#ROWING: UCD took the Wylie Cup for men and the Bank of Ireland Cup for women at the University Championships of Ireland at the National Rowing Centre in Cork today. Under the new rules two wins in eights across the grades of Novice, Intermediate, Club and Senior grades sufficed. UCD won the men’s Novice and Club eights and the Novice and Intermediate in women’s eights.

It was, however, a particularly good day for Trinity. They bested UCD in both the senior men’s and women’s eights and won the overall points classification.

University Championships of Ireland, National Rowing Centre (Selected Results)

Men

Wylie Cup: UCD

Eight – Senior: 1 Trinity, 2 NUIG, 3 UCD. Club: 1 UCD A, 2 Trinity, 3 Queen's. Intermediate: 1 NUIG, 2 Trinity, 3 UCD A. Novice: 1 UCD A, 2 Trinity A, 3 Queen’s A.

Four – Club, coxed: UCD A.

Pair – Senior: UCC.

Sculling, Quadruple – Senior: UCC. Novice: Queen’s. Double – Intermediate: Cork IT. Single – Senior: 1 Univ of Limerick (M O’Donovan). - Intermediate: UCC (S O’Connor).

Women

Bank of Ireland Cup: UCD

Eight – Senior: 1 Trinity B, 2 UCD, 3 Trinity A. Club: 1 NUIG, 2 Queen's, 3 Trinity. Intermediate: 1 UCD, 2 NUIG, 3 Trinity. Novice: 1 UCD, 2 Queen’s A, 3 Trinity B.

Four – Senior: Trinity B. Club, coxed: NUIG. Intermediate, coxed: UCC.

Sculling, Quadruple – Novice, coxed: NUIG. Double – Intermediate: Trinity B.

Single – Intermediate: Trinity (S Dolan).

Overall Points Winners: Trinity.

#UCD – University College Dublin (UCD) sailing team won the five race Student Yachting Nationals title in Howth at the weekend to qualify for the Student Yachting World Cup (SYWoC) in France and represent Ireland in La Rochelle later this year. 

It's more top marks for the Dublin college whose watersports clubs have already taken wins in the 2014 Sailing intervarsities in Wexford, the inaugural Kitesurfing Championships and rowing's Gannon Cup on the river Liffey. 

The team was made up of previous SYWoC sailors Philip and Simon Doran (Afloat Sailor of the Month for March), Ben Fusco and Sophie Murphy, with Will Byrne on bow.

The team are returning to La Rochelle in October to try win back the trophy first won by them in 2012.

#sailorofthemonth – Simon Doran of Courtown SC sailed his fourth intervarsities for UCD in Wexford five weekends ago, and played a key role in bringing the Dublin College in as Irish Champions for 2014. The name Doran will not disappear from the UCDSC listings, however, as his younger brother Philip was also a member of the winning team, and he will be taking over the baton of carrying the family name in intervarsity sailing in the years ahead. The next contest will be the historic Sailing Colours Match between UCD and TCD on the Liffey from the MV Cill Airne in the heart of Dublin on Saturday April 12th with the first race at 10.0am.

While we particularly honour Simon Doran for his continuing high-achieving input into student sailing, it should be acknowledged that this year's Irish Open Nationals was successfully sailed despite a period of meteorological mayhem, so it was a true team effort at all levels afloat and ashore. And thanks to sound decisions by race officers Aidan MacLaverty and Dave White, as well as the hospitality and versatile sailing water provided by Wexford Harbour Boat Club above the bridge on the Slaney Estuary, a full programme was put through for the hard-worked and well-reefed Fireflies, which continue to give sterling service as the boat of choice for team racing.

The full team which took the title for UCD were Simon Doran & Jan Dolan, Philip Doran & Bella Morehead, and Conor Murphy & Eimear McIvor. And while of course this monthly award is for the sailing achievement, we'd also like to praise all Ireland's college sailors for their spirited turnout in full black tie mode for their annual dinner in mid championship.

The Irish Varsities ball was held in Wexford as part of the IUSA Championships

The winning UCD team celebrate their Varsity title

It had a wonderfully cheering effect on the entire sailing community at a time when most of us were more concerned by wondering if our boats would be blown over in the boatyard, or if the roof would come off the house, or if not, then would the house be flooded out?

#ROWING: UCD won the Gannon Cup for senior men after a terrific struggle, while Trinity senior women took the Corcoran Cup in facile fashion at the Colours Rowing Races on the Liffey today.

