#laser – Almost 100 Lasers enjoyed extraordinary sailing conditions on glorious Lough Ree. FULL RESULTS DOWLOADABLE BELOW. Temperatures over 30 degrees, sailing in rash vest only and shifty F 2-4 were the order of the day. The event combined the Connaught Championships and Irish Laser Youth Championships for all three rigs. The fleet was under the stewardship of International Race Officer Con Murphy who made light work of the tricky conditions.

In the full rigs, a 25 boat fleet had very close racing. In the end, Chris Penney followed up his Leinsters win by running away with it on Sunday following 3 straight wins, an impressive performance on such a streaky and shifty race track. Conor Byrne and Paul MacMahon completed the podium and were always pushing Penney hard. Irish Full Rig youth Champion for 2013 is Cian Cahill from RstGYC/RCYC who rose through the ranks to finish an impressive 5th overall on his first outing with the big sail. Sean Craig took top Master overall.

As usual, the biggest fleet was the Radials. Seafra Guilfoyle, honed from some good international performances recently, had a brief wobble with a black flag Saturday, but a string of bullets gave him both the Connaught and Irish Youth Laser titles. Cian Byrne was comfortable in second and always there or thereabouts while recent winner at Wexford Ryan Glynn emerged from the pack to claim third overall. Erica Ruigrok was first girl overall. The competition in this fleet is incredible these days and it was fantastic to see Annalise Murphy taking time out to sail the first three races, before jetting out to Rio for a few weeks. It was a huge boost to the regatta and the club and campsite were alive Saturday night with tales of "I lee-bow tacked Annalise", "I beat Annalise to the top mark", etc, etc !!! To put the standard of this fleet in perspective, Annalise found herself outside the top ten overall after the first day's racing.

The smaller rig had a fantastic regatta too with almost 20 boats and great conditions for a number of newcomers. Cliodhna O'Regan continued her recent fine form with another overall win to take the Connaught and Youth crowns, with the fast improving Dougie Elmes (Optimist National Champion 2012) taking runner-up.

The Laser action is building up to an exciting peak later next month. On Aug 22-25 RCYC hosts the Vodafone Irish Nationals and then the Laser Europeans/Worlds takes place in Dun Laoghaire Aug 30-Sep 6.

Indeed the organisers for the big international event are appealing for private charter boats amid very tight supply for visiting sailors who, in a big boost for the regatta, will include the famous Robert Scheidt from Brazil. Go to the event website above, to "Racing", "Boat Charter" and top rates of up to € 500 can be your's if you offer up your boat for charter.

#j24 – Lough Erne sailor JP McCaldin sailing Jamais Encore lifted the J24 title on Lough Ree last night by a three point margin. The Northern Ireland crew had a string of consistent results (full results downloadable below as jpeg file) with six results in the top three from eight races sailed in the 19 boat fleet.

Second overall on 27 points was a Royal Cork/Howth Yacht Club entry S/Touche (Darrer/Murphy) with another Howth Boat Crazy Horse skippered by Mossy Shanahan third on equal points.

Irish J24 Champion Flor O'Driscoll and his crew on 'Hard on Port' won the first J24 regional event of the season – the Western Championship at Lough Ree Yacht Club – last weekend but not with his usual margin of victory. Instead, he was pushed all the way by several boats and in the end only took the title on countback from Fergus O'Kelly & Others on 'Jibberish' (Howth YC).

O'Driscoll, the Corkman who sails out of the Royal St.George but is racing in Howth this season in preparation for the forthcoming BMW European Championships there in September, got off to the perfect start by winning the first race but was black-flagged in the second, when victory went to local boat 'Jeb' (Andrew Mannion) ahead of 'Jibberish'.

Heavy squalls in race 3 mixed things up again with Stefan Hyde/Declan MacManus's 'Kilcullen' taking the gun from local man Stan Bradbury in 'Javelin'. The fourth race was sailed in Force 5+ winds and with most boats opting for jibs, it was 'Jeb' who took the honours and so lead overnight.

On the second day, Mickey McCaldin's 'Murder Picture' from Lough Erne won race 5 from 'Jibberish', a result that meant any of the top six could win the event going into the final race. O'Driscoll and crew held their nerve to beat O'Kelly et al to the line, leaving the two tied on points after the discard.

On countback, two race wins was enough to give the edge to 'Hard on Port' and 'Jeb' finishing third. Three points separated the top five points, illustrating the closeness of competition in this one-design keelboat class.

J24 Western Championships at Lough Ree YC - Results:

Hard on Port Flor O'Driscoll (RStGYC/HYC) 14ptsJibberish Fergus O'Kelly et al (HYC) 14 ptsJeb Andrew Mannion (LRYC) 16 ptsJavelin Stan Bradbury (LRYC) 16 ptsKilcullen Hyde/MacManus (RCYC/HYC) 17 pts

Inland Waterways Vessels on Lough Ree at Athlone may meet large fleets of sailing craft at the southern end of Lough Ree approximately 3km north of Athlone due to Lough Ree Yacht Club Annual Regatta currently taking place.

Masters are requested to give racing fleets a wide berth where possible, however, if it is necessary to pass through a fleet to do so with due caution. The regatta will finish this Friday, 6th Aug 2010.

Marine VHF Channel 16 will be monitored by the principal race officer throughout the regatta.

 

"Lough Ree always had the water and the boats - They just needed the weather!" was the comment from Commodore of Lough Ree Yacht Club; Frank Murray.
Summer certainly obliged with blue skies, blazing sunshine, 24 degrees and moderate breeze on the Saturday 19th June and 27 degrees and light breeze on the Sunday 20th June for the J24 Western Championship 2010 held this year in Lough Ree Yacht Club.

Principal Race Officer for the Event; Derek Bothwell ran 6 windward/leeward races for the 16 boat fleet with notable visitors to Lough Ree of Stefan Hyde on "Nautigirl", Brian McDowell on "Scandal", Robin Eagleson in "Luder Too", Michael McCaldin, "Murder Picture",  Flor O'Driscoll on "Hard on Port" and Emma McDonald who had never sailed a J24 prior to this event, borrowed local boat "Jaws".

Very close racing ensued with Flor ODriscoll taking the over all championship on 12 points, with local, Andrew Mannion in "Jeb Stuart" taking 2nd place on 16 points and first time J24 sailor Emma McDonald from Howth in 3rd place just one point behind.

A fantastic regatta that will be remembered for the hospitality of Lough Ree Yacht Club, the great racing and strangely for Ireland the fantastic summer weather.

 

Tight racing at the Leeward Mark - Lough Ree

 

L-R - Flor O'Driscoll, J24 Western Champion 2010, Frank Murray, Commodore LRYC, Robin Eagleson, President, IJCA-IRL
Photos courtesy of Alison Miles