main zones, from splash to sub-tidal. A safety warning, and list of useful equipment is followed by the detail of the plants - the sea-weeds, or sea vegetables as some scientists prefer to call them, and the lichens.

Animal life

Turn over a rock on the lower shore, and you may find an underworld of colourful encrusting beings - sponges, sea mats and sea squirts. The animal life described by the authors also documents the life and times of sea anemones, crabs, shells, starfish, sea urchins, and not forgetting fish. The glossary has names in both Latin and Irish - smugairle na gaoithe is the lyrical name for the By-the-Wind-sailor, a close relative of the jellyfish. The common saddle oyster is sligin slamach, and next time you are ordering periwinkles, you might ask for gioradan.

A beautiful production that fits neatly into an anorak pocket, A Beginner's Guide to Ireland's Seashore is published by the Sherkin Island Marine Station, Co Cork, at £4.99. Ire- land from the Sea by Andrew Phelan, is published by Wolfhound Press at £9.99, paperback.