Captain Peter Kenny of Corporate Cruising Ltd, owner and skipper of the Iantha, tells us about his love of the Irish Sea.

 

“I’ve been sailing since I was a kid, my dad used to take us out. Now I’m a Yacht Master with a commercial endorsement which enables me to skipper vessels commercially.

 

The Irish Sea is a place of work for a lot of people, but it’s also just a beautiful place. The coast is absolutely stunning. You’ve only got to visit some of the coast of Anglesey – in the right weather it’s more beautiful than the Med. A mate of mine took his boat to Hilbury Island a couple of weeks ago and the seals were everywhere, then on the way back he had dolphins riding the bow wave of his boat.

 

I’ve had several boats over the last 15-20 years. The vessel I have now is a 45-foot fly-bridge cruiser coded for commercial use. The make is a Bayliner, with twin screws powered by two diesel Hino engines, 250 horsepower on each. It’s got a full galley with a full fridge-freezer, microwave, gas oven, three double berths with en suite wc – there’s even an icemaker on board. We have room for up to 12 people plus crew.

 

We charter everything from birthday parties to sight seeing trips and stag and hen cruises. We’re scattering someone’s ashes on the Irish Sea in a few weeks so our work is varied. We had one of the stars from Hollyoaks, Jennifer Metcalf, on board with her friends.

 

A couple of times a year we get asked to go over to Anglesey or Ireland and Scotland, and we take people to the Isle of Man for the TT races.

 

I love the whole activity of skippering and chartering the boat. We are constantly working to keep the vessel highly maintained to MCA Cat. 2, allowing us to go up to 60 miles offshore of the nearest safe haven. You can’t take people out unless the vessel and weather conditions are right.

 

When we take people out it’s amazing – I think I get a bigger thrill out of the trip than the clients even though we go to the same places time and time again. We have had a lot of amazing testimonials from all who have sailed with us.

 

A lot of people use the Irish Sea, but it has to be looked after for everyone’s best interests.”