#mermaid – Galway Bay Sailing Club is hosting its second major National Championships within weeks. The SB20's sailing from Galway harbour experienced unusually light conditions with very tight racing but struggled to complete 6 races of a planned 9 race series.
This week the Mermaids are in Oranmore where the first 2 races were completed on Sunday in similarly frustrating and untypical light winds. The 26 entries, a significant drop from the attendance in Skerries last year when 40 boats participated, enjoyed brisker conditions today for the 3rd race and the big shock was the surprising 14th finishing position for the joint overnight leader. Jonathan O Rourke in Tiller Girl from the National YC., last year's winner, which dropped him to 5th overall.
Meanwhile Jill skippered by Paul Smith from the Royal Irish lies 1st overall with 2 former Champions nipping at his heels, Jim Carthy in "Vee" from Rush S.C. and Sam Shiels in "Azeezy" from Skerries S.C. Mark Boylan also from Skerries S.C. in "This is it", a top 3 finisher in his first championships last year follows closely behind the leading pack. Light conditions are expected for the next 2 days with the breeze increasing for the final races towards the end of the week.
Anthony Carthy's Innocence, the recent winner of the Mermaid Munster title at Foynes lies sixth.
The mixed conditions should ensure the battle will not be resolved until the last race next Friday morning as consistency in the variable conditions looks likely to prove crucial to the ultimate outcome.
Results here
