The consistently well-sailed Storm from Howth Yacht Club has retained the RC35 Celtic Cup in 2019 writes Robin Young.
The four-event championship was hard-fought between 14 boats in the competitive Scottish RC35 fleet and Storm were chased hard by the Scottish boats Animal and Jacob VII in second and third respectfully.
The championship started with the Scottish season opener at Kip Regatta where Animal got off to a great start in trying to wrestle the cup from Storm with a first place. Storm were never far behind in the light wind event with a second-place and Blue Jay performing well in 3rd.
The second round was the ever-popular CCC Scottish Series in Loch Fyne. A wide variety of conditions saw all 14 boats competing over a mixture of courses. Chimaera sailed an excellent regatta, not only securing the class victory, but the overall prize as well. They were pushed all the way by fellow Irish boats Hi Jacker, Storm and Something Else. The 3 rd place gave Storm a little breathing room going into the third regatta but it was close behind them.
Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta was the third event in the series. Seven Scottish boats made the biennial pilgrimage south to Dublin Bay to compete in the internationally recognised event. They joined 4 other local boats competing in the Celtic Cup and another 15 boats in the exciting Class 1. Storm secured an excellent 3rd place overall in the hyper-competitive Class 1 fleet meaning they were the first of the Celtic Cup boats, further extending their lead. Animal, Jacob VII and Triple Elf followed them, keeping the race for the remaining podium positions close.
A pretty wild forecast lead to a reduced fleet competing in Pwllheli for the Spinlock IRC Welsh Championships, the final event in the Celtic Cup. Scottish boats Triple Elf and Jings still made the journey and were treated a windy and exciting regatta. Close racing between the two boats eventually saw them finish second and third in Class 1. If not for a UTD in the last race it would have been a victory for Triple Elf!!
The RC35 committee sums it up well, “overall it was a great Championship and it is fantastic to be able to add an international angle to the class and showcase the close competitive racing we are enjoying with the RC35 Class in Scotland. Watch this space for the schedule announcement for 2020".
Download overall results below