Trinity’s crew led the Gannon Cup race from just after the start, but could not gain a clearwater lead. UCD’s pushes were relentless, and though they were still behind coming through the final bridge, Watling Street, they then powered through and had command of the race when Trinity’s number four man and captain, Luke Acheson, collapsed. The race was not rowed out. It took a long time – too long - to get Acheson into an ambulance, as he had to be brought up the river all the way to City Quay before being lifted up the steps. He was being treated in St James’s Hospital this afternoon.

Trinity’s Corcoran Cup crew demonstrated that size is not everything in rowing. They were outsiders, but simply rowed better than UCD. They eked out an early lead and built it steadily into an unassailable margin by the end.

UCD’s annexation of the Sally Moorhead Trophy for novice women was also one-sided, but Trinity took the novice men’s title after UCD suffered a boat-stopping crab right in front of the Four Courts. UCD came back to lead briefly, but Trinity took control again before the finish.

Colours Rowing Races, O’Connell Bridge to St James’s Gate

Men – Senior (Gannon Cup): UCD (M Bailey, W Yeomans, C O’Riada, B Crosse, D O’Neill, A Griffin, P Moore, N Kenny (stroke); cox: L Mulvihill) bt Trinity not rowed out. Novice (Dan Quinn Shield): Trinity bt UCD 1 ½ l.

Women – Senior (Corcoran Cup): Trinity (G Crowe, H O’Neill, H McCarthy, R Deasy, S O’Brien, A Leahy, S Cass, R Morris (stroke); cox: N Williams) bt UCD easily.

Novice (Sally Moorhead Trophy): UCD bt Trinity easily.

#kitesurf – On the 7th of March 2014 UCD Kitesurfing club descended upon Duncannon in County Wexford for the first ever Kitesurfing Intervarsities. With a promising forecast there was great excitement on the Friday night to what lay ahead. We awoke on Saturday to a fresh 17 - 20 knots of wind and we couldn't wait to get out on the water. After a filling breakfast everyone rushed down to the beach to pump up their kites and get changed into wetsuits for the day.

The beginners were the first to launch their kites and with the help of the instructors from Hooked Kitesurfing they quickly grasped the necessary skills to move on to more technical kiting during the evening. While the lessons on land were taking place the advanced riders took to the water to quickly show off their skills and warm-up for the competition. An attempt was made at running a big-air competition in the hope of seeing some huge leaps into the sky but unfortunately Mother Nature did not supply the necessary wind.

The call was made to move straight into racing heats. The first of the heats saw DIT, Trinity and UCD battle it out across the waters of Duncannon beach with some exciting action.

An unfortunate start in one of the heats for UCD kiter Colin Torpay who got tangled up in another racers lines at the beginning of a heat. After a few close heats the final race saw the following racers compete: Brian Digan - TCD, Ryan O'Hare - DIT, George Kosinski - UCD, Patrick Haller - UCD and Kevin Doherty - UCD.

In a tight battle at the start of the race Ryan O'Hare got the early lead and blasted towards the mark at the far end of the beach with Brian and Patrick hot on his trail.

At the back of the pack Kevin and George fought to get ahead of each other. In the end the final result saw Ryan O'Hare winning it for DIT with Patrick Haller coming a close 2nd and Brian Digan right behind him in 3rd.

The girls of UCD Kitesurfing also showed impressive skills throughout the weekend dominating the ladies racing final. Although there were great performances all around, mention must be made of Gabriela Drewniak who demonstrated a vast improvement in her kiting ability and also won Club person of the year. James Ryan of UCD won the prize for Rookie of the Year with his dedication over the winter. With the competition wrapped up everyone took to the water to enjoy the rest of the days wind. The results of the days racing were announced after dinner at Roche's Bar with the final score being UCD 5, DIT 3, TCD 1.

Sundays forecast was much lighter than expected and unfortunately we could not get out on the kites. After some creative thinking UCD helped created a new sport- Stand Up Kite Boarding (SUK-Bo). Thanks to the help of Patrick Haller we also did a few wakeboarding runs along the seas edge with Patrick's car. Overall the weekend was a resounding success for the first ever Kitesurfing Varsities and we hope to see it continue and grow in the future. A special thanks to the guys from Hooked Kitesurfing, TCD, RCSI and DIT Kitesurfing Clubs in helping us organise such a successful event. George Kosinski, P.R.O - events manager.

