North Sails Ireland clients dominated the recent J109 Irish National Championships in Howth Yacht Club. The top six places were hoovered up by J109's flying 100% North Sails inventories. Conditions were tough, with winds always in excess of 15 knots and often gusting to 25 knots. J109's flying North Sails 3Di / 3DL upwind and V-Series downwind sails marched away from the competition, demonstrating superior speed and unmatched reliability.
The North Sails Ireland team were very busy supporting the event onshore and afloat. Nigel Young and Maurice "Prof" O'Connell shot tons of video footage and hosted an entertaining and informative post-race de-brief, which judging by the numerous messages they received afterwards, was much appreciated by the teams.
Prof O'Connell at the J109 North Sails Ireland debrief at Howth Yacht Club
Speaking after the event, Irish J109 Class Captain Andrew Craig said, "North Sails videoed the racing on Saturday and Prof O’Connell and Nigel Young debriefed the fleet – no boat could hide their mistakes from the video or Prof and Nigel! This was the third event at which we had North videoing on the water and the fleet gets a huge benefit from it. The common themes were sail trim and being overpowered, late drops at the leeward gates and not enough hiking which Prof calls “free speed". A million thanks to the North Sails team for all their support afloat and onshore".
Here is a sample!
Messy leeward Gate
"Juggerknot" Upwind Video
"White Mischief" Downwind Video
"Storm II" Windward mark Approach
"Jedi" Downwind Video
North Sails Ireland also provided holdalls and hats for the top five places overall and also headfoil flags for the race winners.
The North Sails team at the J109 Nationals Photo: Afloat.ie
"We are delighted to continue our association with the J109 class for both their championships this year and we look forward to working with all the J109 sailors in the 2019 season. It's already shaping up to be a good one!", said North Sails Ireland's Nigel Young, speaking in Howth Yacht Club after the event.
