Young Mike Caherlane was mad keen for the sail home from Faro in the south of Portugal, gung-ho and looking for a force nine gale. Of course I mentioned to him that he did not have a clue what he was talking about. He on the other hand did not appreciate the alacrity with which I pulled down reefs whenever things were getting a little exciting in his book, especially because between times we put in a share of drifting in calm and fog. Diesel oil on the scarce side by then; we used a lot getting up that Portuguese coast, and finance was tight to say the least. A good object lesson in what the future holds; without any dramatic crisis in the supply of oil, more and more wee people are liable to find some day that they cannot afford to buy it. But what of a fisherman here, a farmer or a truck-driver there, not to mention a mere yachtie?

But why would anyone want to spend a fortnight sailing from Faro, when it can be done in a little over 2 hours in a jet plane? It has something to do with the being there; you might as well be a bag of spuds in that plane, I said to Mike. Well then, at least let’s get on with it.... Hold on now, you go and get yourself a berth in one of them Volvo racers if you like, but that’s not my trip; I’m happy enough to be dodging at 3 knots somewhere in the general direction we’re trying to get. When it’s blowing up 6 or 7 on your nose, the main thing is to stay safe and comfortable, and try to get yourself in a good position for when you do get a chance of a right sail. Well, we had to wait for the last 100 miles of the trip for that; for once the home waters were best and the Anna M got into her stride at last, 7/8 knots from about 75 miles west of the Scillies, where the old skipper had got her lined up nicely for the NEasterly breeze that the Unysis charts had predicted before we left Spain.

Well, youth must push the boundaries; unfortunately it takes years to find out that one can actually embrace them, using them to go further. How to inspire the imaginations of men, so that they can leave aside the trophies they seek, the faster boats, the bigger catches? That is a challenge indeed. Well, it tends to be old men that I like to meet and talk to, like Anthony Symmonds, down on the Algarve, well retired from his fibreglass factory. He has been involved in an EU research project into the use of natural resins and reinforcing fibres from wood; they had millions spent by the time they turned up some Argentinians who had been doing it successfully on a shoe-string.

Then there was Klaus, a retired Swiss film-maker who had designed his unusual boat, the Wahoo, himself, and sailed her round Africa. Built out of steel, she looked more of a work-boat than a yacht; the hull was specially reinforced to carry to two masts of unstayed aluminium pipe. No rigging to get in the way of fishing, minimum of handling, and seemingly very efficient, it was the rig which he had designed himself that really caught my eye.

Back home more diffuse, less tangible problems than head winds and a shortage of diesel besiege me. Then again, they could be worse, and at least the weather is shaping up well this summer. But supposing we were living in Broadhaven Bay, that I used to think of as one of the most pristine and remote places I knew, and found ourselves with 300 Guardai (policemen), 2 navy ships, ribs, and a private army forcing a dangerous and objectionable pipeline on us? The price of fossil fuels mounts in far more ways than one. But I am also finding out that the monetary price of fuel cells remains very much in the research phase; costs maybe 7 or 8 times that of conventional engines. Also, many fuel cells are not suitable for being thrown around on the Atlantic....

There is indeed no end to the research that this little WCSFG project involves, as we try to build a fishing boat for this situation we are facing, wherein the whole thrust of technology is running into the boundaries of nature as well as the demands of justice. The designs of the old traditional fishing boats were developed over generations, each according their own particular coast and conditions.... It seems to me that we badly need to find partners in this project if we are going to make serious progress.

Wahoo

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West Cork Sustainable Fisheries Group Launch

Tuna Trip 2007
On launching Wavedancing - 19 April 2006