Dun Laoghaire's Conor O'Beirne of the Royal St George YC won the Laser 4.7 UK Championships in Abersoch at this week-long regatta. Sailed in a variety of conditions from heavy to medium shifty conditions with a few light races thrown in for good measure O'Beirne finished with a 10-point margin and a race to spare. The event included an Irish representation of eight sailors, all of whom were competive in the fleet. Aisling Keller of LDYC challenged for the lead up to the final day, finishing a close third overall. At the mid-point, Irish sailors occupied five of the top ten places. Sorcha Ni Shuilleabhain of KYC finished in the top ten with Eric Ruigrok RSC placing 15th. Overall the Irish sailors finished strongly with most well inside the top half which bodes well for Irish Laser sailing into the future.

In the Laser Radial fleet, Daragh O'Sullivan of KYC put together a very strong series, including three bullets, to finish fifth overall. Dan O'Beirne from RStGYC also sailed a consistent series with string of top ten finishes to place 9th overall.

The event also featured top twenty placings for Cian Cahill, RStGYC and Ryan Glynn, BYC with the majority of the rest of the Irish sailors showing well in the Gold Fleet. Considering the Radial class included two GBR Olympic campaigners in the fleet of almost 100 along with the RYA-funded GBR Radial squad of 14 sailors, Irish Radial sailors have a lot to be happy about.

The championships consisted of a 12 race series with the best 10 races to count over six days competition.

Laser 4.7 UK Champs Overall

Series Place	Sail No	Helm	M/F	Crew	Category	Tally	UK Nats
1	183231	Conor O'BEIRNE		G	J	4.7-042	I
2	174568	Will CREAVEN		G	Y	4.7-010	W
3	193620	Aisling KELLER	L	G	J	4.7-046	I
4	202458	Hamish ECKSTEIN		G	J	4.7-023
5	179795	Sam MCKAY		G	Y	4.7-014
6	191850	Georgia BOOTH	L	G	J	4.7-027
7	195118	Tom JOESBURY		G	J	4.7-030	W
8	201701	Sophie HERITAGE	L	G	J	4.7-039
9	165292	Joe WOODLEY		G	J	4.7-008
10	198435	Sorcha NI SHUILLEABHAIN	L	G	Y	4.7-049	I
11	193494	Jack ROCKETT		G	J	4.7-029
12	151286	Simon WEATHERSPOON		G	J	4.7-005
13	161777	Caitlin TWEEDLE	L	G	Y	4.7-007
14	186262	Josh ATHERTON		G	J	4.7-020
15	197362	Erica RUIGROK	L	G	J	4.7-048	I
16	196999	David HAW		G	J	4.7-032
17	197899	Karyna MANUEL	L	G	J	4.7-034
18	180292	Emily GENT	L	G	J	4.7-015
19	185978	Rupert DANIELS		G	Y	4.7-019
20	193576	Craig CAMPBELL		G	Y	4.7-045
21	198827	Jacob FARREN-PRICE		G	J	4.7-036
22	186695	Sophie TAYLOR	L	G	Y	4.7-021	S
23	19617	Hanna BRANT	L	S	J	4.7-017
24	192861	Andrew LEVIE		G	Y	4.7-044	I
25	130583	Verity HOPKINS	L	S	Y	4.7-003
26	189216	Scott O'SULLIVAN		G	J	4.7-043	I
27	178210	Sam TWEEDLE		S	J	4.7-013
28	149321	Harry COBBY		S	Y	4.7-009
29	196243	Lucy BURROWS	L	G	Y	4.7-047	I
30	119333	Fred WARREN-SMITH		S	Y	4.7-002
31	185655	Sam CHILTON		S	J	4.7-018
32	153740	Chelsea JACKSON	L	S	Y	4.7-006	W
33	191038	Sam THOMAS		S	J	4.7-025	W
34	189370	Edward DOWNES		S	Y	4.7-024	W
35	197705	Aimee O'BRIEN	L	S	J	4.7-033
36	187491	Ollie TAIT		S	J	4.7-022
37	191693	James EADY		S	J	4.7-026
38	180777	Harriet PHILO POWELL	L	S	J	4.7-016
39	201836	Tom FENEMORE		S	J	4.7-040
40	199271	Fiona HARRINGTON	L	S	Y	4.7-037
41	191794	James WILLIAMS		S	Y	4.7-035	W
42	200748	Tai THOMAS-DAY		S	J	4.7-038
43	192517	Rosie POVALL	L	S	Y	4.7-028
44	136198	Steph HARDING	L	S	Y	4.7-050
45	186068	Poppy DANIEL	L	S	J	4.7-041
46	196381	Melissa BRADY	L	S	J	4.7-031	S
47	176716	Tadhg O'FARRELL		S	J	4.7-011
48	133335	Millie HOPKINS	L	S	J	4.7-004
49	118465	Melissa COULTON-MCCULLOUGH	L	S	J	4.7-001

Strong winds have forced the cancellation of racing at the Star European championships in Dun Laoghaire for the second time in three days. 40 knot southwesterlies have left the Royal St.George YC organisers with no option but to scrub today's racing and tonight's Apres Sail party.  27 boats from 17 nations arre competing, Ireland's Peter O'Leary and David Burrows lie third after yesterday's two races.

It’s tight at the top of the leaderboard after the first three races of the SIAC Construction Squib National Championships at Howth Yacht Club today (Sat.30^th), which saw three different race winners, each representing the three main Squib fleets. PHOTOS HERE.

