The J109 Irish Championship saw a competitive fleet on 10 entries come together on 5/6 October in Dublin Bay to race in the aftermath of Hurricane Lorenzo.
As Afloat previously reported, the full programme of six races was completed. Saturday saw 3 races in a stiff Southerly with the right-hand side of the course paying against the flood tide. At the end of the three races there was little separating the top 3 boats, John Maybury’s Joker 2, the Kelly’s Storm, both of them previous winners, and Andrew Craig’s 2019 Scottish Series winner Chimaera meaning all to play for on Sunday. Saturday concluded with a video de-brief by North Sails Prof O’Connell followed by supper and a largely early night as the crews were worn out after 3 tough races.
A J109 start with Dear Prudence taking the pin Photo: Afloat
Sunday started with a 1-hour postponement in a strong westerly however the sun was shining and with a flat sea, the fleet enjoyed spectacular racing on great courses laid by PRO Eddie Totterdell. The top 3 boats had a fierce battle, characterised by race 5 where Joker, Chimaera then Storm crossed the finish line each separated by a boat length. At the end of the 6 races Joker 2 was the winner, followed by Storm then Chimaera.
Storm (Pat Kelly) from Howth Yacht Club Photo: Afloat
Chimaera (Andrew Craig) from the Royal Irish Yacht Club Photo: Afloat
There were other battles going on across the fleet and this was recognised with 3 mini-series covering the six races with lovely sailing bags presented by UK Sails for 1st, 2nd and 3rd in each series, prizes passing down the fleet. Mini-series 2 was won by Richard Murphy and John Colwell in OutraJeous while Simon Knowles took Series 3 in Indian.
Outrajeous (John Murphy and Richard Colwell) from Howth Yacht Club
Indian (Simon Knowles) from Howth Yacht Club Photo: Afloat
The event was supported by very generous sponsors which ensured that no-one went home empty-handed after such a great series of 6 races. POD Marine provided each boat with an engine health check with their engineers as well as two very valuable individual prizes of a full engine service to be awarded to the overall winner and the equally important finisher who propped up the final results. Thanks also to North Sails, Bushmills, Ropedock and Viking Marine, this was very much appreciated by the entire fleet.
