They haven't opened the champagne yet, but the Sail Chernobyl round-the-world crew have completed their 26,000-mile circumnavigation and are due to return to Cork harbour within two weeks.
The four members of the Coveney clan arrived into Bayona on the Spanish north-west coast at the weekend. It was from this Galician port they officially set out on their voyage 18 months ago in the 51-ft family ketch Golden Apple to raise £1 million for the Chernobyl Children's Trust. "A great sense of achievement . . . we did a bit of celebrating on our own last night," was how Rebecca Coveney (20), the youngest of the crew, described the mood on the vessel. "Technically we have finished, but I suppose we won't really feel we have done it until we get back home."
The final stages of the trip from Djibouti to Gibraltar proved to be some of the roughest en route. Northerly winds are anticipated on the Red Sea, but the "hard wet slog" was even worse than expected.
Even as they marked the first anniversary of the death of their father, Fine Gael TD Hugh Coveney, last month, the crew were battling against short steep waves and how ling winds off the Egyptian/Sudanese border. Fifty miles south of the Suez Canal, their mainsail ripped and the propeller shaft developed a leak. Repairs were carried out in Malta, where the Irish Honorary Consul hosted a fund raising event for them, attended by 350 guests. Their mother, Pauline, who joined them in Cairo, had accompanied them to Malta. "She decided to stay with us on the spur of the moment and may have regretted it," skipper Rory said.
The fierce winds continued to blow in the Mediterranean, ma king for a slow passage to Gibraltar. Here they made a brief 1 1/2day stop before heading north for Bayona, with a fresh southerly wind behind them.
The Golden Apple will be given a Naval Service escort when it arrives into Cork harbour on May 15th. "The rendezvous has already been fixed. The Coveneys are notorious for being late, so this is the one occasion when we definitely will be on time," Rebecca said. A fleet of 40 dinghies will ac company it into Crosshaven Yacht Club.
A fundraising dinner is planned for May 16th in Carrigaline, and a slide show for schools will be held on May 17th at Crosshaven Yacht Club. Such has been the interest among schools in the trip that the Sail Chernobyl website has been recording 1,000 hits a day.
Last week, more than 30 students from Clongowes Wood College in Co Kildare set out on a boat push from Dublin to Cork to raise additional funds for Sail Cherno byl. They hope to reach Cork at the end of this week, by which time they hope to have raised £30,000 and gained a few blisters.
The Sail Chernobyl website is at http://www.aardvark.ie/ccp/sailchernobyl, and the account at Al lied Irish Banks, South Mall, Cork is 11100050. All donations go directly to the Chernobyl Children's Project, as the Golden Apple crew have paid all their own expenses.
