North Sails Ireland clients demonstrated the power of 3Di at the weekend in the Cobh to Blackrock Race taking a clean sweep across all the classes.
In fact, we had performance in depth with the top two boats in each class using 3Di upwind sails! Congratulations to all the winners, we are very proud to be your sail suppliers:
- 1st Overall IRC Spinnaker 1 Nieulargo, Denis & Annamarie Murphy
- 2nd overall IRC Spinnaker 1 Miss Whiplash, Ronan Downing
- 1st Overall Spinnaker 2 Cracker, Denis Byrne
- 2nd Overall Spinnaker 2 Luas, Sean Hanley
- 1st Overall White Sails Prince of Tides, Frank Caul
- 2nd Overall White Sails Magnet, Kieran O'Brien
This year's race was a really quick one with the leaders in all three classes setting a record pace. It was my first ever Blackrock Race, I was lucky enough to be sailing with Frank Caul and John Molloy on Prince of Tides the Grand Soleil 37 from the RCYC. Prince of Tides had the fastest elapsed time of all the classes at just 57mins 18 seconds, hard to compare with Spin 1 in reality as we started 10 minutes after them but even so a great performance from the Team.
North Sails got involved with the Prince of Tides Team back in November 2019 and helped them with a few key bits and pieces and pieces over the winter. Then in the Spring of 2020, we added two 3Di Endurance 760 sails with a third one on the way. The old sails were very tired and it was really hard to keep the boat in the groove upwind, flat at the front and round in the back, not a great combination.
The new sails mixed with the boat modifications over the winter have resulted in a complete change of performance from the boat. Honestly, it's like sailing a different boat and we can thank Mark Mills for his help and advice as well as the new North Sails, thanks a million, Mark.
Nieulargo also uses 3Di Endurance 760 sails for their upwind inventory and the race-winning sail for them this year was the Helix Xi Aramid Code Zero Photo: Bob Bateman
Back in Spinnaker 1 Class Nieulargo are continuing their winning ways, so cool to see the family all sailing together and the helming being shared 50:50 between sisters Molly and Mia. There is nothing better than family sailing and it's very nice to be a part of it. Congratulations to the Murphy Family for another Trophy race win. Keep up the good work.
Interesting to note that Nieulargo also uses 3Di Endurance 760 sails for their upwind inventory and the race-winning sail for them this year was the Helix Xi Aramid Code Zero. Talking to Denis after the race back in the RCYC he said the new Zero had won the race for them. They flew the sail from the start of the Fota Channel almost right up to the Blackrock Castle. It's one of those sails, when the wind angle is right they are unbeatable...
Denis Byrne and the Trapper TS250 Cracker Photo: Bob Bateman
I could not finish the report without a shout out for Denis Byrne and the mighty Trapper TS250 Cracker.......Denis has been getting faster and faster in that little boat and although he could be a long way back on the water you can never write him off from the podium! The Blackrock Race was no different this year and Denis not only won Spinnaker class two overall he also won the coveted Moonduster Trophy, congratulations Denis, great work from you and your crew.
For more information about North Sails unique 3Di product please check out the website or call us on the numbers below. See you on the race track...
SAIL FAST.
Nigel
