26 July 2009

West Cork is calling…..................!

Baltimore in West Cork is the jewel in the crown of West Cork – my late father Eamonn English fell for the place a long time ago and from the mid 1960’s we have spent a lot of time down there. To me it is a second home! I enjoyed 15 years of exploring and voyaging aboard our converted Hare Island lobster boat “Conflor” – over the years I got to know every hidden creek and harbour from the Kedges to the Mizen.
When we started our Cruiser sailing school at SailCork, Baltimore was always the ultimate destination – we have been plodding up and down the coast to Baltimore with eager learners for nearly twenty years. Now that we have our own boat – the “Holy Grounder” we are spending a lot more time in Baltimore.
With the explosion in ownership of small powerboats and RIBs we have also been running Powerboat Courses in Baltimore – these courses are now in their ninth year. I was lucky enough to have the privilege of teaching the Yachtmaster Shorebased Navigation Course in Baltimore – in the Lifeboat House – to a very eager bunch of sailors including most of the lifeboat crew – great friends and I must say I really enjoyed giving that course.
There is always a very warm welcome in Baltimore all year round. Nothing better than arriving into the village at teatime just in time for a pint at Bushes followed by a meal next door in the Jolie Breise – then maybe Jacob's and back to Bushes!!! The place is absolutely steeped in maritime tradition and there are always boats moving in the harbour. Being the ferry terminal for the islands, a fishing port, a lifeboat station, a yachtsman's destination and paradise it is no wonder that it is the sailing school capital of Ireland! Richard Bushe had a fleet of hire boats in the 1960’s – and he also showed people how to use the boats, Dermot Kennedy brought Glenans to Baltimore in 1969- and has run his own school – Baltimore Sailing School – for very many years. Baltimore Sailing Club has been running courses for juniors for over 30 years and as I said the itinerant SailCork visits Baltimore for over a month every year.
Baltimore Sailing Club was founded in 1952 and I must say I really enjoyed the dinghy sailing in the club when I was a youngster – I especially enjoyed sailing the International 12s- I have very happy memories of a voyage via Hacketts Creek to Oldcourt with Peter Lundquest. Other special memories include - Sleeping aboard “Widgeon” in the Cove with Albert the whale scratching himself off our mooring chain! - League racing with “Pins” Mc Kechnie, Staying at Musgraves “Hut”, Riding Nick’s moped, Chats with Eric Shipsey, Trying to understand John Willie late at night, The late night trips to Sherkin aboard “Conflor” Sing songs in Teddy Brownes, - Our family visits to East Skeam to pick mushrooms early in the morning – The walks to the Beacon- The longer walks to Spain Tower - The trips to Cape to see Paddy Burke – The visits to Schull and Crook for the Regattas and of course the late nights at the Hotel!

Cape Clear is another place very dear to my heart. It is a place apart – with no other place like it in the world! North Harbour offers very welcome shelter – well hidden among the cliffs. There is always a bustle there – in the summertime 3 different ferries arrive with visitors and locals alike. The boat is usually met by a fleet of ageing cars, a couple of modern mini busses and now “Paddys Wagon” – a tractor with poroper seats – and seatbelts- which offers tours of the island.

Many years ago my brother Joe was delivering “Conflor” from Cobh to Baltimore via Cape. He had a crew that included a few friends from Cobh – they enquired how the local lads got a few bob and came up with this story - “You know the way we pick spuds at home in Cobh – well here they pick banannas (the island has a special micro climate and banannas are grown on the south facing slopes) “ The next morning one of Joe's crew was seen waiting at the crossroads at 0700 for the tractor to bring him bananna picking!!
As I said Cape is always bustling but it will be manic on Wed 5 Aug for the annual Cape Clear Regatta. Boats of all kinds will decend from Baltimore, Schull, Crook and other places and North Harbour will be jammers. I usually go to South Harbour where there are usually less boats (about 50) and it is a beautiful anchorage as long as there is no weather from the south. There are fun and frolics afloat and lunacy ashore culminating with the announcement of the winners as selected by the computer (a cardboard box with COMPUTER written on it!) and the crowning of Miss Cape Clear (all male contestants) Hopefully I’ll get to Cape on another occasion so I can walk up to the old lighthouse on the cliffs on the southern side and be at one with nature gazing over the Atlantic, or walk to the lake and the cliffs on the western side – next stop America! And hopefully I’ll get to have a few pints in Cotters, the Club or Ciaran Danny Mikes to remind me of the old days – and Denis Burkes and expecially Paddy Burkes – God rest him!

Schull of course is the GHQ for Calves Week. The boats from Cork will race overnight around the Fastnet and from Kinsale to arrive in Schull on Sat Aug1 – if the weather is kind and the boats arrive early the crews will be speaking Swahili by lunchtime and communicating by sign language and grunts by the evening! I am hoping to have a nice sail from Baltimore via the Cape with dinner aboard before venturing ashore in Schull – it is likely to be a long night at Kittys followed by the intenational night club at Club Piero! There are likely to be some sore heads on Sunday for the annual race to Baltimore – could be fun as they are forecasting SE for a change!
I’m looking forward to some time in Schull – double expressos in Newnam's West from Bridie and creamy pints next door from John. One of my highlights will be visiting the emporium of Mick Barnett – supplier of Hawaian shirts to the superstars! Hopefully I’ll see my colleague Davie Harte the boss in the sailing school – what a fantastic establishment! It would be great to see other schools in Ireland having sailing as a subject on the curriculum.
One of the races (Friday 7) goes from Schull around the Fastnet Rock to Crookhaven- great fun and a very enjoyable race – reminds me of the time of the Schull Centenary Regatta in 1985 when I ran the windsurfing race from Schull around the Fastnet and back – we had some party for the Regatta that year!
There is lots more happening in West Cork and there are lots more places I hope to visit before moving on around the Mizen in mid August. Hopefully I’ll get to visit Sherkin, Ringarogy, Spanish, Inishbeg, Quarintine, Caralogue, Sandy, Hare, East Skeam, West Skeam, Mannin, East Calf, Mid Calf, West Calf, Carty, Horse, Castle, Long, Goat, Coney, Dicks, Rock and all the smaller islands.

So watch out West Cork here I come…………… for the 45th year running …….I must like the place!

 

Eddie English Blog