Five weeks of it might put anyone off for life, but two young Connemara women are confirmed addicts. Sinead Broderick (16), of Inis Mor, Arainn, and Ciara Norman (16) of Spiddal, Co Galway, didn't want to come ashore after a transatlantic passage on Asgard II.
The two joined the sail-training yacht, skippered by Capt Tom McCarthy, in Cadiz and sailed to Bermuda as part of the vessel's participation in this year's Cutty Sark Tall Ships Race. For Sinead, it was her first time on board, but she found the experience of taking watch in a force 8 gale just off Tenerife absolutely exhilarating.
Good weather later in the voyage had mixed benefits. "We were becalmed", says Ciara, who remembers much more wind, of the North Sea type, last year on a trip from Aalborg in Denmark to Inverness in Scotland. They were able to sit out on deck and watch dolphins, turtles and at least one whale; and slept several times under the stars, along with fellow trainees and Naval Service cadets.
The participation was very much a family affair, as just last week Heather Norman, older sister of Ciara, and Ronan Broderick, Sinead's brother, flew out to join the vessel on one of its home legs.
Ronan, who is also a member of the Aran Islands lifeboat crew, has been on the Asgard II several times, and Heather Norman is in watch-leader training. Her younger sibling is determined to do likewise, and both women are keen to study navigation and return to sea.