Sailing in moderate south-easterlies that increased in strength as the day went on, the 37-boat fleet was led home in the first race by Howth’s ‘Kerfuffle’ (Jonathan Craig/Hazel Ruane) followed by ‘Ruby Blue’ (Aidan O’Connell/Sian McCleave) of the Royal St.George YC and then ‘Inshallah’ (David Eccles/Philip Hutchinson) of the Royal North of Ireland YC.

Defending champions Peter Wallace and Kerry Boomer of RNIYC in ‘Toy for the Boy’ showed the way in race 2, followed by ‘Inshallah’ and ‘Quickstep III’ (Gordon Patterson/Ross Nolan) to make it a Cultra 1-2-3.

The third race was won by ‘Ruby Blue’, with ‘Quickstep III’ in second ahead of ‘Fagin’ (Michael & David Hill, RNIYC) in third. Subject to protest, Aidan O’Connell has a one point advantage over Peter Wallace with Craig and Eccles joint third on 12 points.

The National Yacht Club hosted the 420 dinghy Leinster Sailing Championships over the Easter Weekend, attracting twelve boats and visiting crews travelling from Crosshaven, Kinsale, Malahide, Spiddal, Tralee and Wexford.

Emma Geary and Niamh Connolly from Royal Cork YC counted four wins and a second place in the six-race series to win the event convincingly. The girls will be aiming to repeat their success next weekend at the ISA Mitsubishi Youth Nationals in Dun Laoghaire in order to secure a nomination to the 2011 ISAF Youth Worlds, which will be held in Croatia.

Fiona and Patrick Daly of Tralee Bay SC finished second overall with a very consistent four 2^nds and two 3^rds Aodh Kennedy/Daniel Browne (Kinsale YC) who were third overall and Richard D’Esterre/Peter Stokes (CYS/Royal Munster) also recorded race wins.

Alanna Lyttle and Cian Guifoyle (Royal St.George YC) narrowly defeated fellow newcomers Emily Jones and Liadh Conway (Wexford Harbour BC) for the Silver Fleet Trophy.

PRO Larry Power and his mark laying teams provided excellent racing in sometimes challenging wind conditions while Sandra Moore ran the race office throughout the weekend.

Full results available here.

 

Barry O'Neill made a clean sweep of the prizes for the third year running in the SB3 class on Dublin Bay. James Gorman showed form to win series 3.YC. The class announced its annual Dublin Bay Sailing Club prizewinners ahead of the prize giving ceremony, on of the biggest nights of the sailing year in Dun Laoghaire, on Friday 12th November at the Royal St.George YC. The winners are:

SB3 DBSC Prize Winners 2010

Sunday Overall
1st. Sin Bin                            Barry O'Neill           1st. Silver Fleet  Bob Hobby
2nd. Alert Packaging           Justin Burke
3rd. Seriously Bonkers      Martin Cuppage

Sunday Series 1
1st. Mephisto                        Stephanie and Tim Bourke
2nd. Seriously Bonkers      Martin Cuppage
3rd.Alert Packaging            Justin Burke

Sunday Series 2
1st. Alert Packaging            Justin Burke
2nd.Sin Bin                            Barry O'Neill
3rd. Design Security           Colin Galavan

Sunday Series 3
1st. Odin                                 James Gorman
2nd. Sin Bin                           Barry O'Neill
3rd.  Seriously Bonkers     Martin Cuppage

Thursday Overall
1st. Sin Bin                            Barry O'Neill
2nd. Design Security           Colin Galavan
3rd. Alert Packaging           Justin Burke

Thursday Series 1
1st. Sin Bin                            Barry O'Neill
2nd. Design Security           Colin Galavan
3rd. Bom Chickawahwah  John O'Driscoll

Thursday Series 2
1st. Sin Bin                            Barry O'Neill
2nd. Design Security           Colin Galavan
3rd. Alert Packaging           Justin Burke

A Royal St George YC team have taken the prestigious Cumberland Cup over the weekend after a near-flawless series of racing. The team went into the final stages without dropping a single race, and claimed what's thought to be the oldest trophy in sailing for Ireland. The event was sailed in J80s on Queen Mary SC's reservoir, starting on Friday after a royal reception in St James' Palace on Thursday night.

Royal Thames YC has yet to provide any details on the week's racing but we'll have more from the team later in the day. More here now.

The waiting is over for ICRA members writes Claire Bateman and this is the last sailing reminder for anyone still wishing to take part in the feeder race from Cork to Dun Laoghaire on Friday next. This promises to be a challenging and exciting race and will feature three Irish Commodores’ Cup yachts from the Royal Cork Yacht Club, Anthony O'Leary in his Ker 39 Antix, Dave Dwyer in his Mills 39 Marinerscove.ie and Andrew Creighton in Roxy 6, the new Corby 36.  This will be Roxy's first competitive outing and there will be much interest in this latest addition to the fleet.  Entry for this race is mandatory for any boat wishing to compete in the Commodores' Cup.

As entry for the feeder race does not close until 18.30hrs. on Friday, 14th May at the Royal Cork Club Race Office, it is not known yet which boats will sail and which will travel by road. What can be confirmed is Donal O'Leary of RCYC will be sailing his well known D-tox and Schull Harbour Commodore, Morgan O'Donovan in Loco will be using the feeder as a qualifier for his entry to the Round Ireland Race in June.

First gun will be at 19.55 hrs at Weavers Point on Friday and the start line will be a laid line between a committee boat (Adrielle) and an adjacent mark in the harbour.  The finish line will be between the lighthouses on the East and West Piers at the entrance to Dun Laoghaire Harbour.  Yachts will record their own finish times together with the names and approximate times of boats immediately ahead and astern, if possible.  Time limit for the race will be 12.00 hrs on Sunday, May 16th.