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.
