WIORA 2007

Galway Independant.

Last weekend saw the Clifden Boat Club hosting WIORA 2007 – the ‘West Coast Championships’ of sailing - for the first time. The competition played host to almost 50 yachts from clubs all over Ireland, with west coast clubs particularly well represented by Galway, Tralee, Sligo, Mayo and Foynes flying the flag.

‘Inis Mór’, a Clifden boat captained by Bernard Gouy, placed first in the International Racing Certificate (IRC) Class One race, with a handicap of 1.024. It was followed in second place by ‘Roxanne’, captained by Mayo’s Robin Smith, with ‘Chaos’ (Western Yacht Club’s T and K Whelan) placed third. The Class One East Coast Handicap Operation (ECHO) race had 14 entries and was won by ‘That’s Life’, a Corby 33, captained by Martin Breen. In second place came ‘AWOL’, captained by Liam Burke, followed by ‘Marissa IX’ coming in third with Rob Allen at the helm.

The IRC Class Two race had 13 entries and was won by ‘Quelle Surprise’, captained by Henry Lupton, with ‘Treyona’ in second place (captained by Finbarr O’ Connell), and ‘Crozz’ in third place, with Gerry Daly at the helm. In the ECHO Class Two Race, Finbarr O’ Connell’s ‘Treyona’ was victorious, with ‘Golden Kopper’, captained by J and E Conway coming in second and Angus Bourke’s ‘Uforia’ in third place.

In The IRC Class Three race, ‘Alliance’, captained by Vince Gaffney, achieved top billing. Out of all three classes ‘Alliance’ was the best-performing boat and is now the West Coast Champion. This is the first Dublin boat to win WIORA and first competed last year. Clifden’s own Jackie Ward captained ‘Hallmark’ to second place, while ‘Battle’, captained by Dónal McCormack, came in third. The ECHO series of the same class was won by ‘Siamsa II’ (M. Bruzzi and D. Kavanagh). ‘Hallmark’ and ‘Battle’ again achieved second and third place.

Out of the six events in the West Coast Superleagues, WIORA marks the half way point, with Sligo, Galway and Kilrush yet to come. Damian Ward of the Clifden Boat Clubs said, “At this point ‘Disarray’ has incurred extra points due to damaged equipment and being unable to race on the first day. ‘Chaos’ got third place over all whereas Hallmark got a second place overall. I think it’s safe to say that at the moment Hallmark is looking good. Hallmark won Class Three last year in the Superleague.”

“Due to the huge success of this year’s WIORA in Clifden, Clifden Boat Club has been asked to host it again for 2008. We think this is the first time a club will host it two years in a row,” Damian added.