First Newsletter of 2014
The beach!
The shore road looking west from the dinghy park.
Lough Atalia pontoon up side down!
An intruder on the slipway – some wave power!
A very Happy New Year to you all, and I hope you have all survived the storms without damage.
Happily our dinghy park was most effective at protecting all the boats inside – not one damaged or moved. However the storm surge on the high tide last Friday has made the approach road to the beach impassable to vehicles, and has also ripped up the top of the beach the top part of which is now all stones: the sand is still there but it has been moved down the beach, hopefully it will have buried some of the low tide rocks!, ; also the access ramp will need reconstructing – not a difficult job. Until we get the road cleared and the access ok we will be unable to launch the dinghies. The slipway also is blocked by large stones and heavy concrete blocks. Hopefully it won’t be too long before it is all sorted – if we need a work party we will let you know. (Photos attached)
The pontoon access to Lough Atalia is also out of action – upside down under the bridge – , and the other pontoon has been blown down to the ‘G’ end of the Lough where it looks to be undamaged.
In the meantime it is AGM time again – formal notice in another email to members – friends are also invited and would be very welcome- Thursday 23rd January 8pm Harbour Hotel.
We have been allotted a grant of €2200 by the Galway City and County Sports Partnership specifically to help us set up sailing courses for children aged 7yrs up on Lough Atalia. We will need to come up with funding for at least two ‘Optibats’ or ‘Opimists’ ourselves and all the other equipment needed as soon as possible. If you know of the whereabouts of any Optibats or Optimists lying around unused that we could purchase please let me know. The new committee will be prioritising this project.
We had a very pleasant afternoon in Padraig’s Place before Christmas with copious amounts of mulled wine (purloined from the Roe ‘Cave’). Thanks to: Robert Delargy for his hospitality; Catherine Meagher for the food; to John Hendley and Catherine Meagher for the slide show; and to Cait and Colm O’Fatharta for the music; and to all who came along.
Thanking you all for making 2013 an enjoyable and successful year for the club, and very much looking forward to a new season,
Nancy