The changeable conditions continued for the Mermaid National Championships which concluded on Friday at Foynes Yacht Club.
The championship began last Sunday in a challenging 20-25kts with strong gusts, rough seas and spring tides. The mixed weather conditions meant the fleet were blown out on the second day and put in a hard 3rd day before the heavy weather started to ease off to a reasonable 15kts on Wednesday. The time of first gun was moving back an hour each day to account for the tide and the fleet were launching about two hours before low water so that the racing would take place during the slackest part of the tide. The best day of the week came on Thursday when the sun came out, the wind eased further to a very steady 10kts westerly and the range of the tide had reduced to a very manageable level.
The change in weather meant that whoever was to become overall champion would have to prove themselves in all extremes. 131 Wild Wind, 188 Innocence and 123 Vee had shown that they could certainly handle the heavy weather but last year's champions 77 Tiler Girl were always going to be the boat to watch in light weather and that was certainly the case for race 4. While the leading four boats were shuffling positions there were also some interesting battles going on amongst the rest of the fleet. 146 Fugitive with Paul Browne, Frankie Browne and Brendan Dunne were having a fantastic regatta in 5th place overall and leading the Daphne and Designer trophies going into the final races. There was only a point or two at most separating each of the positions down along the fleet and with a potential discard to be applied a considerable reshuffle of places could be on the cards.
The decision by the OOD on Thursday to have only one race that day meant that the championship had become a 5 race series. 77 Tiler Girl had their first win of the regatta in race 4 but 131 Wild Wind took 2nd place ahead of 188 Innocence and that was enough to secure Paddy and Johnny Dillon their 2nd Championship while 14 year old Lauren O'Hare became the youngest ever winner of the Mermaid National Championship, with still one race scheduled. Another change in weather brought mirror conditions on Friday morning and unfortunately for Tiler Girl, who needed another race to bring in their discard, racing was cancelled. 2nd place overall went to 188 Innocence with Darragh McCormack, Mark McCormack and Cathal McMahon, much to the delight of the home venue with 123 Vee with Jim, Muriel and Paula Carthy in 3rd place.
The Daphne trophy went to 146 Fugitive and the Designer went to 90 Deirdre with Alan & David Butterly and Michelle Ryan.
The Mermaid fleet had high praise for OOD Geoff O'Donoghue and the race management team and the club would also like to extend their thanks to the OOD , the huge number of volunteers who helped out throughout the week and the many sponsors of the event without whom it could not take place.
First Overall – 131 Wild Wind
Second Overall – 188 Innocence
Third Overall – 123 Vee
Daphne Trophy Winner – 146 Fugitive
Designer 190 Mayhem
Final results:
Overall:
1st 131 Wild Wind (Paddy Dillon), 2nd 188 Innocence (Darragh McCormack), 3rd 123 Vee (Jim Carthy).
Daphne:
1st 146 Fugitive (Paul Browne), 2nd 190 Mayhem (Enda Weldon), 185 The Message (Ross Galbraith)
Designer:
1st 90 Deirdre (Alan Butterly), 2nd 192 Ariel (Anthony Weldon), 3rd Maybe (Paddy Archer)
Celia:
1st Wild Wind (Paddy Dillon), 2nd Vee (Jim Carthy), 3rd 77 Tiler Girl (Johnathan O'Rourke)
Masters:
1st Tiler Girl (Johnathan O'Rourke), 2nd Vee (Jim Carthy), 3rd Azeezy (Sam Shiels)
Munster:
1st 188 Innocence (Darragh McCormack), 2nd 165 Sea Fox (Michael Lynch), 3rd 119 Three Chevrons (Vincent McCormack)
