In this part of the world, unless your boat is kept in a marina, your insurance becomes invalid from the 1st of November until the 31st of March unless the boat is lifted out of the water and stored on dry land. Seeing as we don’t actually have the kind of climate which makes sailing an appealing pastime during that five month window, it’s a reasonable compromise. It means that you work on the boat during the cold and dark winter months, while dreaming of the promise of a warm summer, playful breezes, and seven months of almost-constant sailing. That the reality is far-removed from this idyll is a topic for another day.

At the start of each sailing year, I would write down all of the jobs I wanted to get done prior to launch. Invariably, as the weeks and months roll on and the magical launch date of April 1st (no doubt that date was chosen by the insurance companies with no amount of mirth) draws ever closer, the list gets altered. You see, it’s not a simple TODO list. There is a list entitled “Jobs To Be Done In Order To Launch” and a list euphemistically entitled “Jobs To Be Done After Launch.” This is boat-speak for “Jobs Which Won’t Get Done At All, Ever!”

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I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,

And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;

And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,

And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide

Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;

And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,

And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,

To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;

And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,

And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

By JOHN MASEFIELD

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Now would be a good time to introduce “Nikea,” a Beneteau First 345. While Irish-registered, she has spent her life in the sheltered Ionian Sea, “gunk-holing” from island to island. I co-own the boat with a small consortium of friends. We take it in turns to spend time with her, going from island to island, port to port and anchorage to anchorage.

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In late September of 2009, a small group of us departed the Port of Galway at around 9PM on a Friday evening on board Beoga, a Beneteau 40.7. We were on our way to La Coruna on the North-Western tip of Spain. Our ultimate destination was Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands. Well, our ultimate-ultimate destination was the Caribbean via the ARC or Atlantic Rally for Cruisers.

Much has been written about the ARC, and it is definitely the easiest way to get from Europe to the Americas, although I think the “cruise in company” bit is a bit over-stated, seeing as we saw scant other craft once we were a few days out. People will tell you that the sunsets and sunrises on board are unbelievably fantastic, and they’d be right. Others will tell you about the magnificent night sky, with absolutely no light pollution.

However, living in the West of Ireland gives us some fantastic sunsets, and the occasional sunrise of note. Also, as I live a long way from the city centre, light pollution is less of an issue for me, and I’m often blown away by the sheer intensity of the Milky Way. So I don’t need to sail thousands of miles in a relatively small boat, across a vast expansion of ocean, in order to see sights like that.

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Galway, Ireland. “Into the Mystic” has a very solid, very reliable but very noisy engine. She boasts an inboard diesel engine, manufactured by Yanmar. It’s a 1GM10 for those familiar with the breed. In all its years of service, it never gave so much as a hint of trouble, and started almost immediately, except for those days when the battery was flat. At that, the engine would usually start after about 30 or 45 seconds of breathless hand-cranking.

In 2010 I was disgusted to find that the engine had seized up. Even though I had winterised the engine in late 2007, the exhaust muffler was filled with salt water, and the moist air made its way back into the cylinder via the exhaust valve.

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