Royal Cork Optimist Sailors acquited themselves well in Semana del Atlantico regatta in Vigo this weekend. Seafra Guilfoyle was best of the Irish in 17th, with Peter McCann 21st and Daire Cournane 25th out of a total fleet of 228 international sailors representing Spain, Portugal, UK, Denmark, Switzerland, Hungary, Norway and Ireland.
The regatta was scheduled to have a total of 9 races over three days starting on Friday. However, light winds meant that only one race could be completed on Friday and there was no racing at all on Saturday. The final day of racing produced some fine sailing in a south west breeze of 10 to 15 knots and a choppy sea. This combined with rain and mist made for a tough day with 3 races completed back to back. With only 4 races completed no discards were allowed.
Best of the Irish was Seafra Guilfoyle (RCYC) in 17th sailing pretty consistently with a 12th, 20th, 34th and a 6th. Peter McCann (RCYC) came next in 21st (5, 23, 10, 40) with Daire Cournane next best in 25th (10, 16, 45, 13). Patrick Crosbie (RCYC) finished the regatta in fine style with a 4th and a 5th, having been caught on the wrong side of a huge shift in the first race. Cian Byrne also put a disappointing first race behind him to score 3 results in the top 25 on the last day.
This regatta was the first international event for the 16 sailor ISA Optimist Squad. They had three days of practice together before the start of the regatta. They sailed in their own boats which were towed on a single trailer by Thomas Chaix. They were coached by Thomas Chaix and Ross Killian and the team mums were Louise O’Keeffe and Caroline Murphy.
The boats will now be taken to Barcelona awaiting shipment to Palma for the Regata Ciutat de Palma which takes place from the 5th to the 8th December. This traditionally one of the most competitive Optimist regattas outside the Worlds and continental championships and there are already nearly 300 entries for this years event.
The complete results are available here and the Irish results were as follows:
Seafra Guilfoyle (RCYC) 17th
Peter McCann (RCYC) 21st
Daire Cournane (KYC/RCYC) 25th
Conor Murphy (KYC) 29th
Patrick Crosbie (RCYC) 40th
Ruairi Finnegan (WHSC) 45th
Cian Byrne (RCYC) 65th
Adam Hyland (RStGYC) 74th
Robert Dickson (SDC) 82nd
Sophie Browne (TBSC/RCYC) 84th
Sean Donnelly (NYC) 85th
Sean Gambier-Ross (KYC) 96th
Philip Brownlow (RCYC) 97th
Cliodhna O’Regan (KYC) 141st
Eoin Lyden (RCYC) 147th
Erica Ruigrok (SSC) 152nd
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