Tralee Bay Sailing Club

8 boats from TBSC set off for Kilrush to take part in WIORA 2010. Unfortunately only 7 of them arrived in racing trim! The event was hosted by the Royal Western Yacht Club with Alan Crosbie as race officer so a good weekend was assured. The wind cooperated and blew with a vengeance, so much so that racing was cancelled on Friday. The first day of racing was Wednesday and the best of our boats was Treyona with a win in race 2. Thursday was very windy with gusts of over 30 knots and most boats opted not to fly kites and many of those that did got into trouble. A spectacular collision involving Strictly Business, Disaray, a broach and two men overboard was captured on camera and was certainly the most viewed picture afterwards. Treyona however also raised eyebrows as she sailed the second race with a badly torn mainsail and managed a good result. Powder monkey towed jaguar in afterwards and managed to get her aground outside the lock gates after fouling her prop with the tow rope. A huge crowd gathered on Powder Monkey's bow in the lock to allow the rope to be cut off and she was able to motor to the marina unaided.

After the enforced rest day on Friday there was still all to play for on Saturday. Two further races were held albeit in only 20 knots! Treyona provided the best entertainment with a huge broach under the committee boat (approx 1100 tons of navy ship, LE Aoife). She recovered quickly enough to the win that race though. Powder Monkey was in trouble again with engine failure and had to be towed through the lock. 

The organising committee would not give details of the overall results until the prizegiving dinner and many an anxious skipper was seen calculating results and discards. Eventually the best result was a class win in ECHO 2 for Powder Monkey with a string of top 3 finishes. Treyona was 3rd in both IRC and ECHO 2. In class 3 Jaguar was second in ECHO and third in IRC with Rooster third in ECHO. The overall winner ov the event was Dis-a-ray with our own Brian O'Sullivan on the helm.

Next year's event will be in Clifden again and plans are already been made for 2013 when the event will return to Fenit in tandem with ICRA.