Event management at its best in Clifden

Pierce Purcell, Galway Bay Sailing Club

Clifden Boat Club can be justifiably proud of hosting its first WIORA offshore yacht race, facing a week of heavy weather which ended with warm sunshine and excellent sea conditions.

Events like this take months of planning: checking details; preparing racing instructions; erecting marquees, and; enhancing launching and jetty facilities, with all the work carried out on a voluntary basis. This is becoming more and more difficult in larger clubs where sailors behave more like customers and expect grade A facilities.

The Clifden Club did an admirable job under event chairman Paul Ryan, with huge work put in by the Ward family and others, including Julia Awcock, the club’s function organiser, was in evidence each day coordinating the kitchen gang keeping the competitors and visitors fed and watered. Julia looked after the secretarial end of things with Miriam Nugent in the race ofice checking results and certificates. Giles Fraser, the club PRO, liaised with Clifden businesses to ensure they were kept up to speed and the club organisation was evident everywhere in the town with a warm welcome for all the sailors.

During the weeks before the event, Damian and Paul spent every day at the club setting up communications and putting safety procedures in place. Bernard Whelan and Andrew Bell, with a team, built a floating jetty which was the envy of the visitors. The volunteers also built 30 moorings.

With all the advance planning and onshore facilities in place, the highly important race management was down to Irish sailing’s most experienced race officer, Cork’s Alan Crosbie. He left nothing to chance and arrived for the event briefing with a battalion of trained personnel. This man is an international organiser and gives generously of his time to Irish sailing. He ran the event of over 40 yachts in the same way as he did the Sovereigns Kinsale Week for 170 boats the previous week. From Galway he goes to Dun Laoghaire for the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta which will feature up to 500 yachts and is Ireland’s biggest sailing event in 2007.

Crosbie’s organisational skills and punctuality disciplined the sailors. His friend John Warren came from Monaco to assist. Clodagh O’ Callaghan-Murphy with her daughter Nicki from Kinsale took up the time keeping, ably assisted by GBSC’s Ann Donoghue, with Amy and Mark from Westport. All of this operation was run from the Command Vessel Celtic Queen, with John Ryan at the helm. Alan Crosbie has a fleet of Mark Lane high speed ribs which assess wind speeds to ensure the competition’s got true winds on the various legs of the course. Crosbie also paid tribute to his team of 16 people and is certainly ensuring that Ireland is training future race management.

Clifden Boat Club take a bow.

Not mentioned are the CBC WIORA Secretary Bobbi O’Regan

And CBC WIORA Treasurer Rory Kenny.

Please don't forget our Main Sponsor "Clifden Station House".

I hate to mention names but these guys are usually working away in the background...
Therefore people forget to mention them ...
Rory Kenny is always there taking care of the all important monies in and out.
Miss Bobbi O'Regan ... she is always there ... the central key element to the whole organising committee ... without whom it would not have happened. Thanks Bobbi ... you deserve more credit.