Photograph by Martin Hansen

Aiming for the Fastnet

A large part of my desire to get to sea the moment Dan had arrived in Kinsale stemmed from a hope that fair weather would allow us to head west to Fastnet Rock. This, of course, is the focus of the famous biennial Fastnet Race. It's the rock around which the competing boats from Cowes on the Isle of Wight must go before returning on a reciprocal course that traditionally ended in Plymouth, although this is to be Cherbourg, France, from 2021 onward.