#RS SAILING - Howth Yacht Club hosted 54 boats in three classes for the RS400, RS200 and RS Feva National Championships over the weekend (click HERE for photos).
The Irish version of the 'RS Games' proved a big hit with all competitors. The race management team, headed by PRO David Lovegrove, did a fantastic job to get 10 races in for all three classes in spite of some shifty conditions.
This was all the more impressive as each course change required the moving of up to 10 marks. No mean feat, but the Howth Yacht Club team took it in their stride.
In the RS400 class, bothers Emmet and James Ryan from the Royal St George Yacht Club took the top spot. They didn’t make things easy by using up a discard on the first race of the event and only snatched the win on the last run of the last race having rounded the final weather mark in fourth place.
Greystones class stalwarts Simon Herriott and Tom Moran took second place, while in third place, and the top youth RS400 team, was a very impressive display by Andy Verso and Oisin Baugh, also from Greystones.
In the RS200 class it was another family affair and another Royal St George win with father-and-son pair Sean and Stephen Craig taking first place. It was extremely tight at the top of the 200 fleet with only three points separating the top four boats in the end.
Teams from Greystones filled the next two podium places with Frank and Kevin O’Rourke taking second and last year’s champions Roy Van Maanen and Glen Reid taking third place.
In the Feva class, GB sailors filled the top three slots with Elliott Wells and Jake Todd taking the title on count back from fellow Hayling Island sailors Tom Darling and Will Dolin. Chay and Stirling Taylor took third place.
In the battle for local/Irish bragging rights, Eoin Lyden and Brian Stokes from Cork got one over the Dublin rivals to claim top Irish Feva spot.
Full results can be found at the Howth Yacht Club website at www.hyc.ie, while photos of the event are available HERE.
