This coming weekend, the Irish Flying Fifteen community have their biggest regatta of the year, the National Championship of Ireland, hosted by the National Yacht Club. A seven-race programme is on the agenda over Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 2nd, 3rd and 4th September.
This year’s regatta will see two new trophies donated to the regatta by the family of the late Jack Roy and by the Dun Laoghaire Flying Fifteen Fleet in memory of the late Gerry Donleavy, respectively. Both gentlemen had strong connections with the host club and the Flying Fifteens as competitors and supporters of the class in Dun Laoghaire and further afield.
Jack will also be fondly remembered as a Race Officer for DBSC and for the Flying Fifteen fleet and, in particular, for his most recent race management of the 2019 Flying Fifteen Worlds in Dun Laoghaire.
The Roy Family’s trophy will be awarded to the first National Yacht Club boat in all Nationals going forward and the Gerry Donleavy Memorial Cup will go to the winners of Race 1 at all future Nationals.
In terms of the runners and riders, there is a wide field of potential winners and occupiers of podium places to be considered and the best place to start with the speculation on these places is with the current holders, John Lavery and Alan Green. With a wealth of experience on board, supplemented by an early summer of contesting events in the UK and closing with the Europeans in Cowes last week, where they finished 15th, they must surely be considered the boat to beat sailing in their home waters.
David Gorman's Flying Fifteen Fomo
On the domestic regatta scene, we would have to look at the events sailed this year, in Whitehead, N. Ireland and Dunmore East. The common denominator in these two events is Peter Kennedy (3920) who won the Northerns with Stephen Kane and was placed second in the Southerns with Peter Chamberlain. Others who filled podium places at these two events include 2021 Northern Champions Stuart Harrison & Conor Brennan (3892), 3rd in Dunmore East, Bryan Willis & John McPeake (4074), 2nd in Whitehead, Lee Statham & Andy Paul (4070), 3rd in Whitehead. And, given their performance in Dunmore East, where they won three races, the O’Briens, Niall and Ronan, (4092) from the Connemara Flying Fifteen Fleet can no longer be considered “dark horses”.
New Flying Fifteen regional champions, Ronan (l) and Niall O’Brien (R) from Connemara Photo by Niall Meagher
If we then look at the Dun Laoghaire fleet, there are a number of boats that warrant attention in this exercise. Last Thursday, Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (4028) closed out the DBSC’s Thursday Overall Series with a comfortable margin and given that this far out the forecast is for light winds, that brings this combination into the equation of consideration. David Gorman (4099) has dominated the DBSC’s Saturday Overall Series with a number of crews and, for this weekend, teams up with Chris Doorly, a positive development, so they too warrant consideration. And an exercise such as this would not be complete without mentioning the potent combination of Ian Mathews & Keith Poole (4094). While Ian has been abroad for the majority of the season, he has come home in good time for a crack at this title.
Ian Mathews & Keith Poole
And of course, there is a host of DBSC regulars who will be “itching” to knock some of those mentioned above off their pedestals.
Andy McCleery & Colin Dougan (4037)
Reports of low club numbers in the northern fleets should not dissuade consideration of the likes of Andy McCleery & Colin Dougan (4037) or Bryan Willis & John McPeake.
The regatta, sponsored by CMI and Thomson Process Equipment & Engineering will be under the race management of Eddie Totterdell, with the first race warning signal on Friday 2nd September due at 13:55.
