Dermot delivers seafaring talk to Probus

Dermot told the meeting how he got involved in a transatlantic yacht rally in November 2010.

The crew included skipper Ivan Campbell, Jimmy Dempsey, Dr Joe Gaston, who was the oldest competitor, Mike Attwood and Charlie Grossie. The journey was to take the crew 2800 miles from Tenerife down the west coast of Africa across the South Atlantic and finishing in the Bahamas.

The two masted Ocean Hobo was to be home for the next 24 days. Hobo was a sizable craft with an unladen weight of 15 tons and fitted with a 50hp generator providing electric power for all the on board navigation, communication and other instrumentation. Once the craft was heading into the South Atlantic the sails were raised with the luxury of electric driven winches, to take advantage of the trade winds that would carry them to the Cape Verde Islands.

Having left the Verde islands the next stage would bring them on to the end of 24 days at sea having clocked up some 3042 miles. With a worldwide entry the crew were pleased that they did very well in their class.

After taking questions from members President Beattie proposed a vote of thanks.