Mixed weather made for a mixed Cruinniú na mBád (gathering of the boats) festival at Kinvara, Co Galway, this weekend, although it failed to dampen the spirit of participants.

The good cheer of the festival was marred though, when the well-known Galway hooker, the Morning Star, sank off Traught, near Kinvara yesterday evening during one of the races. All 11 on board were rescued from the water including skipper Johnny Healion.

Dr Michael Brogan, chairman of the festival committee, said the racing events on Saturday were almost cancelled because of the calm conditions which prevailed during the morning. "Then it picked up a bit and then it came pelting down for an hour. The wind blew up to force five or six and a lot of people got caught out with too much sail up and not enough ballast and no rainwear."

The teeming rain came just at the wrong time for visitors on the quay at Kinvara for the traditional event of welcoming the hookers arriving with their turf cargo. Instead the boatmen arrived to a thin reception and were left to unload the sodden fuel in misery.

Earlier, however, in Parkmore, at the mouth of Kinvara Bay, the annual party for the boatmen for having completed their first leg of their journey across Galway Bay from south Connemara was celebrated with its customary gusto and was larger than ever. "It used to be a well-hidden secret," remarked one veteran.

Parkmore was the traditional stopping point for the hookers while they waited for a suitable tide to bring them the final two miles to Kinvara.

"Sometimes they would sell their turf here if the tide was not right. The first boat in got the best price," Dr Brogan said.

This weekend the first hooker in, the Tonaí, was skippered by Máirtín Ó Briain, although all the hookers had to be towed, the first time in 20 years this had occurred, he said. The Tonaíhas been in his family for more than 100 years. At the weekend he eschewed the modern plastic sails used for racing in favour of the distinctive, tan-coloured calico ones. "When you are trying to control them [the plastic sails] you have no grip, whereas with the calico ones you have a nice grip," he said.

Cruinniú na mBád was first held in 1979, about 20 years after the hookers had ended the tradition of bringing Connemara turf to Kinvara to sell. "We still had the old people who had skippered the boats. They were able to teach us how to sail them and how to make the sails," Dr Brogan said.

Since then pictures of the hookers in sail have become a defining image for Galway and the festival has grown to include ancillary events, including races, exhibitions and live music. This year's poster, by artist Joe Boske, features Pat Jennings, who, Dr Brogan added, "sailed continuously all his life" and has cut much of the traditional sail still in use today. "That is a skill in itself," he said.

This year's cruinniú has seen a broadening of its theme of commemorating the turf-carrying hookers to celebrating other traditional craft. Along with 23 hookers on show, including the smaller "Gleoiteog" craft, there was the Vervine Blossom, a restored 23-tonne Isle of Man nobby, one of just four in existence. Also booked for a visit to Kinvara was a 50-metre tall ship from France, the Belem, a sail-training vessel. In the event, the Belemwas unable to come to shore at Kinvara due to tidal conditions, although the crew were happy to make it ashore for a visit.

From Cork came members of the Naomhóga Corcaigh club with three west Kerry-style naomhóga or currachs, built in a Fás-supported scheme. Chris Bridge, who recently completed a transatlantic crossing from Brazil in his sloop, lent the Cork enthusiasts a hand with the rowing. It was "challenging", he said. "It is all about team work. It is four people rowing at the same time."