SAILING:FIRST WIND, then rain, then nothing at all. Yes, it's the Irish summer sailing season and nowhere, perhaps, have the effects been felt greater than in Sligo where 120 competitors from nine countries gathered this week for the Fireball World Championships.
Things got off to a tricky start when the north-west venue famed for big winds failed to deliver any at all.
As another day was lost to the weather on Tuesday, Sligo Yacht Club organisers had managed only two races in three days of competition as light, fickle winds predominated off Rosses Point.
But all that’s in the past because three races were recovered yesterday in ideal championship conditions when winds gusted to 20knots.
British pairing Tom Gillard and and Sam Brearey now lead the regatta with 10 points scored but the results are subject to protest.
The top Irish pairing is Noel Butler and Stephen Oram in eighth place overall in the 57-boat fleet.
This morning’s final races – as many as three could be sailed – will decide the title, the working assumption being the overall winner will come from the British contingent, who occupy the top three places.
David Gorman and Chris Doorly lifted the Flying Fifteen national championship title for a second time at the National Yacht Club last weekend after a seven race series on home waters.
The Dubliners held off a strong challenge from Northern Ireland pairings Brian McKee and Ian Smyth and Roger Chamberlain and Ian Scannell, both from Strangford Lough.
The results of the last race decided the title.
McKee and Smith took second and Chamberlain/Scannell were third of the 26 pairs competing.
Further up the east coast, Tim Goodbody and his crew on White Mischief from the Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dún Laoghaire won the Sigma 33 Class title in Bangor on Belfast Lough at the weekend.
The Silver Fleet prize went to another Dublin Bay boat, Dermot Clarke and Paddy Maguire’s Gwilli Two, from the Royal St George Yacht Club.
On fresh water, Irish J24 Champion Flor O’Driscoll and his crew on Hard on Port won the first J24 regional event of the season, the Western Championship at Lough Ree Yacht Club last weekend but not with his usual margin of victory. Instead, he was pushed all the way by several boats and in the end only took the title on count back from Fergus O’Kelly on Jibberish (Howth YC).
Twelve teams are entered the first Waterways Ireland Inter-Counties Sailing Championship in Grand Canal Basin in Dublin’s Docklands from 11am to 4pm on Sunday. The sailing event is the centrepiece of the Dublin Docklands Summer Festival. Teams representing counties in every province have entered the competition. The championship will comprise a series heats, with the final taking place between 3-4pm.
The SB3 class holds it western championships on Galway bay tomorrow, a six-race wind-leeward series. Although hosted by the local sailing club the unofficial race HQ is McSwiggin’s pub near the city docks.
With two weeks to go to the biggest regatta of the season, organisers of Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta are still accepting entries in all 25 classes with a likely total fleet size of 400 boats now expected. The biggest cruiser classes are IRC 2 and IRC 3, so it is a reasonable assumption that some of Dublin Bay Sailing Club’s own top performers, such as Ken Lawless’s Supernova or past winner O’Driscoll’s J24 Hard on Port, may well emerge as Volvo trophy winners.
