Displaying items by tag: Irish Youth Championships
Sligo Yacht Club hosted the GP 14 Summer Open and Irish Youth Championships at Rosses Point on the 24th and 25th July.
26 boats lined up at the start. Gus Henry, himself a GP 14 sailor can always be relied upon to provide exceptional race management. He called back race 1 after a significant wind change. The race started proper a short while after that. Keith Louden and Dessie Hughes from Lough Foyle Yacht Club got to the weather mark first in 12 knots of wind, followed by local sailors Niall Henry and James Conlon. In third, Shane McCarthy and Al Fry followed close behind in their new boat. Niall Henry took line honours in the race after sailing a flawless race and taking the lead on the second beat. Paddy O'Connor and Tania McHale climbed from fourth to take second. McCarthy and Fry took third.
Race 2 followed shortly after. This time, there was a definite interest by Paul Maguire and Niamh McCormick from Sutton SC in the right hand side as the tide was picking up in pace. Alastair Duffin and Paul Whitcombe from Newtownards SC went that way too but not quite as far out. Shane and Fry chose the middle route, while the Mc Guinness Brothers from Moville Boat Club initially went left and then back into the middle right. At the weather mark, Maguire and McCormick had a clear lead with McCarthy and Fry in second with the McGuinness brothers a short distance away. The McGuinness brothers passed McCarthy and Fry on the second reach. Maguire and McCormick maintained their lead to the finish with half a boat length to spare at the end with the Donegal team a close second.
Race three got under way in similar wind to the first day but this time the tide was going out. The boats that went left looked good initially, but their hopes were soon dashed as the right side of the fleet piled in to the weather mark. Henry and Conlon though, who had sailed a middle course got to the weather mark first with about 7 boat lengths to spare. They let nothing slip and finished with a convincing first. With 1-5-1 in a four race series, they couldn't be beaten and didn't start race 4. The McGuinness brothers won race four taking the lead in the first reach, leaving them second overall. Conor Byrne and Pamela Lee, first time GP sailor were second and O'Connor and McHale finished third giving them third in the event.
The silver fleet was won by Nigel Sloane and Laura McFarland with Gerry Gilligan and Lucia Nicholson in second and Johnny Park and Bob Stinson in third.
The bronze fleet was won by Conor Byrne and Pamela Lee, Wai Manu and Don MacCormack in second and Bill Johnson and Stephen Byrne in third.
