Sitting at the fire in December and thinking of next year’s sailing season, we only remember the summer sunshine, so planning a cruise only has a fleeting glance in the direction of the weather.
When the fleet assembled in Peel for the Traditional Boat Festival, 2016 and enjoyed the hospitality and comradeship that Peel is famous for, the weather was one of the main topics amongst the 17-strong fleet hoping to join the OGA Celtic Cruise, 2016. Over the weekend and at the skippers’ briefings it became apparent that Monday’s departure for Portpatrick wasn’t going to happen and Wednesday looked like the only day that was in any way favourable. On Tuesday it was decided that while Wednesday was fine the weather over the next 4 or 5 days was not going to be good for sailing to Scotland.
Alternate arrangements for a shortened cruise over to Ireland were agreed. On the positive side on Monday we enjoyed the Peel Mardi Gras parade with Brazilian Dancers who must have been perishing. Wednesday proved to be as forecast and the fleet left Peel with Joe Pennington and ‘Master Frank’ heading home to Ramsey. The rest of the fleet headed off, splitting again to Strangford and Ardglas to enjoy the Down Coast, Strangford and Portaferry, a second home to some Dublin Bay OGA boats.
Contributed by John Wedick, Dublin Bay OGA
