Mullaghmore Sailing Club has been awarded Silver Certification by Sailors for the Sea for its participation in the Clean Regattas Programme through its annual regatta.

This is the first year that Mullaghmore regatta participated in the programme, a certification system enabling event organisers and participants to protect the marine environment with 25 best practices for sustainability.

The best practices achieved involved, the banning of single-use plastic bottles, use of eGreen Premium Flexy Glass, eGreen Wooden Biodegradable Cutlery, & Biodegradable Palm Leaf Plates while the dining area was covered by upcycled sails and the Bar made from recycled wooden pallets. Event participants were presented with Ecoset Reusable Drinks flasks and Organic certified GOTS T-shirt’s. 

The event was sponsored by Camile Thai - a restaurant chain with strong eco-credentials and a focus on sustainability, health and community development and by KBI Global Investors which is an investment management firm specialising in ESG and Impact investing themes including a €2bn+ fund which is focused on providing solutions to water-related issues.

Andrea McElroy, Liz Morrow and Sean Hawkshaw formed a ‘Green Team’ under the leadership of Club Commodore Michal Czubala, to coordinate everything from waste disposal and recycling, to the provision of locally sourced food and sustainable prizes. 

Club Commodore, Michal Czubala praised the efforts of the organising committee and club members in embracing the Clean Regattas programme, “while environmental best practices have always been at the core of the club's values, participation in the Sailors for the Sea Clean Regattas program has helped focus our efforts and ensure that a clean and safe environment is front and centre both in our annual regatta event and in the running of our Junior Sailing Programme.”

A turnout of 22 boats was the best in recent years with competitive sailing in both spinnaker and non-spinnaker fleets. Weather was spectacular with end to end sunshine – the only downside was light and often flukey winds but that didn’t stop Race Officer Brian Matthews and his team from getting through the full schedule of races over the three days.

In the spinnaker fleet, the conditions favoured the J24’s where there was a big fleet – some of them in final preparation mode for the J/24 National Championships being hosted by Sligo Yacht Club in early August. Martin Reilly’s ‘Just4Fun’ took the overall honours with Brian Raftery’s ‘Gossip’ from Sligo Yacht Club in second place.

Mullaghmore Sailing Club boats also featured with ‘Black Pearl’ helmed by Caoimhe Hunt winning the Under 25 crew category and Peter Forte’s ‘Italian Job 2’ winning the Commodore Cup under the ECHO handicapping system on Sunday.

U25 Winners with Commodore Michal Czubala & Brody Sweeney of Camile Thai

Local boats also took the honours in the non-spinnaker fleet with Luke Mercer helming ‘Old Sport’ to a narrow win over Martin Christie’s ‘Tethra’.

As ever the Mullaghmore Regatta weekend generated a carnival atmosphere in the village with the many visitors over the weekend getting a great view of the action in the bay.

For the first time, the Camile Thai Mullaghmore regatta was registered with ‘Clean Regattas’ which is the world’s leading programme promoting sustainability and providing certification for water-based events. The many volunteers involved the Mullaghmore event put in a terrific effort with many steps being taken to ensure a clean event with reusable water bottles provided to all boats, recyclable materials for dining, bamboo plates and even old sails being used as a canopy for the outdoor dining.

County Sligo's Mullaghmore Sailing Club (MSC) has announced that Camile Thai is the new title sponsor for its annual regatta which takes place from 23-25th July.

MSC Commodore, Michael Czubala said, "We are really pleased to have Camile Thai come on board and a big thank you for their support. We’re looking forward to delivering an exceptional three days sailing for our members and visitors".

The organisers have also for the first time registered the regatta as part of the ‘Clean Regatta’ campaign which is part of a global initiative promoting best practice in water based events as part of the effort towards restoring waterway and ocean health.

Mullaghmore Sailing Club 2021 Regatta poster

Mullaghmore is in north Sligo and the racing takes place in the sheltered bay against the backdrop of the Donegal mountains to the north and the dramatic Dartry range with the imposing Ben Bulben and Benwisken to the south. The earliest record of this event is on a poster dated August 24th 1885 when they advertised races for both trawlers and Green Castle Yawls – followed by a donkey race on the village green!

Things have moved on a bit since then and this year there will be mix of visiting and local yachts with lots of competition within the J24 fleet where numbers have grown significantly in the Sligo clubs over the past few years. There will be a special category for boats crewed by Under 25s and Women at the Helm.

Details and online entry for the Camile Thai Mullaghmore Regatta here

County Sligo's Mullaghmore Sailing Club hosted its annual regatta last weekend, as Afloat previewed here, with careful consideration of health and safety in accordance with Irish Sailing’s ‘Return to Sailing’ guidance.

While some of the normal onshore post-sailing activities had to be curtailed, there was a super turnout of 16 boats, and Mullaghmore extended a very warm welcome to all the visitors. Racing started with the Pier Head Trophy on Friday evening in good conditions. This was won by Sligo Yacht Club’s Colm O’Flaherty and his crew on the J24, Jana. Jana also took the SF trophy on Saturday in much more mixed weather – occasional sunshine was interspersed with very heavy rain and squalls which presented a real challenge to the crews.

Racing finished on a high on a sunny Sunday with a strong offshore breeze giving flat seas, fast sailing, and a colourful display of spinnakers over the bay. The final race was the Commodore’s Cup which was won by Ed Cody from Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club in his impressive RS Elite, Speedwell.

