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Cullaun Regatta 2018 Report + Results

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Written by Des Mac Mahon

WindGuru is a tricky thing. Coming up to regatta weekends it consumes a lot of your time, checking and rechecking the app, hoping that Friday’s forecast will move to Saturday but that Sundays will stay where it is. Those of you who sail on Cullaun and use windguru will be only to aware that when they say it will be 10 gusting 18 it usually translates in 5 gusting 10, so when the forecast for the first day of the regatta says it will be 1 gusting 2, you have to be forgiven for hoping that they have just got it totally wrong. Friday evening saw the boats begin to arrive and Saturday morning saw the compound and the public slipway fill to capacity by 10.30. The OOD set a starboard course and the first race started at twelve. Two races were run in exceptionally light winds and blazing sunshine, but frustrating as this may be for some of us there are people out there who excel in these conditions and at the end of the day Brian Parks was showing the fleet that you should never write off an enterprise. There was talk of a third race but after twenty minutes without so much as a puff of wind, the days racing was abandoned.

Some of us cooled down with a bottle of Cider in the car park as the wayfarers had their fleet AGM and then all retired to Gallaghers for the BBQ where an exceptional spread was provided. The weather intervened once again as the evening heat prompted the crowd back to Hayes’ house to sit, drink and chat in their back garden til the early hours. The next day delivered wind (not as much as was promised but enough to run some good tight races). Four races were run with the fleet close in all of them and the lead changing from race to race. It is always a good sign of the level of competition when the competitors themselves don’t know the outcome of the regatta until the prize giving. We experienced all kinds of weather over the weekend from blazing sunshine to torrential rain and from heavy gusts to flat calm, from beats that turned into reaches to runs that turned into beats, but that is the nature of sailing and the fun of racing. Congratulations to the prize winners (listed below) and thanks to all the competitors It’s difficult to remember all the people who need to be thanked for their contribution to last weekends regatta and although I attempted it at the prize giving, I am sure there were some omissions. My apologies to those I left out ( George for the excellent design work and Gallaghers for their hospitality throughout the year spring to mind) Regattas take a huge effort from a lot of people and the time, skills and energy given voluntarily are what makes an event a success. I must also mention the hospitality shown to our visitors which is as important to their continued support and enjoyment of the regatta as the racing itself. Many thanks to Mike and Maureen and Emmet and Samantha for this. Traveling to a regatta takes effort. It means derigging , packing trailers, spending the weekend away from home and then packing it all back up again at the end.

It is however incredibly rewarding. You get to sail on different waters, with different sailors. You get to socialize in other clubs and build bonds and friendships that will stand to you over the years. You also develop as a sailor and you get to be a part of the broader sailing community on this island. Our thanks to those from East Down, Greystones, Lough Ramor, The national and Killaloe who attended the regatta. It would be great to see some more of our boats traveling to events and flying the flag for Cullaun S.C and continuing to develop links with other clubs,( the wayfarer worlds next year in greystones would be as good a place to start as any). Finally, I would like to thank East Down Yacht club for their generous (and unsolicited) donation to our building fund. A hugely appreciated show of support from one club to another.

Thanks to, OOD - Tom McHugh Committee Boat - Leila and Roisin Rescue 

Photography- Michael and Emmett, Fergal and Dave, Samanta

Race results - Billy Food - Leila and Tom (and all who supplied salads and desserts and scones), Gallaghers Bar Design work - George Thanks again Des mac Mahon - Commodore Winners / Overall - Gordon Jess / Rachel Bevan - EDYC 2nd - John Turner / Barry Owen - Ramor 3rd - Monica Schafer / Ned McSherry Donnellan Cup / Chris and Rachel Caher - Cullaun Sailing Club 1st feva - Orla Imhoff / Mila Le Mignon - Killaloe Sailing Club RS 200 Thomas Dryaton / Tadhg OMeara - Killaloe Sailing Club Winner for most dramitic rescue of a bag of Tayto overboard - Laura Collins REMINDER - No sailing this thursday 6th and open Try sailing day on Sunday 16th Cooler series starts Sunday 23rd September A few places left on the Setember Cruise 20th of September to the 23rd 2018 deposit here http://shop.cullaunsailingclub.com/index.php/september-cruise-12.html

Representatives in France

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Written by Jim O Sullivan

Last week four of our Junior Sailors had the honour of representing us, Co Clare and Ireland at the 22 EU Atlantic Games.  They set off on the ferry from Cork to Roscoff and onwards to St Nazaire in Pays de la Loire France.  It was a very pleasant sail over and we traveled overnight on the ferry with great scenery as we departed Cork harbour  as we passed out the picturesque Village of Cobh.

