Junior Classes are continuing to run

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Written by Jim O Sullivan

2020 September Cruise Report Roisin Fallon

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Written by Jim O Sullivan

9  Sept 2020

Last week, the instructors from this summer (minus Sarah who had just begun her placement in Brussels, plus Mike who was working out in Kilrush for the summer) embarked upon our first September Cruise, kindly organised and skippered by Jim. We had a lovely few days exploring the Southwest coast of Cork from Tuesday to Friday.

We arrived down to Kinsale on Monday night to our lovely 40ft boat; ‘Kyachtic’. Upon inspection of the galley we realised we had enough food to last 10 people a fortnight and decided the best course of action was to dig in straight away, so we helped ourselves to some delicious fajitas prepared by Áine. Although we barely made a dent in the entire block of cheese she had grated for the occasion. We stayed up for a while longer to plan the week ahead before heading off to bed.

We rose at 9 on Tuesday and after a quick breakfast and one last use of the facilities on land, we embarked on our journey. We headed out past Chares Fort, and no sooner had we left the harbour behind than we ran into a familiar face in Tom McHugh out on his own boat. We got our sails up then and began our long beat down to Baltimore. A few of us felt a bit worse for wear with the engine going against the swell, but things improved once we were under sail, except for poor Aoife who kept us appraised of the time with her hourly trips to the stern. We saw a few schools of porpoises to our delight, and enjoyed what was the first long sailing excursion for some of us. Jim braved going down below to make us a few lovely sandwiches for lunch. The rain cleared off after the morning and after 7 or 8 hours of sailing the Stags came into view, followed by Lot’s Wife and we passed through and into Baltimore. My excellent parking skills came into their own as we moored up to the pontoon for the night. Aoife rustled us up some pasta, which we thoroughly enjoyed after our day’s sailing, before heading off to the pub only to discover it was closed.

We slept in on Wednesday, with the plan of waiting until the weather cleared up to sail through the North Passage and on to Oileán Chléire. Aoife, our skipper for the day, made out a pilotage plan as we had our breakfast. The elements, however, were not in our favour and a dense fog that appeared in the morning proved immovable for the day. We made the most of our day on land with a walk up to Lot’s Wife, which was just about visible given it’s similar colouring to the fog itself. Upon our return to the boat we played a game of 30 Seconds in which Aoife and I proved victorious. After lunch, the fog still hadn’t cleared and so we engaged in some pontoon bashing for the afternoon, honing our parking skills for our adventure the next day. After some teething problems with interesting distance judgements from those at the bow, everyone got a successful mooring completed. We moored up again, then, and headed off to the bar for dinner and a few drinks.

We awoke at 8 on Thursday determined to make the best of the day after our previous day of landlubbing. Iarlaith welcomed us all to the morning, with his first words to each of us being that there had been ‘bioluminescence in the toilet last night’. With this lovely thought in mind, some of us enjoyed some morning yoga on deck before having breakfast and setting off. Aoife skippered us through the beautiful North Passage.

On our way we passed a few fishermen setting lobster pots, and some seals enjoying the early morning sun. Once through we started to head up towards Fastnet, with both the swell and the wind increasing in strength as we emerged from the shelter provided by Mizen head. A few hefty waves managed to knock Aoife’s earrings out of her ear, and very nearly my ankle out of its socket. With speeds of around 17 knots we had a great time sailing over the waves, a novel experience for us lake sailors. The sun was shining and so our course toward Fastnet was slightly altered to allow for maximum time in the sun for the crew. We rounded the island, and got the obligatory selfie with the lighthouse looming behind us. After that we headed over toward the beautiful Crookhaven, enjoying many cups of tea and gingernuts along the way.

After an a while we turned into the beautiful harbour, and came across a foiling windsurfer who seemed to be flying along over and back. While the swell dissipated hugely in the sheltered harbour, the westerly breeze seemed to have been funnelled through as it only increased in intensity, leaving us with sub-optimal mooring conditions, and so we decided to motor on out again having admired the views. Once out of the harbour, we sailed on over towards Oileán Chléire, with the sun still shining. Mike guided us expertly into a very tight parking spot upon arrival, and we got changed into our swimming gear. Having been reliably informed by two women already in the water that it was ‘lovely and warm’, we all jumped in to discover that their description was not quite accurate. We had a lovely swim nonetheless with the sun setting behind us, and enjoyed some excellent diving displays. We spoke a bit of Gaeilge to fit in with the locals, and went on a walk over to the other side of the island, snacking on blackberries as we went. After some beautiful views and lovely blackberries, we returned to the boat where Mike served us up a delicious stew which we enjoyed on deck. After some chocolate fudge cake for dessert, the crumbs of which were a pain to remove from the deck the next day, we went down below for another game of 30 Seconds to decide who should do the wash up. Unfortunately, Luke and I came in last and so we cleaned up after dinner, before we all headed to bed in advance of our early rise the next morning.

