The Optimist fleet travelled to Tralee Bay Sailing Club for the last event of the year at the weekend. It was another test of character; Saturday had rain, breeze, big chop, a long trek to the racecourse all of which took their toll on the fleet. Sunday was a little more pleasant – the sun even came out and made the day a little more tolerable despite the very early start (rigged & ready for 0830!!)
For once, Regatta Fleet sailed fewer races than the Main Fleet. We had two sailors competing. Isha Duggan had a baptism of fire in her first regatta – she bravely headed out, capsized and wisely decided discretion was the better part of valour! Lucy Moynan finished 7th and first U9 girl.
The start line is somewhere out there… one of the brighter moments on Saturday heading for the racetrack
The Junior Fleet was where most of our sailors competed. JP Curtin and Harvey Matthews both fell victim to the breeze. Charlie Venner squeezed a 41st, grinding out two finishes but losing one to a Black Flag DSQ.
Shane Collins overcame damage on Day 1 to finish 38th. Ellen Bruen was next in 25th, a few places behind David McSweeney in 22nd. Harry Moynan was the first of our sailors in the prizes, 18th overall and 4th Silver. George Pritchard finished 12th, edging Rian Collins into 13th on countback. Emmet Lucas in ninth was the first of our 3 sailors in the top 10, with Alana Twomey 6th and Ben O’Shaughnessy leading the Royal Cork Juniors charge in 3rd place.
James Dwyer Matthews on the podum at the Optimist Worlds
Senior Fleet was very depleted in numbers but competition was all the more intense for it. Liam Duggan brought back the Currabinny Trophy, a truly magnificent sculpture first presented at the Royal Cork in 1995 for winning Senior Silver and 27th overall. Simon Pritchard in 19th sqeezed ahead of Anna Keal in 20th. James Murphy narrowly missed out on a top 10 place by just 1 point. Justin Lucas, just returned from Worlds, finished 8th. Jamie Venner came in 7th having performed very consistently all weekend with nothing outside the top 10. James Dwyer Matthews, also just back from the Worlds where he came a superb 19th overall result was our best senior in 3rd overall.
A huge thanks to Aislinn, Saki & Derek for logisitics support – we had 2 additional club ribs on the water as part of the rescue fleet to support TBSC. Thanks too to Mark & the Marina team for getting everything ready to roll.
Of course this is not the end of the season – the big finish is the Cobbler League
running every Sunday in October. This is an open event and we always welcome visitors from far and wide to our shores for championship level racing. Watch out for the Notice of Race!
No comments yet.