RCYC Sailors Take top 3 places at the Optimist End of Seasons

The Optimist End of Seasons regatta was won comfortably by Douglas Elmes in llaloe this weekend. Ronan Cournane was 2^nd overall and top Junior while Adam d’Arcy had his best result in a national event coming 3^rd overall. James Spillane (also RCYC) won the regatta fleet in fine style.

IODAI organised a training camp at the University of Limerick Activity Centre in Killaloe from Wednesday to Friday which was led by Soren Laugesen with a team of international and Irish coaches. The training event was very well attended and was followed by the End of Season’s regatta for the Gorman trophy on Saturday and Sunday. 59 main fleet sailors took part with a further 11 in the regatta fleet.

Our own trusty race officer, Frank Thompson, was once again pressed into action and managed to complete the 6 races for both fleets with his customary efficiency.

Winds on Saturday were quite light but the forecast for Sunday was not promising so plans were made to get 4 races in. However, the wind gods were not obliging and only two races could be completed before the wind disappeared. Douglas stamped his authority on proceedings from the outset with a 2^nd and a 1^st to lead comfortably overnight.

Sunday was a magnificent day for sailing with 10-12 knots and bright sunshine. A number of sailors had to sit out the first race having been black flagged in an abandoned race on Saturday.  Douglas continued as he had finished on Saturday with three podium finishes to take the regatta with a race to spare. Ronan Cournane had a solid day with three top 5 results to take second place overall and first junior. Adam d’Arcy finished the regatta very strongly with a bullet and two other top 5 results to take 3^rd overall. Harry Durcan finished 7^th overall and 2^nd Junior.

In the regatta fleet, James Spillane was very dominant, taking 4 bullets in the 6 race series. Robert Keal finished 3^rd overall.

Other Royal Cork Results:

Main Fleet:

James McCann 17^th

Rebecca O’Shaughnessy 21^st

Luke McGrath 31^st

Tom Keal 38^th

Sarah Cudmore 43^rd

Kelly Williams 45^th

Johnny Durcan 50^th (couldn’t sail on Sunday)

Regatta Fleet

Tara Coveney 4^th

Peter Thompson 5^th

Conor Walsh 9th