Two Days in at the RS 21 World Championships for MarineServices.ie Race Team

4th November 2022

With 25 knots on leaving the pontoon, quickly building, the Irish team had some fun on the way out to the race course…and Sean Donnelly shows off a max speed of 17.3 knots recorded on the Sailmon

The RS 21 World Championships have been a mixed bag for the MarineServices.ie racing team. Very light and fickle winds on day 1 saw two very light shifty races after a postponement onshore.

The crew are new to the boat and the four sailors, Kenny Rumball, Jonathan Sargent, Sean Donnelly, and Andrew Smith have never even sailed together before, so it’s a constant learning process.

Race 1 saw the team choose the extreme left of the first beat, strong boatspeed and solid decision-making in sub-8 knot wind conditions saw the team up to 12th on the water.

In race 2, the team were the victim of an infringement on the line in a dying breeze that never rose above 6 knots. Although battling hard, the Irish team could not take as many places as they liked and really struggled.

Day 2, and with a very windy forecast, the team were off the pontoon at 8 am into very strong wind conditions! Some work the night before on extra battens and improved setups on the mast were keenly awaited to be verified.

With 25 knots on leaving the pontoon, quickly building, the team had some fun on the way out to the race course…

Unfortunately, the wind built too much, and there was not to be any racing today. However, as with all RS events, there is a very strong element on the social and entertainment side of the event. There was a fantastic opening ceremony on day 0. Tonight the team will enjoy a crew party, AGM and dinner tomorrow night, the list goes on!

Published in RS21 Keelboat, INSS

Published in RS21 Keelboat

Tagged under

RS21

About The Author

Kenneth Rumball

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Kenny Rumball is the Principal of the Irish National Sailing School in Dun Laoghaire Harbour. He is a multi dinghy champion and offshore sailor. In 2018 he was awarded the Royal Ocean Racing Club's Seamanship Trophy for a Man Overboard Rescue in the Round Ireland Race. In May 2020 he embarked on a mixed offshore doublehanded keelboat campaign with Pamela Lee.

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