Atlantic Challenge

I met himself in Bantry for a spot of lunch and then we went down to the quay to see the afternoon's event in the Atlantic Challenge . There was much excitment as the crews prepared for a navigational event - something to do with sailing around the island and getting close to buoys. There are 16 different countries competing and over 300 crew members taking part. Each crew has to have equal ratio of men and women, and half the crew has to be under 21.13 crew members man each boat. Please biggify for the details - the large guy in the orange top (who looks remarkably like Christy Moore) seems to be giving out to everyone for they all have rather anxious expressions on their faces. The crews here are Canada, Italy, Indonesia and Finland.

I'm still after a better image of the boats and still hopeful of some sunshine. The boats are based on the Bantry Bay Longboat - and are replicas of a boat that was captured after the disastrous invasion attempt by Wolfe Tone and the French Armada in 1797. The boat was 13ft long, had 12 oars and 3 sails and was used for ferrying men on and off a larger boat.
Blipping and running today for we are off to the Fit Up Theatre Company's production of Baglady tonight. This is down in Kilcrohane and there will be something theatrical going on for the next four wednesdays - starting off in the village hall then progressing around the pubs. There might be music afterwards too.