Wicklow suckler and tillage farmer, David Ryan, is swapping overalls for a life jacket on 28 June when he participates in the Round Ireland Yacht Race 2014.

David’s challenge is for a cause close to his heart – to raise funds to help pay for the treatment of his nephew, Shane Grogan, who suffered severe brain injury in 2012.

“Most farmers are not into sailing,” David says, “and even though I only live four miles from the sea, I wasn’t involved until 2006 when we signed our children up for a summer camp at Wicklow Sailing Club.

“I got bitten by the bug then. I’ve been involved in organising this biannual race three times since then, and taking part in it myself had become a bit of a dream. After what happened to Shane, I said: ‘There’s an idea.’ Doing it for Shane, my wife Teresa’s nephew, gave me the drive to make the dream a reality.

“The main goal is to achieve line honours in the race – to be first over the line for Shane.”

A television documentary following David and his team’s attempt to achieve their goal will be aired by RTÉ in the autumn. Filming began last January.

David Ryan feels very confident that they can win the race.

“We want to make an impact and I don’t think it’s an unreasonable goal given that the boat we’ve chartered is one of the fastest racing yachts in the world.

“It was built by the Russian team and it competed in the Volvo Round the World Race (2008-2009). Weather-permitting, it has a chance to break the Round Ireland Yacht Race record.”

Farm skills and sailing

David believes that his skills as a farmer contribute to his success as a sailor.

“Farmers have to be resourceful, to fix things on the hoof,” he says. “You have to be able to do that with sailing as well, to think outside the box. You’re at sea, literally, and you have to keep your head and deal with whatever comes at you, whether it’s weather or breakages.

“People management is important too,” he says, “pooling skills and recognising skills in others.”

There will be 17 other crew members on the boat with David – six who come with the chartered yacht, seven from Wicklow Sailing Club and the rest chosen through national competition.

David is currently seeking more sponsorship and, as part of providing a return on investment for sponsors, is pursuing sales of the documentary to US TV channels.

Pitching the idea to RTÉ, along with a film producer friend in the sailing club, was a learning curve in itself, he says.

“Farmer from Wicklow tries to turn to film producer. It was definitely a new role. Sailing Farmer Ryan.”

Crew ages on the boat will range from 18 to 58 and include both men and women.

704 miles long

The Round Ireland Race is 704 miles long and starts and finishes in Wicklow town. Times of completion will depend on boat size and speed and wind when the race is on.

“The current record is two days, 17 hours and 46 minutes, set in 2008,” David adds, “but in 2012 the last boat took seven days to come home because of the weather. We are going out on Saturday, 28 June, at 2pm, expecting to do it in three or less days and expecting a huge crowd to see us off. 10,000 people came to Wicklow for the last race start.”

Crew members are each raising money for the Care for Shane fund prior to the event and a collection will take place in Wicklow at the race start.

Horrific assault

Shane Grogan, 24, suffered severe brain injury in August 2012 as a result of a serious assault. He needs 24/7 care and a trust to raise money to help care for him and provide treatment, Care for Shane, was set up in 2013.

David says that what happened to Shane was horrific. He was seriously injured on a night out during Galway Race Week 2012.

“Shane’s injury has been very traumatic for the whole family.

“He was eight weeks in Beaumont, three months in the National Rehabilitation Centre in Dun Laoghaire, back in UCHG (University College Hospital Galway) after that and he is now in a nursing home in Tuam since the end of April, still in a state of minimal consciousness.

“His mother Joan and his father Joe’s positivity and courage in dealing with what has happened has been inspirational to everybody.

“It’s a full-time job and involves total commitment and is very difficult. We hope that this fundraising will provide funds for Shane.

“The facility at home is one goal, so that he can be with his family some of the time, but another important goal is to get a tailor-made treatment programme in place for Shane – treatment that is not available from the HSE.

“My own belief is that now is the time to do as much as you can, constructively, to bring Shane’s cognitive function back.

“He needs assessment and a plan of treatment that will give him every opportunity to come back to us. We have to give him that chance. My own father had a brain tumour and lived for 24 years after, so I have a lot of positivity around brain injury.”

Joe and Joan Grogan live on Tuam’s main street. They have two children, Shane (24) and Sarah (22). Their lives were turned upside down by the assault. Shane’s Dad, Joe Grogan, tells us about Shane:

“Nothing prepares you for this and all we can do for Shane is the best we can. A lot of the time you feel helpless. All of the time you are heartbroken. What we don’t want is Shane just left there with no treatment of any sort,” his Dad says.

“At the moment, we’re having to fight for follow-on care. Shane was a very fit, determined person. We often say that if he could only get a little bit of the brain working, he’d drag himself out of it. He would have the determination. You don’t lose that.

“As it is, we wake up in the morning hoping that today will be the day that he’ll respond in some way. We’re open to all sorts of therapies being tried because you never know what might trigger something in Shane’s brain.”

The Care for Shane Trust was set up in order to build a self-contained unit at the Grogan family home so that Shane could come home sometimes, even a few hours a day. That is planned for the future.

At present, his parents take turns in being with him and his sister is soon coming back from the UK to be nearer to Shane and home.

“It’s been very difficult on many levels for us all, but we are so thankful for the support of friends and the town of Tuam. It’s been phenomenal and humbling to see it.

“Nothing prepares a parent for something like this happening. The stress and anguish this has put on everyone is overwhelming. Shane is 6ft 4”, was a lifeguard, a triathlon competitor and had a degree in business studies. Now we don’t know what the future holds for him. We hope and pray that something will happen and he will respond to us in some way. We will do whatever we can to get our Shane back to the way he was before this mindless, senseless attack.”

What does Joe think of Shane’s Uncle David’s sailing venture to help raise funds for Shane’s treatment?

“When he told me first, I thought he was going to just go on a boat in the race, but when he said he was going to actually hire the boat, I said: ‘What? Are you mad?’ but it’s great – fantastic. He wants to do something, make an impact and help Shane, and this is as big an impact as you can get.

“It will be great being able to track them round the coast on the website. It’s a very exciting race for anyone to watch and follow.”

Visit www.linehonoursireland.com for race updates.

Facebook: CareforShane