Scaoil Seol

...de la Kilkenny Advertiser:

Up until last summer Owen Ardill was more used to soaring through the clouds above Kilkenny, but in a new reality TV series for TG4, Owen and nine other sailing novices had little choice but to find their sea legs.

Scaoil Seol will hit television screens across the country next week after the 10 participants were put through their paces in a boot camp-style sailing school on Collanmore Island, Co Mayo and then in Galway bay on a traditional Galway hooker, a 'Gleoiteog'.

The rub being that none of the 10 had any sailing experience before setting off for Collanmore Island and it was their ability to grasp the techniques and safety aspects of life on the water that would determine whether they would be slicing their Gleoiteogs through the waves alongside some of the most established sailors in the land or going home wet and exhausted with little to show for their efforts…