420 girl crews claimed the top three places at the Connaught Regional Championships that took place this weekend as part of the Double Ree initiative at Lough Ree Yacht Club. Race Officer David Dickson did a magnificent job in running four double-handed classes for a series of seven races, each in testing conditions across the two days.
Racing on the Saturday was in light patchy winds that also produced large shifts. Gemma Mc Dowell and Emma Gallagher produced three bullets in the first three races followed by a fourth place to hold the overnight lead over local sailors Ben Graf and Alexander Farrell. Tied overnight for third place were Grace O’Beirne/Katherine Kelly and Nicola/Fiona Ferguson. Sunday brought more stable winds and two bullets for the Grace O’Beirne/Katherine Kelly crew, enough to lift them up to second place overall and just behind the Malahide Yacht Club pairing of Gemma Mc Dowell and Emma Gallagher. Nicola/Fiona Ferguson produced a bullet in the last race to secure third place overall. Results for both the Gold and Silver fleets are listed below, prize winners came from six separate clubs in a fleet representing nine clubs.
Next up for the 420s will be the National Championships hosted by Howth Yacht Club over the bank holiday weekend of the 4th, 5th and 6th August, an event that is attracting interest from crews across the water in the UK to participate.
Lough Ree Yacht Club and Commodore Garreth Leech are to be congratulated on the excellent initiative of running a double handed regatta to promote double-handed sailing for youth sailors. The organisation on and off the water was excellent, and with many families camping on land or using floating accommodation in the harbour, it all made for a very social evening on the Saturday at the clubhouse.
Gold Fleet:
1st Place – Gemma Mc Dowell and Emma Gallagher, Malahide Yacht Club
2nd Place – Grace O’Beirne and Katherine Kelly, Royal St. George Yacht Club
3rd Place – Nicola Ferguson and Fiona Ferguson, National Yacht Club
Silver Fleet:
1st Place – Liam Donnelly and Aidan Donnelly, Howth Yacht Club
2nd Place – Darragh Moreau and Robert O’Brien, Clontarf Yacht and Boat Club
3rd Place – Alex Leech and Lughaidh Crossdell, Lough Ree Yacht Club
