BY CONOR POWER

ORIGINALLY taking its name as a tongue-in-cheek diminutive form of the larger and more famous Cowes Week on the Isle of Wight, Calves Week Regatta in Schull celebrates 40 years of existence this August.

The week of good-natured competitive sailing action is a highlight of West Cork’s social calendar, with Schull typically en fête for about two weeks around the five-day event.

Chairman of Calves week Michael Murphy has been involved with the event since its inception, which happened on the 100th anniversary of the Schull Regatta.

Action at the Schull Regatta back in 1977.

‘I’ve been involved in Schull for about 60 years altogether,’ says Michael. Even though he is from Cork City, he has been coming to Schull for many decades – first with his parents as a child. His son lives and works in the village. ‘At the time, there were regattas in Baltimore and Crookhaven as well as the one in Schull and they all took place within a week or ten days of one another, so it was to commemorate the 100th-year anniversary of our regatta that this committee of local traders got together at the time and decided to make a major event of it.’

The major event proved so popular that it has continued ever since (Covid lockdown years notwithstanding), with that first Calves Week event being the most ambitious one: it had 102 boats competing from various parts of Ireland and the races included an overnight voyage up the coast to Kerry, around the Skellig Islands and back.

The official launch photo of Schull Harbour Hotel’s sponsorship of 2024 Calves Week. Michael Murphy event chairman; Eric Coogan Heineken Ireland; Mark Murphy Commodore SHSC; Jack Allan SHSC; Carmel O’Regan SHSC; Cornelious Ndlovu, Schull Harbour Hotel; Derval Murphy SHSC.

The original Calves Week committee taken in Newman’s bar in 1984. L to R Front. Jimmy Reilly, Michael O’Driscoll, Tommy Newman. Rear Jim O’Keeffe, Derek Harte, Dr Larry O’Connor and Denis Quinlan.

‘It was a serious, big event,’ recalls Michael. ‘It was the first time they ran any offshore races out of Schull … fleets were made up of a small amount of local boats and a lot of visiting boats – a lot of them came from the Dublin area and there were a number of UK vessels as well, with the nucleus of many fleets coming from Cork and Kinsale.’

In the last decade or so, Michael says, the timescale of the event was reduced from 10 to five days. This was because of a number of requests to do so, with many finding it increasingly difficult to sacrifice the spare time.

‘Those long races were never repeated again,’ Michael says, ‘because the organisation was a bit too much for a small club… Calves Week is normally a 70-boat event and it has been that way for a long number of years.

‘We divide the vessels into seven classes – going from the larger faster boats right down to the smaller boats in the 24-foot bracket. That way, we can cater for the whole spectrum of boats within the one week.’

With a variety of lengths of races around the offshore islands, everyone’s highlight is the race around Fastnet Rock.

‘As a club, we’re unique in being able to offer a Fastnet Race,’ says Michael. ‘They can start in the morning and be back home in the same day and, quite often, not get very wet!’

With an initial orientation day, followed by four days of competitive sailing, The five-day event is renowned for its relaxed atmosphere, where the après-voile socialising is just as important as what happens out on the water:

‘While there’s a very competitive element in the fleet, there’s also a very family-oriented element in the fleet,’ says Michael. ‘You’d see boats that might be based in Cork and that would usually be racing with serious crews for example, arrive down to Schull and bring their children and their friends aboard.

‘There’s always music on the streets immediately after the sailing. Most of the traders tell us that up to 50% of their turnover is derived from the two weeks around Calves Week.’

Although the event lasts one week, a good number of the crews tend to prolong their stay in West Cork and turn it into a fortnight event, Michael says, ensuring a great spin-off for businesses in the town.

‘The music on the streets continues but all the other events have been moved to the hotel,’ says Michael. ‘Most unusually, we don’t have a club premises of our own. We’ve been spoiled for years because we’ve had the facility to use Fastnet Marine Centre which is attached to Schull Community College.’

Calves Week runs from Monday the 5th of August until Friday the 9th of August. See www.shsc.ie for more information.