Under the IRC rating system which handicaps the boats based on their speed and adjusts them to ‘corrected time’, the overall standing after six races over three days was:

1. Jana (Colm O’Flaherty, SYC)
2. Jevan (Ken Draper, SYC)
3. Speedwell (Ed Cody, RNIYC)

It was really encouraging to see so many younger sailors taking up the challenge of helming and crewing the J24 class boats, with recent training programmes in both MSC and SYC paying dividends. Sligo’s Lady Caroline won under 25 class with an all-female crew, with Mullaghmore’s Black Pearl coming in second.

MSC Commodore, Michal Czubala, presented the results and individual race prizes outside the Pier Head after racing on Sunday, and congratulated all the sailors who took part in the regatta. He also thanked the support team, in particular Brian Matthews who came from Dublin to act as Race Officer for the weekend.

MSC has very recently signed up to the 20x20 Club Charter – a national initiative to support and promote women and girls in sports clubs. The 2020 Regatta was a significant milestone, as there were 3 boats with ladies at the helm, and more than 25% of the crew across the competing boats were female – the club is looking to build on this in coming years.

In a year when so many events and activities have been cancelled due to COVID-19 considerations, MSC has been making a big effort to get people on the water in a safe manner. Support from long-standing as well as the many new members was terrific. Club racing will continue for the remainder of the season. The junior sailing programme, which is running on shortened hours and reduced numbers has been fully booked so far, with limited places available for the next three weeks.

Mullaghmore Sailing Club's Cruiser Regatta had visitors from Sligo Yacht Club and Killybegs Sailing Club and further afield for six races over three days held under IRC and ECHO.

First up under the direction of Dublin Bay Race Officer Brian Mathews was the Pier Head Trophy on Friday evening then there were three races on Saturday for the SF Engineering Cup before Sunday's White Sails Trophy conclusion. 

There was an eclectic fleet of J24s, a single RS Elite and this pristine vintage ketch (below) visiting from Sligo Yacht Club.

Following their success in the Ladies Cup held at Sligo Yacht Club earlier this month, the J24 Jana sailed to victory once more in Mullaghmore.

The Sligo Yacht Club J24 boat, helmed by Colm O'Flaherty, with crew Lucia and Sarah Nicholson, Nancy Pyl and Luke Henderson, won the event with a points total of five.

Jana had five race wins and one second. The next closest challenger was an RS Elite Boat helmed by Ed Cody from the Royal North Yacht Club who had a points total of 9.

Third overall in the event was Sligo Yacht Club's Ken Draper and crew aboard Jevan, another J24, who finished on 15 points.

The Mullaghmore Regatta was raced for over six races which started on Friday last and continued through to Sunday.

Conditions were mixed with blustery and sunny conditions on Friday evening for the first race followed by sunny conditions and lighter winds on Saturday and Sunday was light and overcast.
Boats travelled from Sligo Yacht Club and Killybegs for the event.

The next event in the sailing calendar for many of those who took part will be the J24 National Championships which are due to take place in Lough Erne Yacht Club.

A vintage ketch (below) visited Mullaghmore from Sligo Yacht Club Photo: MSC/Facebook

Mullaghmore Sailing Club began in 1963 and ran mainly as a dinghy and cruiser club under the guidance of a founder member, the late Joan Malone's husband Paddy Malone. In terms of the Yacht and Sailing Club, we are a relatively new club. Initially MSC was composed largely of members from outside the area.

However, in the seventies and eighties, there had been a subtle change in the sport of sailing which encouraged the sport to embrace all.

This was reflected in a change of the clubs’ name from the old Mullaghmore Yacht Club to Mullaghmore Sailing Club. Simultaneously membership increased, a new Clubhouse was built (1999) and an emphasis was placed on Junior Sailing and Special Needs Sailing with a view to building up a broad youth base to enable the future development of MSC.

The last fifteen years has seen the club grow from its hedge school in the old pioneering days operating in the open at the north slip in the harbour to our clubhouse with its excellent facilities. Membership is healthy. Many of our youth and junior sailors have enjoyed and still are participating in and enjoying the varied challenges of the sport. Adults who have not sailed before are taking to the water on our evening courses for adults.

The biggest event MSC hosts is the Mullaghmore Triathlon which now firmly established on the Triathlon circuit. Started in 2001 it is now a big event which draws hundreds of competitors and spectators in June each year.

All income for the club's activities is re-invested in training and water sport events, a commitment that is specified in the articles of association of the club. Each year, in conjunction with the Sligo VEC, MSC runs up to six weeks of junior sail training courses for 30 to 40 young people each day over this period.

MSC also runs sailing and navigation training for adults, major provincial and national sailing events and power boat courses. As a Recognised Training Establishment (RTE) all its courses and activities are certified under the Irish Sailing Organisation (ISA). The club is also committed to including people with special needs on sailing courses and have through the Peace and Reconciliation fund have invested in specially adapted access boats.

New club facilities opened April 2000. Active dinghy sailing and racing in sheltered waters from April to October. Visitor moorings available for cruisers. Annual Cruiser Regatta held at the end of July. 

(Details and image courtesy of Mullaghmore Sailing Club)

Mullaghmore Sailing Club, c/o Andrea McElroy, Mullaghmore, Cliffoney, Co. Sligo. Email: [email protected]

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