Whilst some of the skippers arrived on Friday evening the rest of the skippers travelling arrived on Saturday morning for the start of the championships.
After a short tuning session and briefing the first race of the day which was a warm-
Our local skippers had the race area already laid out as we arrived in the morning with a starting line perpendicular to the shore and 3 weather marks and 3 leeward marks to ensure an optimum course, compensating for light shifts in the wind. One way to keep you on your feet as courses changed quite frequently.
Our local OOD did a splendid job at keeping us going and for orderly starts, calling quickly number of offenders.
We managed to get 16 race completed on Saturday. John Morehead with his Cockatoo 08 design established a clear lead from race 2 as he won the first 6 of the first 8 races. Behind the battle was on between Gilbert with his V6 and Andrew with his Isis 2. Oscar our youngest skipper is improving all the time and his 4th overall place is proof of that. Even winning the last race of day one. One to watch in the up coming events.
The other skipper slowly coming through the ranks is Angelo with his Isis who is continually learning and gaining experience. The TS2 clan did well also with Tony and Alan who showed what they can do with this now older design. All in all I can safely say that the overall level of sailing of the Irish fleet has improved as the gaps between the first and last boats are decreasing. It is also getting more difficult to recover after a mistake which pushes every skipper to be on top of their game. And though there were inevitable contacts, mainly at marks, there were no damage caused and fair play from all skippers helped in making a better sailing experience for all.
Hugh a skipper from the UK joined us and had great fun -
We also had our latest skipper Derry who purchased his Vapour design from a skipper of the Dublin fleet sailed honourably and gained valuable experience on the water with his One metre. Des Dwyer struggled somehow with his rig setup as he is still learning from his still recent Disco. Fergal Noonan from HYC managed to drive down to race for some of the races on Saturday despite other commitments limiting his presence at the championships. Nonetheless he showed good potential with his also recent Disco design.
Sunday was a waiting game with no or little wind to get any kind of fair racing going
until close to 12:30. We made a gentleman agreement to push the limit racing time
by one hour as a result of the light wind which enabled us to complete 2 races. And
of course by the end of the final race in the set time the wind had settled... Typical
;-
Race one saw Gilbert with his V6 starting on starboard sailing clear on a progressive lift to almost make the weather mark on one tack. He rounded the weather mark first and continued to increase his lead until the finish. John managed to escape from the pack and he also managed create a gap with the rest of the fleet to finish second. On race two it was almost the same but this time it was Andrew who pulled away to win the last race.
This national championships has been our first championships held over 2 days. And though we had 30 races scheduled some delays on Saturday and the lack of wind on Sunday only limited us to 16 races. Not bad nonetheless for 1.5 day of racing. We decided on this new format to complete more races and yet allow all skippers to make their way home early on Sunday. It was another successful event and as chairman of the association I would like to thank all the skippers for their presence, the Cork fleet skippers and in particular John, Andrew and Alan for their contribution in organising this event, John’s daughter for her contribution as race officer and rescue, Richard for being our OOD for the event who did a fantastic job. All the skippers’s wives for preparing those lovely sandwiches, cakes, finger food and refreshments for us all.
But also I want to thank 2 fantastic sponsors Spindrift Sails UK and Windward RC Cover US for their support to make this event a great event. Thank you.
To conclude I proud to say that this event was a fantastic one and will of course help in growing our fleet nationwide and our reputation internationally. Without forgetting our 2010 Irish National Champion John Morehead who successfully defended his 2008 title (no national championships in 2009 due to the heavy flooding).