Royal Cork's Davy Kenefick Wins Irish Moth Title on Dublin Bay

15th October 2018

Royal Cork's Davy Kenefick in action at the Moth Nationals in Dun Laoghaire Harbour

Ten boats were entered for this year's International Moth National Championships, held at the Royal St George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire on Dublin Bay.

Starting with three races on a chilly Friday afternoon, in light, north to northeast winds and lumpy seas off the west pier in Seapoint bay. Royal Cork's Davy Kenefick set the tone early with three straight wins. Cian Byrne showed his talent with a similarly consistent string of second places - not bad after just six months moth sailing! Ali Kissane made dad & OOD Richard proud, with three third places in dying wind in his brand new Irish built 'Voodoo' Moth. With the wind gone, the fleet retired to a local eatery for some well deserved R&R.

moth nationals 2018 The Irish Moth Nationals took place at the Royal St. George Yacht Club

Saturday dawned with fresh northerly winds and Race Officer Con Murphy took the responsible decision to run racing in the harbour, achieving a reasonable race-track set up for both Moths and Wazsp Fleets. Five quick races were run off in three hours in 18-23knts with a nasty lump on the surface. The conditions took their toll on all sailors and their equipment. Event leader Kenefick had a big stack at the first windward mark going through his sail in the process which allowed Cian Byrne the break he needed to get few bullets under his belt while Kenefick went ashore to change sails.

Kenefick wipe out A shaky race course photo records a wipeout for Kenefick in breezy and lumpy conditions on Scotsman's Bay

After the dust settled, it was close at the top between the two Cork sailors with Jim Devlin, recovering from a rudder issue to claim third. Laser Ace, Ronan Wallace put in a robust effort with a pair of seconds in that challenging breeze.

All down to the final day and mother nature wanted her say - a strong and gusty 15-25knt south-west wind facilitated four more races in the flat seas of Seapoint Bay. Waszps and KONA windsurfers shared the course on the final day to spice up the atmosphere.

"A controversial ninth race saw leeward mark drifting issues"

A controversial ninth race saw leeward mark drifting issues combined with strong squalls on the downwind leg allowing Kenefick come out on top after all the leading group capsized and recovered with varying degrees of success. With Byrne retiring to shore to carry out some quick repairs soon after the start of race 10, the event was left for Kenefick to take advantage of his luck and foil on to victory - but only after Ali Kissane took a well-deserved race 10 off him and his fancy new British built 'Exocet' moth.

So it was Kenefick, followed by Byrne, sailing an Australian built standard Mach2 moth in second, and a well deserved consistent Jim Devlin in third with 27 knots reading on his speed puck, also sailing a Mach 2.

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