The Gannon Cup Committee have announced the arrangements for the 2014 Dublin University Boat Races between Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin. The Colours rowing races will this year take place on Sunday,  March 16th, in association with the official St Patrick’s Festival. The races  will be contested on  the River Liffey from O’Connell Bridge to St James’ Gate Brewery. The senior men's race (The Gannon Cup) is set for 11 o'clock and  the senior women's race (Corcoran Cup) 10.30. The programme will commence at 9:30am with the novice women racing for the Sally Moorhead Trophy, followed by the novice men’s race for the Dan Quinn Shield at 10am.
A winter of extreme weather conditions has led to the cancellation of the majority of Rowing Ireland events, making it hard to predict the outcome of what promises to be a very exciting series of races.
 For Susannah Cass, who will row in the seven seat of Trinity's Corcoran Cup crew, this is just the first test in a summer of rowing adventures. Susannah will be racing across the Irish Sea in the Celtic Challenge race in May, before competing in the world’s first Pacific Ocean rowing race – a 2,400 mile challenge from California to Hawaii. Meanwhile, in the UCD crew, the Gilligan sisters will be hoping to keep the Corcoran Cup in the family, as Aoife enlists her sister Ruth’s help in defending the title.
 The senior men's race will have its 66th staging on Sunday. The Gannon Cup was founded in 1947 in memory of former UCD captain Ciarán Gannon, who lost his life serving in the Royal Army Medical Corps in Burma in 1944. There were no races in 1957 and 1958. UCD have dominated the event in recent years and will be hoping to make this their 7th consecutive win with the help of a strong crew of promising young athletes including World Under-23 silver medallist Niall Kenny. Trinity hope the return of coach Nick Dunlop, whose record includes a number of convincing Gannon Cup wins, turns the UCD tide.
Trinity won the coin toss hosted at Leinster House by Taoiseach Enda Kenny. They chose to race on the north station in both the men’s and women’s races.
The university boat races are an annual event on the River Liffey echoing the world famous Oxford/Cambridge University Boat Race in London. In 1980 Trinity were presented with the Corcoran Cup as winners of the inaugural women’s boat race; however, UCD responded strongly to this initial defeat and currently lead the series by 21 wins to Trinity’s 13. Races for novice men and women were introduced in 2004 and 2005 respectively.

Spectator buses will follow the races and depart from the O’Connell Bridge.
Program of events:
9:30am The Moorhead Trophy – Novice Women (holder Trinity)
10:00am The Dan Quinn Perpetual Shield – Novice Men (holder UCD)
10:30am The Corcoran Cup – Senior Women (holder UCD)
11:00am The Gannon Cup – Senior Men (holder UCD)

#teamracing – On the 20th-22nd of February, the Irish University Sailing Association Inter-Varsities Championships took place in Wexford Harbour Boat and Tennis Club. 25 teams from 9 colleges around the country, including 2 teams from Scotland competed for the annual trophy. The team racing took place in Firefly dinghies, with 3 on 3 racing. After a day of racing in random pools, the teams were separated into Gold Silver and Bronze fleets for the second day. Round robins took place on the Friday to decide on the layout of the finals on Saturday.
Early favourites of UL (last year's winners), UCC, Trinity and UCD made the quarter finals, but unfortunately Trinity and UL didn't make it past this stage.UCD1 met UCD3 in the quarter-finals on Saturday, and while UCD's third team put up a good fight against the eventual champions, they lost 2-0 in a best of 3 round. UCD 2 met a very strong UCC2 team, and the Cork side emerged victors, advancing to the semis to face their newest enemies UCC1. TCD met the Scottish representatives SUSA in their quarter final, and in close racing the Scots came out on top. Last year's winners UL faced UCC1 in their quarter-final, but couldn't get past the very strong Cork side.
UCD1 went on to face SUSA in their semi, while a Cork showdown happened in the other half of the draw with UCC 1 and UCC 2. UCD1 won their races 2-0, but the Cork battle was a much more intense affair, with Cork's first team winning 2-1.
The best of 5 final was raced in gusty conditions with storm sails up, and sailors at maximum hike for all the beats. The balcony on the clubhouse facing the racing was split, half UCD and the other UCC, each side shouting for their team. The first race went to UCD in a 1, 2 formation. The second race went to UCC winning with a 1, 2, 6. The third race brought great excitement for the spectators gathered on land with a UCC boat capsizing on the starting line, letting UCD get into a winning formation by the first mark. UCD's lead was strengthened by another UCC boat capsizing on the downwind leg. UCC had a boat in first but he was unable to help his team-mates recover the ground they had lost. The score was 2-1 to UCD. In the 4th race UCC had a good start, and kept a winning combination for the duration of the race, setting up a winner-takes-all final race. Race 5 brought a big lead for UCD as they took first place at the first mark and extended the race. They held this lead while UCC tried to break apart the winning combination around the course. Simon of UCD held his 3rd place and Philip pulled a UCC boat back with him, leaving the fleet spread out on the final leg. Simon kept his 3rd place, and with Conor's 1st, this was enough to crown UCD1 winners of the 2014 Varsities. It was Simon's 4th Varsities final, and younger brother Philip's first, a fitting passing of the torch.

