Another Wonderful Day’s Sailing to Finish the Optimist Cobbler League

The Cobbler League for Optimists from all over Munster concluded last Sunday on another glorious day for sailing with the wind blowing over 20kts at times and unseasonably warm sunshine. In the main fleet Peter Quelly from Waterford Harbour Sailing Club sailed very well and scored two seconds and a third on the day. John Durcan (RCYC) won the first and third races and and Sorcha Ni Shuilleabhain (KYC) the second. The overall Cobbler League was won by Peter McCann (RCYC) and Rebecca O’Shaughnessy (RCYC) was first overall in the regatta fleet.

Superb conditions greeted the sailors who sailed down the river in double quick time to the starting area on the Curlane Bank.

In the first race, a good solid start near the pin end of the line saw John Durcan take an early lead which he extended throughout to win well from Peter Quelly and Sorcha Ni Shuilleabhain. The regatta fleet race was won by James McCann (RCYC) from the quick finishing Tom McGrath (RCYC) and Barry Shanahan (RCYC) who was making his maiden appearance in the regatta having been given the day off from running.

The start of the second race was a bit more aggressive in the main fleet with two boats being called OCS at the pin end. One of those, John Durcan, had again built up a substantial lead by the windward mark. John’s jump start paved the way for Sorcha Ni Shuilleabhain to take the bullet from Dara O’Shea (KYC) and Peter Quelly.

In the regatta fleet, Tom McGrath showed his strength in the windy conditions to win the second race convincingly from Rebecca O’Shaughnessy and Barry Shanahan. With the wind blowing over 20kts fairly consistently, it was decided to conclude the regatta fleet at this stage. This left Rebecca O’Shaughessy as the overall winner of the Regatta Fleet from a fast improving Tom McGrath and James McCann.

The third race saw John Durcan get his bearings right on the starting line and win well again from Peter Quelly and Andew Levie (LDYC/KYC).

The Cobbler League was won overall by Peter McCann (RCYC) who had sailed a remarkably consistent series with no results outside the top 3. Peter Quelly’s last days results were enough to take him to 2^nd overall, just pipping Daire Cournane (KYC/RCYC).

The perpetual trophies for the Cobbler League were originally presented by Tom Dwyer in 1997 when it was won by John Downey. Tom has very kindly agreed to present two more perpetual trophies (1^st Senior Gold and 1^st Junior Gold) to facilitate the reorganisation of the fleets on the same basis as the National events. The Royal Cork Optimist committee would like to thank Tom for his continued support and to thank all of those volunteers who kindly gave of their time to help run this event particularly those who helped on the race committee, rescue and mark boats, prizes and, most importantly, making hot chocolate for the competitors and helpers at the end of each day’s racing.

Prizes were presented by Deirdre Tingle, Rear-Admiral Dinghies, in the dinghy centre afterwards as follows:

1^st Overall & 1^st Junior Gold: Peter McCann RCYC 14pts

2^nd Overall & 1^st Senior Gold: Peter Quelly WHSC 47pts

3^rd Overall & 2^nd Junior Gold: Daire Cournane KYC/RCYC 48pts

4^th Overall & 3^rd Junior Gold: Cian Byrne RCYC 49pts

5^th Overall & 2^nd Senior Gold: Seafra Guilfoyle RCYC 55pts

6^th Overall & 3^rd Senior Gold: Patrick Crosbie RCYC 57pts

Senior Silver

1^st Andrew Levie LDYC/KYC

2^nd Ewan O’Keeffe RCYC

3^rd Michael O’Donovan RCYC

Junior Silver

1^st Cliodhna Ni Shuilleabhain KYC

2^nd Jamie Tingle RCYC

3^rd Peter Healy KYC

Regatta Fleet

1^st Rebecca O’Shaughnessy RCYC 11pts

2^nd Tom McGrath RCYC 15pts

3^rd James McCann RCYC 23pts

The complete results can be found here.