IT was a bit like "the wedding without the bride," said Mr Hugh Coveney, Minister of State, when he officially opened the Castletownbere Regatta and Festival in west Cork at the weekend.
The reason? There were no boats.
One aim of the regatta celebrations is to commemorate the failed attempt by Wolfe Tone to land a fleet in Bantry Bay in 1796. The event also forms part of the Atlantic Rendezvous - a race from Bristol via Castletownbere to Brest, France, to mark the 500th anniversary of the discovery of Newfoundland by the Bristol explorer, John Cabot.
"It was like history repeating itself," a festival committee member, Ms Mary Martin, said in Castletownbere yesterday. "Tone failed 200 years ago, and this weekend we failed to get the boats in."
Some 80 racing craft set out from Bristol last Tuesday and Wednesday to participate in the Castletownbere leg of the race.
However, due to the particularly bad weather, race officials allowed the boats to make a staggered start.
As a ferocious storm whipped cup mountainous seas between Bristol and the Irish coast, up to 50 of the smaller boats were forced to put in to Southampton for shelter and repairs.
As the fleet scattered it became apparent that not all the craft would be able to make it to Castletownbere for the celebrations.
One vessel which did was the 18 metre ketch, Rainbow of Adelaide. It arrived in the west Cork fishing town at the weekend to be greeted by cheering crowds at the quayside.
Capt Phil Goddard, skipper of Rainbow of Adelaide, said conditions at sea were the worst he had experienced.
The ketch had run into difficulties after leaving Bristol and had to be towed by lifeboat into Crosshaven, on the Cork coast, last Thursday evening.
Last night a French yacht, Altair, had also arrived, and the organisers were hopeful that as the weather improved at least 20 other participants in the race would reach Castletownbere over the next few days.
"Even though we had no boats, we went ahead with the opening, Ms Martin said.
"Our regatta is part of the Bantry Bay 96 celebrations and we have a huge programme of events honed up in the town until next weekend when the race leg will leave the harbour.
She said the programme includes open air entertainment and marine rescue displays. Despite the disappointment at the 80 boats not arriving together, the festival was nevertheless a success, drawing huge numbers to the town, Ms Martin added.
Last night Mr Charles Payton, the organiser of the Bristol festivities, said it was very disappointing that the entire fleet had been scattered because of poor weather conditions, but he predicted that by mid week Castletownbere would have a colourful, although reduced, flotilla in its harbour.