Confirmation has been received from Dun Laoghaire Harbour that the Irish Match Racing has the green light to hold the Weir & Sons Leinster Match Racing Open in side Dun Laoghaire harbour. So with plenty of wind shifts to contend with and a constrained starting area it’s likely that racing will be extremely tight with plenty of boat on boat action.
Arrangements are still being made for a live PA commentary. After the grand job he did with the Howth Club Champion of Champions event we are hoping Noal Davidson will come down to MC and do a live Internet feed of the event. The hope is to beam this back to the Royal Irish with racing shown on big screens in the bar all day. Together with a pig roast on the Saturday evening there should be some buzz around the club.
Weir & Sons of Grafton Street have kindly agreed to provide prizes. We’re not sure that they will quite stretch to the Rolex we asked for but having this kind of support for the event does mean that we can properly recognise the contribution of all the sailors to the success of their teams. North Sails Ireland will still be absent from the Leinsters and a clash with the SB3 Northern means that MadMatch Racing will away. How ever John Sheehy and the Royal St George machine will be back in action and no doubt eager to reassert their authority after Team Lazarus moved to the top of the Tour rankings following the Investwise Dublin Match Racing Open.
UK National Youth Champions Team Echo Racing will also be back for another crack as will Casey Racing, Cross Community Alliance, Mahon Racing and Team O’Loughlin. Alex Barry returns to the 2010 Tour for the first time since a strong 3rd place showing at last years Leinsters and it will be interesting to see how he goes but the real interest is in how the two teams coming from this years all conquering George Gladiators team racing team will fair.
Marty O’Leary and Sam Hunt have had a tremendous start to 2010, taking the National team racing title and placing strongly at the UK championships and the Wilson Trophy. The Leinsters will not only see them pitted against each other but also against the skipper who’s team they where part of on the 2009 Tour, none other than John Sheehy.
