Saturday, 7th September
It is two o’clock in the morning on Yvonne, Kevin’s boat, where Eric, impatient, is too excited to sleep.
Could someone have spotted Yvonne, sailing under the moon ?
Unable to hold back any longer, he decides to cast off for a night sail to Dublin.
He sails between two and three knots, but that does not affect his pleasure of being alone at sea, and he arrives a few long hours later at Poolbeg.
The others, who have only had the luxury of sleeping in real beds, arrive by taxi.
The parade will begin at two pm, when the first of the three bridges is to open. Since eleven o’clock, all the boats have already been freed from their moorings, and we are making circles in the water in the middle of the entire fleet.
Paradox parading on the Lifffey
Boats of all sizes and types are flying all their flags, Paradox has also taken out his wardrobe and we have decorated his guardrails with colorful Chinese paper lanterns.
The boat Yvonne on the Liffey
The flotilla, made up of about sixty boats, and the relatively narrowness of the Liffey River, do require all our attention to avoid collisions. But the weather is warm and sunny, and the spectacle is magnificent.
The bridges open one after the other: the Thomas Clarke bridge, then the Samuel Becket bridge, and finally the Seán O’Casey footbridge, with its graceful harp shape.
Our 3 junks rafted for the night
We sail back and forth along the river, whose quays are packed with people, then each boat is called in turn by the organizers to come and moor along the north pontoon.
At four o’clock, all the crews meet on board the majestic Leader.
Véro on the Leader
The CAI has organized there a very friendly reception, with brunch and drinks, to the sound of Irish music performed by a group of local musicians.
Music on board Leader
It is a great time, an opportunity to meet and exchange ideas.
The evening continues in a good atmosphere with an evening meal at the Clayton Hotel, which welcomes the hundred or so participants of the parade for the occasion.
The JRA pavilion is donated to the Cruising Association of Ireland
On behalf of the Junk Rig Association, I am asked to officially dedicate a flag in the colours of the association, which I present to the president of the CAI, in thanks for their generous welcome.
An informal tradition, during the JRA meetings (the “junkets“), is to offer a bottle of rum to one of the participants, generally the one who had completed the longest navigation for the occasion. Knowing that we would indeed arrive from the south of France, I had taken the initiative and chosen an excellent bottle that I thought I would legitimately award myself.
That was without counting on the presence of Alan, who had “only” crossed the North Atlantic on his small sailboat Wave Rover. Making the best of a bad situation, I therefore offered him this trophy, to the applause of the audience.
After the meal, an open stage is set up to welcome any improvised artists.
Dorothy and I had very briefly rehearsed 2 popular songs rewritten for the occasion by Kevin.
Dorothy, an expert violinist, and myself, an approximate guitarist and uninhibited singer, first perform “The Wave Rover“, in homage to Alan’s boat, a free adaptation of the traditional Irish “The wild Rover“, of which Kevin is the culprit.
The next piece is another adaptation, that of the famous “Ghost Riders in the Sky” by Johnny Cash, which, again revisited by Kevin, has become “Junk Riders in the Sky“.
Irish-French Music!
Gina even tries her hand at performing “L’Hymne à l’Amour” of Edith Piaf, accompanied by Dorothy and me. All in a very improvised and unperfect manner, but the good-natured and indulgent audience is not stingy with applause !
We will spend a comfortable night at our magnificent hosts’ house. Bruno, Véronique and Christian at Joe and Dorothy’s, Gina and I at Kevin and Yvonne’s.
And Eric? He’s staying on Paradox, the only master on board!
An article reporting on this beautiful day is available, in English, on the CAI website: https://cruising.ie/three-bridges-rally-2024-report/ .