Junior sailing courses will take place during July and August at Rosmoney. This year, Mayo Sailing Club is running the following courses: Start sailing, basic skills, improving skills, advanced boat handling and kites and wires and possibly some other advanced modules depending on demand and instructor availability. A brief outline of the various modules is given below. Noelle Doran will also be running some instructor training courses in the club, with the dinghy instructor course from June 18 to 22 next up.
Big turn out for round Clare Island race
There was a great turn-out for the annual round Clare Island race which was sponsored by Hastings Insurance. Despite adverse weekend weather forecasts predicting easterly winds that usually make the anchorage uncomfortable, 13 boats crossed the starting line on Sunday morning. With a steady breeze from the east, it was very clear from the beginning that it would be a fast rounding. Xena and X Rated had a head-to-head battle, and Excel, Xstatic, As Lathair and Elixir were all to the fore as the fleet rounded the north of the island. Some of the boats chose to sail out to sea, while others gambled and stayed close to the island. The gamble paid off, and they got a very speedy trip down the length of the island. First across the line was Ian and Anne Gaughan’s boat, Xena, closely followed by John and Gair Gordan’s boat, X-Rated. However, when the handicap system was applied, Peter and Una Quigley on Excel were the winners with Gair and John Gordon second on X-Rated and Pat Aylward coming home third on Elixir.