As a boy I was very fortunate to spend my summer holidays in Portstewart and during the late 60s learnt to sail at the River Bann Boat Club (now Coleraine YC). Moored slightly further upstream from Seaton’s boatyard was what I then regarded as a very old looking yacht with far too many “ropes”; this was Wild Goose owned by the late Wallace Clark.
Some years later I read Wallace Clark’s book “Sailing Round Ireland”; that story has always stuck with me and over the years the idea of circumnavigating Ireland has been considered but then discarded due to family and work commitments. The passing of my good friend and long-time crew Neale with whom I planned many ocean voyages for our retirement (mostly after a few pints of Smithwicks in the RNIYC bar) focused my mind on moving from just planning to doing.
And so, a plan has evolved over the very wet and miserable winter of 23/24 to put those ideas into reality, starting with a round Ireland in the summer of 2024. Obviously had he been able Neale would have been on the crew with me, and I somewhat jokingly asked his family if I could carry some of Neale’s ashes with me, to which they kindly agreed.
The plan is to cast off from Bangor marina late June / early July and together with friends and family (including Neale’s sons Adam and Toby) who will join as crew at various ports around the coast, cruise around Ireland and its islands (clockwise – which is the opposite way to Wallace Clarks voyage, but there was talk of a mutiny by some crew if we went against the prevailing winds on the west coast!). Weather permitting, we should dock back in Bangor at the end of July.
As an incentive to myself and to put some perspective on what is a holiday and bucket list challenge for me, I intend to raise funds for Northern Ireland Pancreatic Cancer. The distance of a round Ireland cruise is approximately 1000 miles, so I am pledging £1 per mile to get it going. I have set up a fundraising page with NIPARC and any donations will be greatly appreciated. https://nipanc.enthuse.com/pf/gavin-vaughan
Neale’s daughter Megan is helping me put together a blog (“RoundIrelandWithNeale”) and I will try to keep everyone up to date on our progress with photos and video; stay tuned!
Gavin Vaughan
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