The ‘painted ladies' of the sea show that a race is about more than just speed and reward.

It appears to have had it all. Cutters, Brigs, Schooners, Ketchs, Sloops and full rigged ships. We oohed at their jibs, gasped at their staysails and ducked heads as their spanker booms swooshed across the deck. It was all long wooden masts and fluttering material. Painted ladies of the ocean drawing in great breaths of wind on the Dublin Bay catwalk.