This coming weekend, a great event is scheduled (weather permitting) to take place in the West of Ireland. Back in 2021 I got to take part in it, having wanted to do so since I’d first heard about it 7 or 8 years previous. The Cong to Galway race is apparently the longest inland sailing race in Europe, and it was established back in 1882, making it Ireland’s oldest inland race too. It was a big social event in the region up until the World Wars, when it dwindled out of existence around 1931 and was not re-established until 1972.

The original format involved sailing from Galway City to Cong and back again – a round trip of 60 nautical miles, and fairly solid proof that people in olden times were completely bonkers. Thankfully the new version goes just one way – starting near Cong just off the shore of the wonderfully scenic Ashford Castle and finishing in Galway City at the Quincentennial Bridge – a somewhat more manageable 30 nautical miles.

Of course, being a one way race, it is something of a logistical nightmare to take part. You have to launch in one place and recover in another – so things like trolleys and road trailers need to be manoeuvred within a specific time frame. In many ways the Cong Galway race is less a test of sailing skill and fitness and more a test of marital negotiation skills.

However, for a forward planner like myself, this was no issue at all. Over four decades before I took part I had the good sense to arrange to be born on the weekend that the 2021 race was to run, so I was able to ask for help as a birthday treat. And so it was that, whilst I sailed on one of the most beautiful lakes you can imagine in sparkling sunshine and a solid force 3 to 4, my wife and children spent large portions of the day in the car, ferrying a Laser trolley from one place to another, a task which I think they found tremendously character-building.

To be honest, it wasn’t all champagne sailing for me either. I like to consider myself as someone who can see potential pitfalls in advance, whilst most other people that know me tend to say I’m a worrier or a catastrophist.

(In fact, many years ago I remember a conversation with some friends and someone asked who among us would be which Star Wars character. Being incredibly good looking I confidently waited for someone to say that I would obviously be Han Solo, but one of my (now ex-)friends said he thought that I would be C3PO. And everyone immediately agreed. It was quite the jolt.

Wrong though they are, I can sometimes see why they might think that – the Cong-Galway race being a case in point. I hadn’t done a load of sailing over the preceding year and this, coupled with the fact that I hadn’t done an event for the guts of a decade, meant that I was frantically trying to remember / figure out all the things I’d need to do and to bring in order to get there, sail, and get home in one piece. Overall I did quite well, with one glaring exception, more of which later.

If I was nervous about the day ahead, those nerves dissipated thanks to the stunning drive to our set off point at Lisloughrey Pier. I’m lucky enough to live on the edge of Connemara, so my journey took me through the Maam Valley and, as I had left with plenty of time (for a change), I even had time to stop and take a quick photo:

Not a bad start to the day

The atmosphere around this kind of event is pretty special – there’s a fair bit of nerves and for many (including me) it is less a race and more something of an adventure. First timers like myself have no real idea what to expect and, as my cunningham had snapped the week before, I was mostly hoping that the boat and my fitness would hold together until the finish line.

Others are a lot more competitive – many have done the event several times and the reigning champion, Yannick Lemonnier and his son Sean, is a 5-time Figaro sailor, so he knows his way around a boat. He wasn’t able to race this year though, so the path was open for a new champion.

So that dominated the chat as we prepared to launch – everyone quietly guessing whether the conditions might favour their particular boat’s Portsmouth Yardstick and give them a shot at the big prize…