Last Friday night, evening racing concluded and, with practically no wind (and some late rain) it was a real struggle to finish on a shortened course. Many boats retired. It was the last race of the September Friday night Whitesail and the league series for whitesail boats was won,by ten year-old helm Oisín MacSweeney sailing his Grandad’s (Tom Macsweeney’s), Sigma 33.
Oisín, who is an Optimist sailor in the Bronze fleet, helmed Seascapes, and had a first, second and sixth, in the three races, giving him 9 points, equal with Michael Lynch, but the tie-breaker was in favour of Oisín’s 1,2,6 – compared with Michael’s 3,4,2.
Encouraging new sailors and young sailors to the sport is important, so it was decided to allow OisÍn take the helm, and he really did helm the boat, with advice from his father, Cormac and his grandfather crewing the boat with friends, but no one helmed other than Oisin.. It was a popular win in the whitesail class and they gave him good encouragement during the series, which was good to see. In the first race of the series he led the fleet around the course.
Altogether very encouraging for OisIn and perhaps may encourage other young sailors to ‘have a go’.
Results :HERE
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