O’Leary beat Stefan Hyde’s team two nil in the best of three sail off.
This was a good warm up for Marty and crew who will represent Ireland next week in the World Student Match Racing Championships on behalf of their University, Dublin Institute of Technology.
Racing in Scotsman’s Bay in an oscillating breeze of 10 – 15 knots, O’Leary won both starts and sailed cleanly from there to win both races. The first race was decided in the last 30 seconds of the pre-start when some good crew work from the DIT team allowed them to block Stefan Hyde out past the Committee Boat.
The first beat saw some frantic tacking by Hyde and crew but the slick crew work from the student team if anything allowed them to pull further ahead and win the race by delta 50 seconds.
The second race was a much closer affair, with a fired up Hyde almost succeeding in pushing his younger rivals over the start line. The two crews then sailed on starboard up to the port layline which allowed Hyde’s team to stay close. However, another good hoist from the DIT crew ensured that there would be no passing lane for Hyde. Despite the gap closing to two lengths at the first leeward mark, O’Leary went on to win by delta 40 seconds.
The second trial for the final spot on the Irish team will take place next Monday evening where skippers Mary O’Loughlin, Martin Mahon and Graham Elmes will fight it out for the coveted space.
The International Match Race Challenge will take place on the weekend of 24th – 25th July 2010 in Scotman’s Bay, Dun Laoghaire.
Six Irish teams captained by Irish No. 1 John Sheehy will take on six teams from around the World captained by World No.2 Mirsky Racing. Live commentary will be provided on VHF over the weekend.