Heading for St Nazaire we were excited by the fact that we were going to be competing in the Atlantic Games and had been out practicing on a J24 loaned to us  very kindly from Simon Mc Gibney in Kilrush Marina.  We were eager to start and with most things being closed in France on a Sunday we headed straight to the town of St Nazaire and were one of the first teams to register for the event.  After a quick tour of the town we headed out to the port of Le Pornichet where the sailing element of the games was going to be on.  It was a very busy marina and we were in awe of the number of boats that were moored there with lots of traffic departing and arriving at all hours of the day.

 Winds were very favorable on the first day and on Monday we got out for a bit of practice before heading back to the Universtiy Helix for a conference on Atlantic watersports.  which was followed by the opening parade which we just managed to make with all the rushing around.  Here we were met by John Sweeney of Clare Sports Partnership and Tim Forde from Clare County Council.

 The next three days were spent racing and having great fun  out on the water.  It took a while to get the hang of the Spinaker but once Mike had mastered it then things were looking a lot brighter.

The Spanish sailors won the Sailing event but our crew learned an awful lot about sailing in the ocean and from a large marina and were great ambassadors for the Club. 

The Team would like to thank Isobel O Dea from MMOD solicitors Ennis who helped Sponsor the team on thier travels

Luke O'Sullivan, Sean Hynes, Paddy Donlon and Mike O'Dea  at the awards closing ceremony.

Cullaun Sailing club to represent Clare and Ireland at Atlantic Games

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Written by Jim O Sullivan

The 22nd Atlantic Games 2018 will take place next week in the Pays de la Loire,Saint Nazaire, France. There will be up to  500 competitors aged between 15 to 25 years from all over Europe competing during the week in a variety of Water sports.

 Paddy Donlon, Mike O'Dea, Luke O'Sullivan  and Sean Hynes from Cullaun Sailing Club in East Clare have the honour of representing Clare and Ireland at these Games.  They will be sailing in a J80 boat which is a 8 metre boat designed for racing and they will be competing against some serious competitive sailors from the other Eu countries over three days.  Each of the sailors has already competed in national competitions in their own boat class but this will be their first time to all compete together in this class of a boat J80.  Simon Mc Gibney from Kilrush Marina has been very generous in loaning them a boat that they can practice on.

Gail Mc Allister of the Irish Sailing Assocation and Cullaun Commodore Des Mac Mahon wish them the best of luck in this event and hopefully they can bring back some silverware as thier arrival back coincides with our Annual open regatta on the 1st and 2nd September as it would be a great boost to the club who are in the process of building a new clubhouse to compete with the new numbers of people who are interested in sailing as a pastime.

This is not the first time that sailors from the Club have represented Ireland as Sean Hynes mother has won the national championship's and has sailed in Canada and Holland in the world championships.

Clare Sports Partnership and MMOD Solicitors wood quay Ennis have been very generous with their sponsorship in getting the sailors to France

Building Works have started

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Written by Jim O Sullivan

A picture paints a thousand words

It has been a long time coming but this week sees a new milestone for Cullaun Sailing Club. Thanks to the building committee for all of the hard work that they have put in to date and thanks to our members for helping with the fundraising. Still more to do but we are getting there slowly. We couldnt do this without the help of our Sports Capital grant, Clare Local Development Company and funding from Community Finance Ireland Dont forget you can still help us by purchasing a fundraiser T-Shirt herehttps://www.ifundraise.ie/Cullaun#Kilkishen#Tulla#visiteastclare#claresportspartnership#afloat

Summer Camps

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Written by Jim O Sullivan

Anchors Aweigh for Cullaun Sailing Clubs new clubhouse

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Written by Jim O Sullivan

Last weekend marked a historic event in the history of Cullaun Sailing Club as club Commodore Des McMahon along with forty other members turned the sod on their new clubhouse at an opening ceremony after their spring regatta. There was a great air of excitement as this project has taken a while to get to this stage. The novel idea of having everyone turning the sod is that we are all equal as club members and this the way that we should start the same was as we would like to continue.

We are now looking forward to having our purpose built dressing rooms and training centre ready by the end of the summer. Long-term members and those new to the club were present for the momentous occasion including one of the founder members from 1979 Chris Davis and Mike Hogan, Stephen Walsh and from Clare Local Development Company and Olivia King from Kilkishen Development. Cullaun Sailing club has been working out of a portable  cabin for the last number of years. With the uptake in people eager to learn the sport of sailing it is no longer fit for purpose.

The cost of the new building is more than two hundred thousand euro and partial funding has been secured from the Sports Capital Programme and Clare Local Development Company. Many club members have made personal donations and the club membership has been actively fundraising over the last year. Rose Hally of Community Finance Ireland has also been very supportive in arranging funding for the project.

In operation since 1979, Cullaun Sailing Club is situated between the villages of Kilkishen and Tulla and has an active membership of people from the Clare and Limerick region. They sail and race on a weekly basis and have been competing and winning in national events over the last few years. Anyone interested in finding out further details or interested in joining the sailing club then please look at www.cullaunsailingclub.com Photos freely available thanks to Patrick Biesty