While Tom Dolan was bringing joy to Irish sailors by leading the Figaro fleet round the Fastnet Rock, at the other end of the south coast of Ireland it was being proved yet again that getting past the Fastnet is a doddle by comparison with putting Wexford's own Tuskar Rock astern.
And it doesn't get any easier when you're trying to do it in a little Hurley 22, which was designed for comfort as much as speed. Yesterday, we took our leave of Eoin Keyes of Kinsale and Leonie Conway aboard the former's Hurley 22 off the coast of Wicklow, where light and obtuse winds - combined with the strong tides - were making for very uneven progress in their bid to complete the clockwise round Ireland circuit non-stop, and doing it in a significantly small boat in order to highlight the newly-formed Irish Chapter of Sea Shepherd, the global conservation society.
Very sensibly, Eoin had kept their voyage low key until it looked as though they were going to make it, and thus in yesterday's first report we'd to use a stock photo of a standard Hurley 22 in order to come by an image that shows that Moonshine is in fact a distinctly souped-up version, with a robust rigid spray-hood over the companionway, and a bowsprit for the easier handling of a spinnaker of decidedly grown-up size.
Windward work aboard Moonshine at sea, with the added rigid sprayhood making the cockpit an almost cosy place. Photo: Eoin Keyes
Meanwhile, we've also been reminded in recent hours of other round Ireland circuits in boats of similar size with varying degrees of stop and go which were achieved in the sometimes very distant past, and often in support of some worthy cause. Be that as it may, we and many others are currently rooting for Moonshine, and you can continue to follow her progress here
