Royal St. George Entry Diane Wins Ruffian National Champs 2015

14th June 2015

#ruffian23 – Diane skippered by Chris Helme of the host club was the winner of a 16–boat Ruffian 23 National Championhips at the Royal St. George Yacht Club at the weekend. Entries were largely Dublin Bay based but also included regular visitors from Belast Lough.

Race Officer Colin McMullen, assisted by Suzanne McGarry and the race team aboard Albanita, kicked off with a windward leeward race on Friday evening. Trevor Kirkpatrick, commodore of Carrickfergus Sailing Club sailing Carrageen, sailed a faultless race leading the 16 boat fleet from the start and getting the gun ahead of Frank Bradley's Ripples (DMYC), with holder Chris Helme's Diane II (RStGYC) 3rd.

A second race saw very light winds and just 8 boats finishing inside the 2 hour time limit. Again Carrageen took the gun with Rob Sastre's Paramour (NYC) in 2nd, and Chris Helme's Diane II finishing 3rd.

Three races were held on Saturday in a 12-15kt breeze. Diane II won the first race with Carrageen 2nd. The second race saw Carrageen getting her third gun of the series with Diane II finding herself the wrong side of a wind shift and finishing 11th. Saturday's final race resulted in a win for Diane II with Carrageen 2nd.

Going into the final day Carrageen had 5 points after discarding a 2nd – counting three 1sts and a 2nd. Diane II had 8 points after discarding her 11th – counting two 1sts and two 3rds. So Diane II needed two 1sts and needed Carrageen to finish worse than 2nd in both races in order for Diane II to retain the title. The 6th race saw Carrageen leading right up until the finish line where she was just pipped by Diane II and Crescendo (Lorcan Balfe NYC), with Carrageen finishing 3rd.

The last race saw Carrageen failing to recover from a poor start and finishing 7th, while Diane II climbed from 3rd place to 1st, getting her 4th gun of the series and winning the event on count-back from Carrageen.

Ruffian National Champs 2015 at the Royal St. George YC

1 Diane 2 3 3 1 [11] 1 1 1 10

2 Carrageen 1 1 2 1 2 3 [7] 10
3 Paramour [8] 2 6 4 8 4 2 26
4 Shannagh 6 5 5 [10] 3 6 3 28
5 Cresendo 9 4 4 [14] 5 2 6 30
6 Ruffles 7 [DNF] 7 2 4 8 4 32
7 Ripples 2 6 [9] 6 6 5 8 33
8 Bandit 5 [DNF] 3 7 7 7 9 38
9 Alias 4 [DNF] 8 5 9 9 5 40
10 Ruffage 12 8 [13] 8 12 10 10 60
11 Ruff Rider 10 [DNF] 12 3 14 13 11 63
12 Daisy 11 [DNF] 11 9 13 12 13 69
13 Riff Raff 15 [DNF] 10 13 11 11 15 75
14 Ruff Diamond 13 7 14 [DNF] 15 14 12 75
15 Different Drummer [DNS] DNS 15 12 10 DNS DNS 88
16 Ruff n Ready 14 [DNF] DNF DNF DNF 15 14 94

Published in Ruffian 23

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