Mayo Sailing Club praise Clifden Boat Club

 

It’s easy to get praise when a sailing event goes well, the weather smiles kindly and the boats rock happily on their moorings, unchallenged by wind and wave. It’s quite another thing, when howling gales caused two of four days to be cancelled and boats bucked and pulled at their mooring ropes. That’s what happened to the WIORA (West of Ireland Offshore Racing Association) Regatta which was hosted by Clifden Boat Club early in July and yet praise for their running of the event was fulsome.

 

Commodore of Mayo Sailing Club, Gerry Daly, who participated in the event himself, was loud in his praise for Clifden and everyone involved in running the regatta, “This is the first time Clifden has hosted an event of this size and it was really unfortunate that the weather was so unreliable. However we were very impressed at the level of organisation within the Club, especially as there were about 45 boats and their crews to be dealt with daily.”

 

He went on to commend the Club, the Commodore and the organising committee for rostering a watch on all the moored boats to make sure that none would come to harm. “This shows a real understanding of skipper’s concerns in bad weather, especially on unfamiliar moorings,” he said, “Clifden were so well prepared that we were able to relax, secure in the knowledge that our boats were safe”.

 

The water taxi arrangements and the onshore catering were all well thought out and executed. That, coupled with the proximity of the attractive town of Clifden, left sailors very happy with the event despite missing out on two days sailing. Race Officer, Alan Crosbie showed all his experience in making quick and accurate decisions and passing information on to sailors very speedily. Thanks also to the main sponsors the Clifden Stationhouse Hotel without whom there would have been no event.

 

The decision that WIORA will again be held at Clifden next year was met with enthusiasm from all the Mayo sailors who are already looking forward to the event and hoping that even more boats will make the trip next year.