The fleet had three trapezoid courses set in front of the Promenade in Salthill. The main contenders on day one were Timmy O Laoire and Luke Malcolm from Howth Yacht Club and the Royal St George Yacht Club; Emma Geary and Robbie English for the Royal Cork Yacht Club with Rob Lehane and Iorlaith Kennedy from Kinsale Yacht Club battling up the hard beats, down screaming reaches and flying runs.
In an unusual turn of events following the magnificent arrival of the Volvo Open 70's into Galway Harbour during the early hours of Sunday morning, the dock gates had to be closed for security reasons and the Rescue and Mark Laying boats were left locked inside the dock. However Harbour Master, Brian Sheridan and his very tired and obliging team arranged a crane at short notice and lifted the boats over the Dock Gate. This allowed the 420 Class Connachts racing to go ahead and completion of the series. Whilst many forecasters had expected the weather to be moderate on Sunday the reality was quite different, a fresh to strong breeze filled in from the South West with gusts in excess of 25 knots. The Principal Race Officer and his team decided to lay courses in the relative shelter of the Bay with upwind and downwind legs which made for very exciting and spectacular racing close to the Irish navy vessel LE CIARA which was anchored nearby.
The event was finally won in the last race by Timmy O Laoire and Luke Malcolm who quite clearly thrived in the strong breeze and tough sea conditions planing up the beats and surfing downwind to win the title convincingly. Top GBSC boat went to Gerry Drudy and Dympna O Byrne and top Spiddal Sailing Club Boat went to the father and son combination of Stephen and Ronan O Gorman.
Photo below: Timmy O Laoire and Luke Malcolm from Howth Yacht Club and the Royal St George Yacht Club winning the last race and overall winners of the Connaught Championships 2009
