“DOUGLAS ELMES” 2012 OPEN+IRISH OPTIMIST CHAMPION

Douglas Elms does it again at the Optimist Nationals in Kinsale last week.

 Sailing in windy conditions in open water, Douglas took an early lead over his nearest rival, Megan Parker from S.S.C. With strong, mostly southerly breezes in huge seas, in courses set by OOD Alan Crosbie, Douglas performed admirably, with 4 bullets out of 10 races. He was crowned the 2012 Irish and Open Optimist champion to a huge cheer at the prize-giving at Kinsale Yacht Club on Saturday.

Next up, following his fantastic performance at the Worlds in the Dominican Republic was Harry Whitaker, with an overall 3^rd. Irish. Adam D’Arcy had his best ever result at an Optimist Nationals with an excellent 6^th.  Harry and Johnny Durcan also put in good performances with a 10 and 15 respectively.

Other results for RCYC:-

 Ronan Cournane                               19^th.

Rebecca O’Shaughnessy    20^th.

Lucy Donworth                     26^th.

Claire O’Sullivan                 28^th.

Charlie Breen                       29^th.

Well done to Kelly Williams who won second prize in Senior Silver and she was closely followed by E. O’Regan and Luke Horgan.  Douglas Elms – Harry Whitaker and Adam D’Arcy also took the overall team prize for Senior fleet.

In Junior fleet, James McCann had the event of his life narrowly beaten to first place by a meagre 2 points.  Well done, James.

Next up was Richard McGinley who put in a huge performance to finish 5^th.   Tom Keal and Ronan Walsh showed huge improvement with an overall 13^th. , 14^th. respectively.  Next up was Luke McGrath with a 17^th.

Chris Bateman and James Spillane showed great promise during the week to finish 3^rd. and 4^th. silver overall. Patrick Daly and Sarah Cudmore were close on their heels with a 26^th. and 27^th.

Further down the field were our more Junior sailors:-

Maeve O’Sullivan               42

Kate D’Arcy                          43      

Caoimhe Foster                  46      

Cathal O’Regan                   47

Tara Coveney                      48

Emily Whitaker                   50

Juliet Nyhan                         52

Jennifer O’Shaughnessy  57

Peter Thompson                64

These sailors should be very proud of themselves to have sailed so well in such difficult conditions during the week. They certainly have now moved on to a new level.

Our 8 Regatta sailors were certainly put through their paces by Head Coach, Cian O’Regan.  In a fleet of 41 sailors, they raced inside the harbour in gusty tidal conditions. Robert Keal with 5 bullets was the overall winner taking away a beautiful trophy to add to his growing collection !!

Next up with a huge performance was Molly Murphy in 7^th. place. Conor Walsh did himself proud with an overall 12^th.

Other results were:-

Mia Murphy                        15

Julie Neville              17

Aoife Byrne              18

Killian O’Regan        24

Georgina Coveney 33

With a fleet of 39 sailors competing in the Regatta, RCYC remain the biggest and strongest Optimist fleet in the country.

WELL DONE TO ALL.

  Class Captain  Linda O’Keeffe                                                                             Image aul Keal