My Weekend: Lifting 100 boats out of the river over a couple of hours... it can be frantic

For work I am a self- employed Ventilation Contractor and I specialise in Domestic Heat Recovery Ventilation for the new housing market.
I am also the lead singer with one of Cork’s finest rhythm and roots band called Fenton and The Phantoms.
Renowned for rocking up many venues around Cork and beyond such as Henchys, The Bru, The Crane lane, The Roundy and The Woodford to name but a few. We recently returned from playing at the Kilkenny Roots Festival.
This time of year, a lot of my time is taken up with The Ocean to City race which takes place tomorrow, June 1. This is a huge event in which more than 200 boats row from Crosshaven to Roches Point and up the Harbour to the city, finishing at the Boardwalk on Lapps Quay.
Like any event of this nature it requires a large amount of volunteers for it to be successful. For my part I co-ordinate the boat recovery area on Kennedy Quay.
There we crane the boats from the water to the trailers. There are usually about 100 boats to be lifted out so it can be a pretty frantic couple of hours after the race ends. Luckily, when it’s over, The Idle Hour is on hand for comfort and sustenance.
It was a team packed with talented people, unfortunately none of those talents were football related.
We even had a special corner in the bar called “Sh**e corner” for all post-match analysis. Although we didn’t have any success in our local league, we did manage to win a prestigious international tournament in Toulouse in France.
This of course would put me in a very select group of Cork managers to have European success.
The Cork Harbour Festival is the largest annual event in the harbour and takes place from June 1 to June 9. Festivities begin on the Bank Holiday Saturday with the flagship Ocean to City Race; continue throughout festival week with 70+ events; and finish with SeaFest between June 7 to 9. From sea shanties to storytelling – this year’s festival has something for everyone.
Full programme: corkharbourfestival.com.