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FEATURE: YACHT & CAPTAIN - CLIVE DEASY
for the 2003/4 academic year. Thankfully, Swan 82 Innovision captained by Mathew Sweetman, now at the helm of 40m Rainbow JH2, was looking for a delivery crew back to the Mediterranean. Alice and I got off in Gibraltar then flew to Dublin.” In summer 2004, after a hellish but memorable adventure round Ireland on the bright orange Ker 11.3 Minnie the Moocher, Clive flew to the Nautor's Swan yard in Finland to help Taff commission the new Island Fling, a Swan 601 which they sailed down to Cowes Week and the Rolex Swan Cup in Porto Cervo. By summer 2005, after seven years hard study, Clive and Alice graduated and the professional sailing came to a halt. “We moved to Cork, became architects at different firms, bought a house and got engaged. I returned to amateur club racing, sometimes with my father who had upgraded from the Enterprise to a Sunfast 32 called Bad Company. I also had a second more successful stab at The Commodore’s Cup in 2006 onboard the Mills 39 Mariner’s Cove. We led the entire event until the last half hour of the last day when the wind ran out and everyone caught up – France overtook Ireland for the win.”
Clive at the start of Round Ireland Race 2004
“In May 2008 Alice and I got married. Renovations on the house were finished and we contemplated the idea of a sabbatical, believing we’d make a great captain-chef team – after all, architecture would always be there for us. At Cork Week 2008, I chatted to the ex-captain of Swan 56 Lolita, Kate Mardel, in the beer tent. She mentioned the owner was looking for a new crew. The sabbatical idea was germinating.” “As 2008 progressed, the economy was stalling. I was starting to query the stability of our jobs and Ireland’s construction boom. We sent our applications in for Lolita. By pure coincidence, Alice was offered voluntary redundancy at the same time we were offered the job. I quit the architecture firm, packed up, rented the house and, as the wheels fell off the global economy, I began my first captain job in October.” “We enjoyed 18 months of performance cruising Lolita, summers in New England – including a week day-sailing from Battery Park in New York City – and winter in the Caribbean. Lolita’s owners weren’t onboard too much during the winter so we took
Mallorca bound bringing a busy season to a close
Cruising with the owner onboard Lolita in the BVI’s
Serving my weekly “Captains dinner” during charter
The crew of Innovision on our mid atlantic stop in Horta, Azores 2003