TOM FITZPATRICK and David McHugh, who this month won the National Laser 2 title with a race - to spare, have made Irish sailing history this week by winning the European championship at a Dutch venue by a similar margin.
Fitzpatrick from Howth and McHugh from Wicklow took the nine race series with a string of consistent results, never outside the top five in the 51 boat fleet. A scoreline of 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2, 2, 2 and 15.75 points overall brought the European title in the international fleet that included 10 top British sailors as well as the German national champions, Dutch Olympic trialists and a six boat Irish team.
Second and third overall were taken by England's Graeme Bristow and Bryan Mobbs on 26.5 points and Nigel Skudder and Keith Mills on 28 points. Dublin pair Ken Hoffman and Sean Doran of Sutton finished in fourth position.
The regatta brought conditions throughout the wind range for racing over short trapezoid courses at Wokum, Holland. By the end of the week, with the Irish pair in a commanding position they put their superior boat handling to good use as winds hit 25 knots. "It's been a lot of hard work but we're absolutely delighted," McHugh said.
Five times J24 champion, Ward Woods will defend his title on Dublin Bay today as the three day Carlsberg sponsored Irish championships begin under the burgee of the National Yacht Club.
Tenerife based Woods might find the Dublin Bay climate colder but the competition should be hot enough for him in this five man keelboat class. The 20 boat fleet includes recently crowned Laser 2 British national champion Sean Craig of the Royal St George YC.
At least six teams of three boats each from Malahide, Howth and Dun Laoghaire will contest this weekend's Cruisers III East coast championship at Malahide with the four race series starting today.
Bray Sailing Club host their annual open dinghy regatta tomorrow which incorporates the Enterprise class Murdoch trophy. There will be individual starts for Enterprises, Flying Fifteens and sundries. Registration takes place today and tomorrow. Further details from Mark Henderson on 01 281 0192.
Published in News From the Afloat.ie Archive
Published in
News From the Afloat.ie Archive
About The Author
Afloat.ie Team
Afloat.ie is Ireland's dedicated marine journalism team.
Have you got a story for our reporters? Email us here.
We've got a favour to ask
More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven’t put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.
Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full–time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.
So you can see why we need to ask for your help.
If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.
