Despite a poor forecast for almost a week in advance almost thirty boats lined up to start on the Saturday at Sutton. With the weather forecast for Sunday indicating strong gales Hugh Gill and his team at SDC laid on a Hot Toddy party with a sit down meal and entertainment in the form of Elvis Presley. There were many relieved sailors on Sunday morning as the wind built, later then expected, cancelling Sundays racing!
The Hot Toddy was also the final event of the very successful Speed Sails League 2008, with 93 boats sailing in the Leagues during the 2008 Season. Winners of the Gold league were Timmy Corcoran and Brendan Brogan with Ken and Ryan Louden of Lough Foyle Yacht Club winning the Silver Leagues and Peter Collings and Jane Holland of Sutton Dingy Club winning the Bronze League. Thanks once more to Richard Estaugh of Speed Sails for his generous and continued sponsorship of our League Tables in 2008. Complete League results are available on our website.
In Ireland, the 2008 Season was very promising with the increase in boats attending Association events continuing from 2007. Since 2006 there has been a fifty percent increase in boats attending Association run events. This increase is as a result of various initiatives which have been put in place within the fleet. A significant amount of club support, training, youth development, class promotion and PR has taken place throughout the past two Seasons and this is paying dividends. There is a very active committee in place working on these various facets within the class. Newly elected President Donal McGuinness has committed to continuing with these initiatives and we are planning a major overhaul of our already very active website over the Winter months. Planning for the 2009 Season is well under way and at an advanced stage, with the fixtures for 2009 almost finalised. There are promising signs of GP14 Fleets building in a number of clubs around the country and the Association are working closely to help support, foster and develop these fleets to the best possible extent.
For further details on the GP14 Class in Ireland cast an eye on our website; www.gp14ireland.com over the Winter months, where fixtures and other important information will be posted as it becomes available. If you would like to join our mailing list to receive regular e-mail bulletins from the GP14 Class Association of Ireland, please e-mail our newly elected Hon. Secretary Tania MacHale at; [email protected]
