Before arriving in Baltimore we stopped off at an old boat yard to visit the Ilin Boat. It has been in restoration for some time. Mick was like a child in a sweet shop and very proud of his involvement to date with the restoration project, as I’m sure many more are too. The Skipper, his mentor and the novice ‘Cabin Boy’ were really setting the scene for the weekend ahead and we still hadn’t even reached the boat in Baltimore. But following some fantastic preparatory work by Jim O’Sullivan to recruit and coordinate the twelve sailors for this cruise, including lining up the booking with Con at Baltimore Yacht Charter , this trip was always going to be a success. It’s no wonder the club have a great relationship with Con and we will no doubt continue with this into the future as attention to detail in the planning of these trips shows the professionalism of the club and not to mention makes the September Cruise a most enjoyable experience for not only the novice sailor like myself but also the more experienced sailors. With some good planning around balancing the experience within the group the twelve sailors were split into two crews of six with Billy Mahoney and Des McMahon as first-time cruise skippers and ably mentored by Mick Laffan and Jim O’Sullivan. Following a thorough handover from Con to the skippers and their mentors it’s fair to say the two Cullaun Crews would do any club proud sailing out of Baltimore on the Friday morning with a perfect mix of experience and youth, age and beauty and ready to take on their well-earned adventures that lied ahead. |
|