NORA Regatta, Sligo Yacht Club.

By John Preisler, Galway Bay Sailing Club (Racing on Martin Breen's "That's Life")

NORA (The Northwest of Ireland Offshore Racing Association) was held Friday to Sunday last. This year, hosted by Sligo Yacht Club (SYC), with a very competitive fleet raced under two classes (Class 1 and Class 2). Being part of the Dubarry West Coast Superleague, NORA was an important event and 7 clubs were represented.

Sailing conditions couldn't have been more different from those of WIORA. The NORA Race Officer, SYC's Gus Henry, had to contend with very light airs compared to the near gale conditions experienced at the Clifden WIORA event.

In Class 1, there was stiff opposition to the very competitive local boat "Esperanto", a Corby 29 owned and raced by Martin Reilly and his crew, well known as a winning combination in the sport of Irish sailing. "Xena", an X332 owned by Ian Gaughan from Wesport and "That's Life" a Harley 33 owned by Galway's own Martin Breen were ready to take advantage of any slip-up made by Reilly or each other. In the end, with skill and a couple of lucky breaks with wind, Reilly managed to keep Breen and Gaughan at bay to win the Class 1 trophy. Breen, after sailing particularly well on the Sunday, managed to keep Gaughan behind and clinched second place.

The rock stars in Class 2 turned out to be "Chilli Padi" an SJ320 owned by James Eyre of Lough Swilly Yacht Club. Also in Class 2 were other consistent high performers Conor Ronan of Sligo Y.C, in his Corby 26, "Ruthless", Jackie Ward in his Parker 27, "Hallmark" and Dave Griffin in his Dehler 34, "Egalite", both representing Clifden Boat Club. "Hallmark" and "Ruthless" stole a march in one or two of the races. "Egalite" was always near the top of the fleet. However, the sailors of the event in class 2 were, without a doubt, Eyre's crew, leaving "Hallmark" and "Ruthless" in 2nd and third place.

The overall NORA trophy went to Reilly's "Esperanto" followed by Eyre's "Chilli Padi and Breen's "That's Life". [-JP].

NORA - a competitor's experience. By John Preisler, Galway Bay Sailing Club (Racing on Martin Breen's "That's Life")

Friday 20th July, 07:30, on the road for Sligo Yacht Club. Pre-race briefing at 11:00. First race at 13:00, then straight into a second race. With a forecast of very light airs experience shows we could be becalmed before the start, or worse still, during either of the races.

Sure enough, the first race was postponed an hour due to lack of wind. Very frustrating. A bit like troops on high alert: you don't know when, but you cannot afford to relax. The first race is often interesting with each competitor trying to gauge strengths and weaknesses of the others. Friday was not a good day for us and we finished 4th on our class. Ok, still 4 more races. We can still win this event.

Saturday morning, mirror-calm. Not a puff. On the way to the Start Area, we pass a 3-masted schooner "Trinovante", on passage from Scotland, going in to visit Sligo. She had organised a crew change in Sligo before continuing on to Galway and Dingle. It seemed very apt to see a Tall Ship being shown the way into Sligo's old harbour by the famous Metal Man shipping mark.

On the boat at the Start Area. Waiting. Sailing teaches you great patience and stoicism due to the unpredictable vagaries of the weather. After a half hour of waiting, we notice one of the other competitors tootling around under engine, heading our way. Evidently bored and coming over for a chat - or so we thought until our skipper roared "get the enging started. Quick!" Only then I realised were armed with buckets of water. The next 15 minutes was spent spinning the boat around, trying to gain advantage on the other boat. Eventually there were a few drowned rats and in an unwritten pact both boats decided it was time to involve some other boats so we proceeded to sneak down on other victims. Like us, they were admiring the scenery and waving at us until it dawned on them they were the next victim. All of the crew, bar one, managed to get below and close the hatches. The last guy wasn't as quick, nor would his mates open the hatch for him so he duly got his morning shower. Some mates!!

Then the dolphins appeared. We could see them a good bit away as they came up for air. Pretty soon they were all around the boats, ducking and diving. They then proceeded to entertain us by jumping out of the water, sometimes 2 or 3 at a time. It is hard to believe when you are engining along at 7 mph, flat out, that they are actually slowing themselves down to keep with you - dolphins regularly attain speeds in excess of 30 mph! And then they were gone. And with that the wind arrived.

Sunday morning showed a bit of a breeze. Unfortunately, by the time we got to the Start Area, the wind had died away. Another wait! 40 minutes later there was enough wind to start the race. We got an excellent start by gaining the equivalent to pole position in car racing. For the uninitiated, the race begins 5 minutes before the actual Start. Boats are sailing and are turning around and sailing up and down the Start Line vying for the best place to cross the Start Line as the gun goes off. This sounds a lot easier than it is. Weighing about 4 tons, a boat is very slow to accelerate, and has no way of stopping itself. A bit like those car chases you see where the chasers are going the wrong way down the highway. It is a testament to the skill of all participating skippers and crew that practically all boats manage to maintain full speed while doing these manoeuvres and still cross the Start Line within seconds of the gun going off.

We were going really well with 5 minutes on the rest of the fleet when, as we rounded the last mark before sailing upwind to the Finish, the wind died and we were left with coaxing every last puff to get the boat to the finishing line. The wind then started to fill - but from behind - and the boats behind us got the breeze first, giving them enough momentum to catch us up and totally change what we though was our race. Such is sailing! The wind continued to strengthen and the second race was shortly under way. This time we did get our wind and we managed to carry it all the way to the finishing line, winning the last race by 3 minutes. A good finish to the weekend's racing. [-JP].