The winning UCD team celebrate their Varsity title

The winning UCD team was Simon Doran & Jen Dolan, Philip Doran & Bella Morehead and Conor Murphy & Eimear McIvor. UCC2 won their petite final to come 3rd, a very strong finish for UCC in 2nd and 3rd place. SUSA 2 were Silver fleet champions, beating UCD 4 in their close final. Bronze fleet glory went to TCD 2. The college team racing circuit is one of the most active and competitive groups in the country, with many of Ireland's top student sailors representing their colleges there.
The college team racing circuit is now finished for the year, with the exception of the annual Colours races between UCD and Trinity which will be held in April. The students now look to the Student Yachting Nationals over the next few weeks, the winners of which will qualify to represent Ireland at the Student Yachting World Cup in France next Autumn.

#NeptuneHead: The fastest crew home at the Neptune Head of the River at Blessington Lakes today was the UCD men’s senior eight, but a four made up of two pairs in the Ireland training system were  third, nine seconds behind the UCD eight. Cormac Folan and Dave Neale, who train in Dublin, and Aidan McEvoy and Finbar Manning, who are based in Limerick, were watched by Don McLachlan, the Ireland lead coach. The double of Gary and Paul O’Donovan caught a crab directly in front of McLachlan, but were the fastest double of the day. However, Niall Kenny won the senior single sculls impressively, posting significantly faster times in both the first and second heads than Paul O’Donovan could manage in his effort in the first head.

Neptune Head of the River, Blessington Lakes (Selected Results):

Overall: 1 UCD senior eight (2nd head) 12 minutes 34 seconds, 2 Carlow/Three Castles sen eight (1st hd) 12:41, 3 Gráinne Mhaol/St Michael’s senior four (2nd hd) 12:43, 4 Neptune sen eight (1st hd) 12:45, 5 Carlow intermediate eight (2nd hd) 13:01, 6 Portora junior eight (2nd head) 13:02.

Men

Eight, Senior: 1 UCD 12:34, 2 Carlow/Three Castles 12:41, 3 Neptune 12:45. Intermediate: Carlow 13:01. Novice: Neptune 14:55. Junior: Portora 13:02. Junior 16: Portora 13:48. Masters: Commercial 14:12.

Four, Senior: Grainne Mhaol/St Michael’s 12:43, 2 Grainne Mhaol/NUIG (1st hd) 13:20, 3 Grainne Mhaol/NUIG (2nd hd) 13:23. Intermediate, coxed: Trinity 13:37. Novice: NUIG 15:44. Junior, coxed: Blackrock 14:53. Masters, coxed: NUIG 16:02.

Sculling

Quadruple – Novice, coxed: Blackrock 17:03. Junior 16, coxed: Portora 15:06. Double – Senior: 1 Skibbereen/UCD 13:29, 2 NUIG 14:05, 3 Carlow 14:20.

Single – Senior: 1 UCD (N Kenny; 1st hd) 15:07, 2 UCD (N Kenny; 2nd hd) 15:19, 3 UCD (P O’Donovan) 15:23. Intermediate: Trinity (Morgan) 15:41.

Women

Eight, Senior: Trinity 14:18. Intermediate: Trinity 15:20. Jun 18: Portora 14:45. Jun 16: Portora 15:37.

Four, Senior: 1 NUIG/Tribesmen 14:32, 2 UCD 15:15, 3 Trinity 15:45. Intermediate, coxed: NUIG 16:17. Novice, coxed: Trinity 17:12. Junior: Neptune 19:05.

