Paul Rogan and Johnny Owens with Minister McEntee at Good2Talk, when she launched the fundraising voyage between Ireland and Iceland in July.

Crew plan musical voyage on fundraiser to Iceland

Growing up in the heart of the midlands might not be seen as the best preparation for an epic round trip sailing voyage to Iceland, but that hasn’t deterred Mullingar musician Johnny Owens.

Johnny is one of six-strong local team who are setting off for Reykjavik on June 30 on the Welsh-built yacht, Martha Jane.

The group, who are led by experienced sailors Tommy Owens, Johnny’s father, and Sean Gerrity, estimate that the round trip will take a month, including stops along the way in mainland Scotland as well as the Orkneys, Shetlands and Faroe Islands.

The trip has been a long time ambition for his father, Johnny told the Westmeath Examiner

“He was always planning this Iceland trip between myself and himself.

“We asked a few friends that were available to go for a month. Most of us do music, in and out of season, and six of us were available to do it in the month of July, which is fantastic.

“Sean Gerrity and my father are the two yacht-masters on the boat. They would have sailed up Scandinavia on a couple of trips. They have an absolute passion for sailing.”

The rest of the crew are passionate about music and will be bringing their instruments for what they hope will be some impromptu sessions in their ports of call.

“Some of the islands have a serious culture in traditional music so we are very much looking forward to that,” said Johnny. “I’d be very interested in Celtic music, so it’s going to be very lively.”

While Tommy, who was a sailing instructor in the army, and his former Defence Forces comrade Sean are the sea dogs of the expedition, Johnny and three other members of the group – Martin Fox, Paul Taaffe and Paul Rogan – are novices.

Martha Jane is moored at Killybegs, where it will be setting off from next week and the crew have been getting their sea legs in recent months off the west coast.

The workload on the trip will be divided between two teams of three with Sean and Tommy leading. During the day the teams will be working four hours on and four off, while at night it will be three on, three off.

As Martha Jane sails further north, the crew will also have to contend with almost 24 hours of daylight.

“The old circadian rhythm will be all over the place. People are saying three hours off and on you won’t get used to that, but sure the fact that there will be that much daylight will be very hard to adjust to,” Johnny predicts.

The voyage is also being used to raise funds and awareness for the Mullingar based counselling service Good2Talk. Johnny accessed the service a few years ago when he went through a difficult period in his life and he says that he and his crew-mates are delighted to be partnered with such a “valuable service”.

I think in many ways the awareness thing is essential. If people don’t even use this service, [it’s important] to know that it’s there and to maybe see other people who have used it and see that there is always hope in a critical situation.

“The majority of my friends up through the years – we have had our ups and downs, but now when we socialise, it can be quite an easy topic of conversation because it doesn’t hold the fear factor any more.

“That is a fantastic thing to feel among other people, to know that you are not on your own.”

People can keep up to date with the voyage by visiting the crew’s Facebook page,

Ireland to Iceland 2017, where they will also be posting a daily vlog.