Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: September Series

The September Series of racing continued at Foynes Yacht Club last Sunday, where a record entry of craft 'took to the water' in their respective classes.

In class 1 Battle stands as the leader so far, closely followed by Hello and Golden Kopper.

In the white sails division Marengo is heading the group, who is beating stiff competition from the other yachts, and in the Mermaid division, Sea Fox and Argo are also battling for line honours.

The weather conditions were a force 4 to 5 westerly wind, with quite a large swell pertaining for most of the race.

The Officer of the Day, Ray McGibney sent class 1 down to the Loughill buoy and back up the Clare shore to round the Sturamus mark and finish at the clubline.

In a keenly contested race in class 1, Donal McCormack and John-Paul Buckley on Battle, fought off Liam Madden on Hello, who was closely followed by John and Edward Conway on Golden Kopper.

The white sails division raced down to the Loughill mark and back to the club finish line, and this is being led by Pat Finucane on Marengo, who has two wins so far. In second place is Dave Bevan on Mariposa.

In a very exciting race between Mermaid class captain, Conor Roche on Sea Fox and Darragh McCormack on Argo, who were literally 'neck and neck' for all of the race, but in the end the tactical skills of Conor took the better of Darragh at the finish line.

So far, the series has been well supported by all members, who are also vieing for the laurels in their divisions. Racing next Sunday starts at 1pm.

Published in Shannon Estuary

Waszp sailing

The Waszp project was conceived in 2010 by Andrew McDougall, designer of the world-beating Mach 2 foiling Moth. 

The Waszp was created as a strict one-design foiler, where, as the class says “the true test when raced is between crews and not boats and equipment”.

The objective of the class rules is to ensure that this concept is maintained. Keeping possible modifications to a minimum ensures fair racing across the fleet, helps to reduce the overall cost to the sailor and reduces the amount of time in the workshop. 

The popularity of the WASZP has proven that the boat and the concept work. In October 2021, 1237 boats had been sold to over 45 countries. 

The top speed recorded on the foiling dinghy is 26.7 knots. 

60-95kgs+ is a weight range competitive across varied conditions with rigs knowns as ‘8.2’ and ‘6.9’.

The cost of a Moth dinghy in Europe is €14,400 inc VAT + shipping according to the manufacturers in October 2021.