Sculling

Quadruple – Junior, coxed: Offaly 16:39. Double – Senior: 1 Commercial (C Jennings, G Foley) 16:09, 2 NUIG/Tribesmen 16:14, 3 UCD 16:41.

Single - Senior: Three Castles (H Walshe) 16:26, 2 Three Castles (E Moran) 16:31, 3 Commercial (Dolan) 16:37. Intermediate: Commercial (G Foley) 17:37.

#sywoc – France won the 2013 Student Yachting World Cup in style on home waters at the weekend leaving the Irish defending champions, UCD in eighth. A second Dublin universities team was ninth in the 14–boat fleet. Details from Michalis Pateniotis:

This morning, we could see tired faces among every crew. Today was the last day of the 33rd edition of the Student Yachting World Cup. France was already known, yesterday, as the new champion. Switzerland, second, was 6 points ahead Team USA. The EPFL team must secure their place.

Today, because of the tide, only one race could happen. The committee chose a windward leeward race. This race runs for the "Pornic Trophy".

The wind was very low, with only 7 knots coming from South East. All the teams did a fair start. This race was without spinnakers. France finished this race sixth, enough to secure overall victory.

Back to the harbor, France from Kedge Business School celebrated their victory on the pontoon after 18 outstanding races on the water. The AGPM trophy for the general winner of the coastal races also belongs to France. The trophy of the city of Pornic belongs to Switzerland, winner of the race of the day and also second at the general ranking. The USA finished third and complete the podium. 

#sywc – Keeping the top student sailing teams together is a challenging task, as the usual three to four year period at university means that personnel turnover is inevitably rapid writes WM Nixon. Then too, it has to be remembered that students are at university in the hope of getting a degree, so at times the demands of preparing for exams have to take precedence over sport.

This situation has resulted in the Irish campaigns in the week-long Student Yachting Worlds – which begin this weekend at Pornic in Brittany – becoming something of a local derby between Dun Laoghaire and Howth.

Defending champions UCD – who had a runaway win in the series in France last year – did so under the umbrella of the Royal St George YC in Dun Laoghaire, which put so much in the way of boat availability, facilities and coaching towards helping the UCD team beforehand that their success contributed to Royal St George becoming the Mitsubishi Motors "Club of the Year".

With their win, it meant that UCD have a place as of right in this year's Worlds. There has been a change of format for the event, which will now be sailed in J/80s, resulting in a more compact crew which in UCD's case will be drawn from all over Ireland, but currently focus on Dun Laoghaire in their sailing. The team is Philip Doran (Courtown), Ben Fusco (Kinsale), Bella Morehead (Cork), Sophie Murphy (Strangford Lough), and Conor Murphy (Howth), while UCDSC Commodore Vinnie Varley (Malahide) is travelling as reserve.

UCD already having a place, the other Irish universities were then entitled to compete for the position of national representatives. This series was sailed on Saturdays in April at Howth in J/80s , and University of Limerick skippered by Rob O'Leary were winners. But by August, it was becoming clear that any hopes of a UL team getting itself together again and going to France were very slim, so the baton was passed to Dublin City University, who had been runners-up in the selections series, helmed by Ryan Scott of Howth.

But as with the other colleges, DCU's team were scattered far and wide by August, with many of them likely to stay so. However, consultation with the organizers revealed a fairly liberal set of rules regarding the selection of team personnel, and in the end Team Ireland DCU has been built entirely around the junior membership of Howth YC.

The core of the crew is still the winning DCU squad, but other colleges are involved. Ryan Scott (DCU) is helm, while mainsheet/tactician is Shane Giviney (DCU). Tactical input can also be expected from mid-boat crew Diana Kissane (TCD) and Sam O'Byrne (also TCD), while the bowman is Luke Malcolm (Dublin Institute of Technology).

This Howth College team (there actually was a third level College of Howth once upon a time, but that was back in the late Mediaeval era) have had only a few weeks to get organised on a training programme and seek some action. Yet they were on the upward graph in the recent British Match Racing Series in J/80s when the final day's racing had to be scrubbed, despite which they placed four overall.

The Student Yachting Worlds 2013 have attracted teams from fifteen counries, including Japan and China, with Dalhousie representing Canada while the Naval Academy in Annapolis sails for the US. The event gets under way from October 12th, and there's an inaugural Crew Dinner when each team is expected to provide a dish representative of their national cuisine, while racing is from October 14th to 19th.