Capt Pablo Marcelo Vignolles is an international instructor in tango dancing, which stands one in good stead when manoeuvring the world's second-largest tall ship into a tidal dock.
"Ah, but I think I have grown a beard in the last hour!" the Argentinian master of the ARA Libertad quipped. The navy captain was so thrilled he conferred "freeman of the ship" status on Galway harbour's pilot, Capt Kevin Walsh.
Harbourmaster Capt Brian Sheridan was also on the honours list for ensuring constant tanker deliveries of cryptosporidium-free drinking water over the weekend.
The 100m (330ft) sail-training ship made its first Irish landfall on the west coast early on Saturday as part of a nine-day visit to Ireland to mark the 150th anniversary of the death of the Argentine navy's founder, Admiral William Brown, who came from Foxford, Co Mayo.
Several hundred Mayo flag-wavers were on the Galway dock in the early hours to greet the ship, including members of the Mayo Association's Galway branch. However, one of the first tasks after berthing was to ensure access for tankers delivering 60 tonnes of water to the vessel, as the city's supply has still not been deemed safe.
Also spending the weekend in Galway harbour were two French military patrol vessels - the Lynx and Gue-Pard - and the Naval patrol ship LE Róisín.
The Libertad, built in 1956, holds the world record for the fastest transatlantic crossing for a vessel of its type by sail. The 27 sails on its foresail, main mast and spanker cover a surface of 2,650sq m. It is used to train Argentinian navy cadets.
Capt Vignolles and some officers and crew were transported to Mayo for events in memory of Admiral Brown. The Foxford man, left alone in Philadelphia at the age of 10 after the death of his father, spent his life at sea and earned the title of "Liberator of the south Atlantic", when he led a rebel fleet against the Spanish Royal Navy in March 1814.
Highlight of the Libertad's visit will be its participation in a national military ceremony on Dublin's Liffey banks next Friday, attended by Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea and Admiral Jorge Omar Godoy of the Argentine navy.
