WE OUGHT TO BE LOCHED UP

 

Sailing in Ireland on Loch Derg

 

Last year we sailed the length of Loch Ness in Scotland. This year we were in Ireland on Loch Derg three hours west of Dublin. The team was the same; Richard my friend since the age of nine, Mike former CEO and now in the fish business and Dave the pilot who flies celebs around Europe in a fast, chic but impossibly small jet plane – appropriately called Cessna Citation Mustang.

 

We hired the only boat with sail on the Shannon estuary, a dirty, forlorn looking 27 foot Hunter 265. Had she been sailed in the last eighteen months? Richard and I arriving before the boys scrubbed her, jet-washed her and I bleached the galley and heads. We named her the Shabbess. Two days later we had her old sails nicely trimmed and she bucked across twenty miles of open water without a murmur.

 

The day before, Saturday, Richard’s Landrover took us up the M6 North West along the M5 through the midlands and north Wales to Holyhead where we caught the ferry to Dublin. Mike and Dave arrived by Ryan Air on Sunday afternoon into Shannon and then the bus to Nenagh in Tipperaryfive miles east of Loch Derg.

 

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday poor weather, good winds but wet, so very wet; Wednesday and Thursday sun and the winds were still kind. The waters of the loch were steel grey in rain and peaty brown and clear subjected to my presence as I dived in every morning for a swim (lasting no more than to minutes in the icy waters).

 

Living on board; I cooked and prepared all meals. Breakfast – sausages, smoked salmon, scrambled eggs, bacon, food to get the crew moving with large amounts of tea. Lunch was more salmon (Irish of course), salami, salad and fruit for our general well being.

 

The routine for most evenings was an hour or so in a bar closest to where we were moored that evening. Bars with good beer, a grand welcome, a warmth that is uniquely Irish; Larkins in Garrykennedy was our favourite. The delightful owner Maura provided wonderful homemade bread for the next day’s breakfast and lunch. http://www.larkinspub.com/

 

 

Prior to the pub Richard and I had often prepared the evening meal together so cooking it on one and a half dysfunctional gas rings would not be too difficult after two pints of Smythwicks. Across the week we enjoyed several pastas, homemade burgers from the butcher in Portumna and lovely steaks from the Tesco in Nenagh. Each meal was bolstered by several bottles of robust red wine.

 

Five days with good winds to move a boat we often cut the motor and made excellent speed to small harbours each blessed with interest, great bars and a warm welcome. Loch Derg 35 miles in length feed by the River Shannon and 15 miles at its widest point. We crossed it, back and forth seeing only two other boats under sail. May is not a busy time with few other craft about; several were hired and we saw large flags of the Munich Rotary Club or obscure German football teams tied to their safety rails.

 

The sun would light up the water up like a vast mirror by 6am; it was still light by 10pm most evenings. We retired to our sleeping bags each night after taking part in a pop-quiz hosted by Dave with his iPod, our brains addled by wine, good food. We climbed into our bunks, the boat barely moving on her mooring. We were soon asleep perhaps dreaming of our next sailing adventure.