CLIFDEN'S FLOTILLA SAILS TO BOFIN
SATURDAY 17th of June saw "Clifden Boat Club's" organised Yacht Flotilla take to the seas, sailing from Clifden Bay to Inish Bofin. This was the best turn out to date for a yacht cruise. There were all seven local yachts and a catamaran dinghy also owned by a club member. In no particular order, here are the names of the boats and their owners: Yacht "HALLMARK"...Jackie Ward Yacht "MISTY"...Donal O'Scannaill Yacht "ZOETOO"...Anthony Privite Yacht "KERI"...John Barragwanath Yacht "SILVER DIPPER"...Peter Vine Yacht "CICADA"...John Stanley Yacht "GEMISON"...Morvan Le Dorven, Dinghy "CATASTROPHIC"...Roger Snow.
The planned start time was 10am
(-ish, to use that famous local time). But even the night before, it became
apparent that all boats would not be leaving Clifden Bay at the same time.
For various reasons (mostly work related) new departure times were staggered
throughout the day. The day didn't start very encouragingly, there was
little or no wind and the bay was fogged in. But that didn't stop the
show. Fog could easily have prevented anyone from leaving...due to lack
of visibility...but considering the Boat Club had run a "Navigation Course"
during the previous winter, everyone felt confident enough to plan and
execute the passage. The first boat "ZOETOO"
actually left at 0600hrs, because Anthony had to get back to mainland
for the day but planned to return on the ferry to meet us later in the
evening. Next on the water was ourselves on "HALLMARK"
at about 1030hrs. Then the fleet began to take shape, "CATASTROPHIC"
on the slip ready for launch, "KERI" was
getting ready, "SILVER DIPPER" was ready.
The remaining three boats were to sail out later in the day. 1200hrs after
radio checks, and logged our TR (Track Route) with "Clifden Coast Guard
Radio", the fleet (so far) headed off to sea in close convoy. Since there
was little or no wind, we had to motor sail for the first leg of the journey,
but "CATASTROPHIC" didn't have a motor so
we towed them along to keep the fleet together until the wind picked up.
She was the slowest boat until she got wind. 1240hrs, just about to pilot
our way between Inish Turbot and Inish Turk, a phone call from "MISTY"
confirmed she was on her way so we Hove-to (a nautical term meaning to
sit and drift), had an early lunch on board and waited for her to join
the fleet.
1330hrs resumed course and motor sailed,
at an average speed of 5 knots (5 nautical miles per hour), on to Cruagh
Island where the wind picked up, visibility got better and "CATASTROPHIC"
sailed under her own steam, speeding off leaving the rest of us in her
wake. 1400hrs we all sailed very nicely on to High Island Sound (channel
between High and Friar Islands).
1440hrs in the Sound and time to alter course and make a line straight
for the tower marking the entrance to Bofin Harbour. The wind died again
at this stage so we took "CATASTROPHIC" undertow
again, and motor sailed the rest of the way. 1600hrs arrive at Bofin Harbour,
check in with "Clifden Coast Guard" to end our TR (let them know we arrived
safely).
1700hrs we finally anchored HALLMARK and
went ashore ourselves, after taxi-ing the other crewmembers ashore (those
who didn't have a tender with them, as we had decided there was no need
for everyone to bring theirs). As we did, GEMISON
and CICADA rounded the tower and entered
the harbour. Now the entire fleet was here. A few pints were had in Day's
Bar then later, even though the restaurant wasn't open on the day, Olive
and John Day agreed to feed us. So we "Wined and Dined" and went back
on the beer for the night "Bofin Style".
Between the 8 boats our crew numbers totalled 26, all sat at one end of
the Bar taking over the entire upper lounge area. Another boat in the
harbour was from Ballina and Skipper Ivor Durkin and his crew joined us
to share stories (or swap lies as we sometimes do) for the rest of the
night bringing the group up to 30 people. Paul Ryan, crewing on "MISTY",
brought his guitar with him and, needless to say, a session soon started.
The guitar was passed around to anyone who claimed they could play and
then Paul pulled out his tin whistle and the session got better with everyone
doing their party piece...even Donal was IN THE
HOUSE.
Many hours later some went back to Murray's Hotel and the rest of us went
back to our relevant boats, eventually, after making some house calls
on the way, all courtesy of the designated tender driver Andrew Bell.
That night the weather got very thundery and with that came a great lightning
display. Morvan decided it was time to earth the mast on GEMISON,
as it was the tallest in the fleet, it would probably be the first to
be hit if lightning struck in that area. This entailed getting a heavy
chain and connecting one end to the mast and the other end hung over the
side of the boat into the water. SUNDAY,
we all met back at Day's Bar where they were kind enough to serve us breakfast
(for those of us who didn't stock the boats with breakfast provisions).
After breakfast, I asked a couple of the guys, who were passing where
I had left the tender, to check it for me (to make sure it was still well
above the water line on the shore). They kindly said they would check
it...but when I came out an hour or so later where was my tender...about
30ft up on a little hill, in the middle of nowhere..thanks guys, a job
slightly overdone !!!
1600hrs after a walk of the Island, which was needed to clear the cobwebs,
all 8 boats departed Bofin Harbour in convoy again. The weather was much
better today, clear sky (well relatively), favourable wind behind us all
the way and enough for CATASTROPHIC to run
rings around the fleet like a speedboat. A nice sight en-route was the
Galway Hooker "FAMHUIRE", making her way
from Slyne Head through our flotilla and on to Inish Bofin. 1900hrs after
sailing the same route back through the Islands, all boats were back on
their relevant moorings in Clifden Bay, and of course we had to go to
our Boat Club Bar for an after sail drink...I mean a debrief after our
weekend's sailing...and once again a chance to swap stories (or lies).
If you are interested in getting into sailing, the Club has organised
Dinghy Sailing every Wednesday evening at 7pm and Yacht Sailing every
Thursday at 7pm.For more information on this contact myself Damian Ward,
Clifden Sea Sports Centre, warddamian@hotmail.com