On Friday morning, we woke at 6, and set sail as quickly as we could, with the aim of being on the water for sunrise at 6.56. We needn’t have worried as the sun remained in hiding until well into the afternoon. The early morning light was still lovely over the land to the East, and we set off through the Gascane Sound, composing a Sea Shanty that can only be described as a work of lyrical and musical genius. Jim put on a fry down below for us as we sailed on back towards Kinsale. We managed to leave the rain behind us for the entirety of the passage leaving us with pleasant weather which was appreciated given our tired states. As usual we enjoyed many cups of tea and biscuits, and had a lovely day’s sailing despite the relatively light winds.

 We did some more yoga up at the bow, which proved a lot more difficult with the swell beneath the boat – we were glad of the wire railings. The sun made an appearance around 2pm, and so the last few hours of our journey were lovely as the winds also picked up a bit. The King, as usual, provided us with tunes the whole way. After 8 or so hours of sailing, we eventually passed the Old head of Kinsale, and headed back into the harbour, passing another foiling windsurfer on the way.

We arrived in, and divvied up the sizable amount of food still remaining despite our best efforts. After a clean-up, we headed back home, wrecked and weather beaten, but happy after a lovely week.

It was a really, really lovely few days, and something I’m so glad I got to experience.

Thanks again to Jim who made it all possible, and of course to Mike for fixing everything.

