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Displaying items by tag: Bobby Driscoll

Northern Ireland's Bobby Driscoll shares the lead Topper World Championships on Lake Garda in Italy after winning six of eight races sailed so far in the 5.3 division.

The Ballyholme sailor from Belfast Lough has a three-point lead over Leo Yates of Great Britain.

The under 18 Irish Topper squad is performing strongly, with Driscoll's clubmate Daniel Palmer in third place.

Joining them in the top ten is Liam Duggan of Royal Cork YC in 7th.

As the fleet combines boys and girls, Riona McMorrow Moriarty lies in 16th place overall but is the second girl.

Cormac Byrne and Autumn Halliday are in 22nd and 23rd, respectively, with Emily MacAfee in 27th. 

Seventeen young Topper sailors from Northern Ireland are taking part and results have been impressive in what was a huge fleet of 170 covering the two divisions – Topper 4.2s and 5.3s.

Riva Del Garda delivered classic Lake Garda conditions for the opening races of the Championships 2022. After a wait of three years, the first wins went to Bobby Driscoll of Ballyholme and Royal North YCs  on Belfast Lough’s south shore in the Yellow flight with three straight wins – an impressive result matched by Leo Yates of Island Barn SC, south east of London,  in the Blue fleet who also chalked up three straight wins .

Bobby Driscoll who is the son of the well-known Irish Finn 1996 Olympian and coach John Driscoll, was well ahead of the chasing pack in the 17-18 Knot Ora breeze and 35 degree heat, which dropped a little for the final race. After eight races in which Driscoll scored six wins, he now leads the fleet by three points from Leo Yates of Island Barn SC near London and only one point behind is Ballyholme’s Daniel Palmer.  Cormac Byrne of Strangford SC, Ballyholme and Quoile is well up at 22nd and currently Autumn Halliday from Strangford Lough YC at 23rd is one of the top girls.

And another Northern sailor, Calum Pollard from County Antrim YC on the north side of Belfast Lough in the 24-boat strong Topper 4.2 Championship, leads the fleet and counts four first places in seven races. He has been awarded the Gold Bib twice.

Racing continues until the 29th July.

Download results below.

Published in Topper
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Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2023 Coastal Class

Two Irish hopes in the 2023 Fastnet Race from Cowes will compete first in a 20-boat Coastal Class at July's Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta (VDLR).

Pre-event favourites must be the First 50 Checkmate XX, fresh from Sovereign's Cup victory (three wins from four races sailed) and the Grand Soleil 44 Samatom.

Four races and one discard for the coastal division will be under International Race Officer Con Murphy.

The course will be decided on the race day and communicated to each skipper via a dedicated Offshore WhatsApp group at least one hour before the start. 

The finish will be between the Pier Ends at the Dun Laoghaire Harbour entrance. The finishing time will be taken from the Yellowbrick tracker system.

The class will be the first to start on Thursday, with a warning signal at 1425 and 0955 on Friday. Coastal starts at 1055 on Saturday and 0955 on Sunday. 

The course will use DBSC Marks, Volvo Yellow inflatable Top Hat and Shipping Navigation Marks.

Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2023 Coastal Class Entries

GBR 8859R Jackknife J125 Andrew Hall Pwllheli
GBR 8911R Jezebel J111 1.093 Cris Miles Pwllheli Sailing Club
IRL 3435 Albireo 0.928 David Simpson RIYC
IRL 9898 Indecision J109 1.007 Declan Hayes RIYC
IRL 811 RAPTOR 1.007 Fintan Cairns RIYC
GER 6577 Opal 1.432 Frank Whelan GSC
GBR 9740R SLOOP JOHN T SWAN 40 Iain Thomson
IRL 1507 1.057 James Tyrrell ASC
IRL 1129 Jump The Gun J109 1.005 John M Kelly RIYC
GBR 7536R Hot Cookie Sunfast 3600 John O'Gorman NYC
IRL 3471 Black Velvet 0.979 Leslie Parnell RIYC
IRL 4007 Tsunami First 40.7 Michelle Farreall National Yacht Club
IRL 66 Checkmate XX 1.115 Nigel BIGGS HYC
GBR 6695R Wild Haggis Farr 30 1.060 Nigel Ingram Holyhead
GBR 9496T Bojangles J109 0.999 Paul HAMPSON Liverpool Yacht Club
IRL 1367 Boomerang Beneteau 36.7 0.997 Paul Kirwan
GBR 8992R Lightning Farr 30 1.074 Paul Sutton Holyhead Sailing Club
GBR 9047R Mojito J109 Peter Dunlop Pwllheli SC - RDYC
GBR 9244R Samatom Grand Soleil 44R 1.134 Robert Rendell HYC
IRL 44444 Magic Touch 0.979 Steve Hayes GSC
IRL 3317 Scotia First 31.7 0.930 Terence Fair Ballyholme yacht club
GBR 5373 Honey Bee Hunter HB31 0.900 William Partington Pwllheli Sailing Club / SCYC