Enda O’Coineen has left Dublin for the Vendée Globe

by Vendée Globe on 14 Oct 2016 With a heartwarming send off by over 100 schoolchildren, Dublin’s Lord Mayor and the Honorary Admiral of the Port of Dublin ringing in his ears Enda O’Coineen and his delivery crew set off from Dublin this Tuesday afternoon bound for Les Sables d’Olonne and the start of the Vendée Globe.

O’Coineen officially launched the Atlantic Youth Trust’s charity schools programme which will introduce Ireland’s young people to the race and to foster a wider interest in sailing. Speaking as Kilcullen Voyager passed Greystones, just south of Dublin this afternoon, Enda reported: “We have a good forecast and are looking forwards to a good passage. The winds will be mainly easterly towards the end of the passage but we are in good shape and looking forwards to getting to Les Sables d’Olonne.”

“It was so nice to share the enthusiasm of the kids and answer some of their many, many questions, some of them clever and some of them amusing. The guys have done a good job with the boat it is ready to go really and so we won’t have much to do when we get to Les Sables d’Olonne. I am making sure we have some Irish musicians down with us and we will have one hell of a party. We are concentrating on getting around the world in one piece. That is the objective.”