Roisin Fallon

Junior and Senior Regatta

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Written by Jim O Sullivan

Catch up here with all of the news from the Junior and Senior Regatta

Regatta results. Junior Regatta The weather on Sunday could not have been better for the Junior Regatta, with 7-14 knots of north westerly wind (definitely welcome after the much heavier winds for the adult regatta the day previously). The sun was shining in the compound and we were absolutely delighted to see 29 juniors come to take part in the racing.  We had 14 boats take part from a variety of classes, Omegas, Lasers, RS’s a Byte, a 420 and even one of the club Enterprises made a (brief) appearance on the water. After a quick briefing and an explanation of the course, everyone was ready to start the races.  Race 1 The first race began with Aoife Hawkins and Hannah Morrissey crossing the line first in the 420 but Michéal Hayes and Laura Collins followed close behind in a club Omega and quickly claimed the position of leading boat. Most of the fleet managed to cross the line within 10 seconds of the starting gun which was very impressive considering the variety of sailing levels on the water.  Michéal and Laura were first around the windward mark with a sizeable distance between them and the 420 in second place, and Ruth Golden and Robert Stafford in the RS200 in third. The 420 was quickly overtaken however by the RS200 and Fionn Sweeny and Darragh O’Donovan in the Laser II. Fionn and Darragh were the second boat to begin the sausage leg, displaying some excellent mark rounding skills, all their work during the summer courses has definitely paid off! As the race ended, Michéal and Laura were first across the line, with second place going to the Laser II, third to the RS200, followed by Dearbhla Smith Lynch in the Laser, Jane Collins and Isobel Larkin in the RSFeva and Ingrid Thunder Beisty in the Laser who all finished closely within less than a minute of each other.  Race 2 The second race began as smoothly as the first with all boats making an impressively close start. This race however we were joined by a new entrant, Rory O’Sullivan and Lucas Donlon, helm and crew, in the club Laser Radial. Lucas kindly provided extra boat trim for Rory which definitely benefited him as he was first across the line.  A regatta wouldn’t have been a regatta without some boats getting a bit too close for comfort. Just a few boat-lengths up the beat, the 420, the RS200 and an Omega had a tussle with shouts of “starboard” echoing across the lake. Thankfully, the issue was resolved with the fouling boat doing their penalty.  The Sweeny’s in their Laser II’s were dominating the first beat with Bláithín Sweeny and Zsuzsi Kidney rounding the windward mark first followed by Fionn and Darragh O’Donovan. Third around the mark was Rory and Lucas in their Laser. They were quickly overtaken by Dearbhla who zoomed past them, clearly making the most of her absent crew coming up to the gybe mark.  The committee boat ran into some engine trouble and had to shorten the course early. Fionn and Darragh were first across the line, followed closely by Laura and Michéal. Dearbhla finished soon after followed by the 200 and the double handed Laser Radial.  Race 3 The final race began as smoothly and as promptly as the others. Rory had got rid of his crew Lucas who joined Lianda and Fionn Maguire in the club Omega. They crossed the line with significant speed as the rest of the fleet was half-way up the beat. Michéal and Laura were first to the windward mark followed by Fionn and Darragh in the Laser II. On the downwind leg of the sausage however Rory had managed to take the lead in the Laser.  The race finished with Michéal and Laura crossing the line first, Fionn and Darragh coming second, Rory third and Robert and Ruth finishing fourth.  Wally Race The final race of the day was by far the most challenging, and the most anticipated. This race was unlike the others as it involved capsizing at the first mark, a Chinese fire drill at the second mark and a fat-paddy* at the third and final mark. The starting sequence was also a challenge as instead of the usual 5-4-1-go, it involved crossing the line when the beat to the song we were playing from a speaker in the committee boat dropped. Maebh Hawkins displayed fantastic intuition for the music and crossed the line promptly with the rest of the fleet following close behind. Rory seemed to be a bit confused however as he sailed in the wrong direction and away from the course. He eventually found his way and managed to finish first in the race. Ingrid came a close second and Maebh came third, finishing with a dramatic fat-paddy at the end of the race.  Overall, there was some great racing on the lake on Sunday. It was great to see all the juniors putting the skills they had learned over the summer into practice. The RS200 and the Feva were displaying great spinnaker work throughout the races and it was lovely to see the bright colours from across the lake.  It was also great to see many sailors who had just achieved their Start Sailing certificate take part. Hopefully there are many more regattas to come for this bunch! All in all, the 2020 Cullaun Junior Regatta was an incredible success and it would not have been as successful as it was without the help of many people in the club. Thanks to Iarlaith and Róisín for doing the OOD work with me in the committee boat. Áine, Luke, Michael and Martin for providing the much-needed safety cover on the day. And last (but certainly not least) thanks to Damian, Pat, Lelia and the rest of the parents on shore for providing fantastic support throughout the day ensuring that all things ran smoothly.  *Fat-Paddy: A technical sailing term. When the sailor  leaps from their vessel onto the  floating mark.  Aoife Clery Ward Congratulations are also due to the Winners of the Adult regatta.  Margaret Hynes and Mike Hayes were first across the line in all of the 4 races.It was very close racing and just pipped at the post on the last race into second place was  Des Mc Mahon and Pat Biesty.   Iarlaith Cafferty  was well placed to take third position in his laser and he too was just ahead of other Instructor Roisin Fallon  who took fourth place. It was a great weeekend and a great time for sailing to see all of these juniors and seniors take to the water and some for the first time.   <!--[if (gte mso 9)|(IE)]>

September Regatta

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Written by Jim O Sullivan

Please see below the notices for our regatta on Saturday September 5th.  Unfortunately due to covid regulations and following guidelines from the ISA  we are not in a position to have a BBQ  after the event this year.  Entrants will be split into two groups and each group is expected to arrive at the club at their allocated time  and be on the water asap  without mingling between groups.  All entrants have to pre enroll on this form https://forms.gle/Pb58Dx2jDfQZe1ji7

If you havent enrolled then unfortunately you wont be able to compete

Attachments:

File	Description	File size
Notice of Race	Notice of Race	765 kB
2020 Regatta Entry Form	2020 Regatta Entry Form	269 kB
2020 Sailing Instructions	2020 Sailing Instructions	227 kB

Book you place at our summer camp

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Written by Jim O Sullivan

There is still a few places left on our Summer Camp starting Monday 10th August.   Make sure to book online to guarantee a place.

Phase 3 & 4 of the Irish Sailing Return to Sailing Scheme

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Written by Jim O Sullivan

Phase 3 & 4 of the Irish Sailing Return to Sailing Scheme is now published. The revised document comes into effect from Monday 29 June. Essentially, as there is little change in the transition from Phase 3 to Phase 4, so this plan is likely to direct how our sports will be organised for the foreseeable future. Click on the image for full details