The North Sails Ireland team of Nigel Young, Maurice 'Prof' O'Connell and Shane Hughes (scroll down for sailmaker details below) were busy at three sailing events last weekend, each winning races with clients on the Irish Sea, Howth and Kinsale.
As the sailing season gets into full swing, Shane Hughes was a part of Frank Whelan's ISORA winning team on "Eleuthera" taking victory overall and in Division 0. Shane was trialling a new North Sails 3Di Code 2 jib that day and says 'the boat flew upwind'. Read the Afloat.ie report of ISORA's first race of 2018 here.
Shane Hughes is the spinnaker trimmer on the ISORA winner, the Grand Soleil 44, Eleuthera above and below an onboard view of the new J2 medium jib used in the race win
Howth Yacht Club Spring Warmer
Nigel Young raced on Mike Evans half tonner "The Big Picture" on Saturday. Nigel was trialling a new 3Di mainsail, Code 2 jib and SuperLite Code S1.5 spi and took a 2nd and 3rd in their class.
Mike Evans half–tonner, 'The Big Picture' flying their new 3Di upwind sails
Prof was on the water in Howth also providing coaching support from the RIB. Prof's HYC coaching movie is below:-
Kinsale Yacht Club April League
On Sunday, both Prof and Nigel were racing in Kinsale Yacht Club's April Series.
In owner Conor Phelan's absence, Prof steered "Jump Juice" to victory in Race one but a headfoil problem dropped the team down the standings in Race two.
Prof steered Jump Juice in Kinsale. Photo: Bob Bateman
Nigel was racing aboard Denis Murphy's Grand Soleil 40 "Neulargo" and they pounced on the "Jump Juice" headfoil issue to win race two, following up on their second in race one.
"Neulargo" flying her new North Sails 3Di Endurance mainsail and Sk75 S2 kite. Photo: Bob Bateman
Read Afloat.ie's report of the April League with lots more photos by Bob Bateman here.
