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Since his return to sailing with the lifting of coronavirus restrictions in Northern Ireland, Newcastle Yacht Club dinghy racer Marc Miskelly tells RYANI how he kept up a positive attitude during the lockdown months.

Miskelly — who also sails a Sadler 34, Star Chaser, out of Quoile Yacht Club — has just come out of a winter spent refitting his yacht when restrictions were put in place.

“I had two boats fully prepared very early, ready for the season, however with lockdown [they] were going nowhere,” he says of the time.

On top of that, Miskelly found himself furloughed from his job for up to 10 weeks — but resolved to keep himself busy with DIY jobs around the house, improving his personal fitness and even eSailing through his local club.

The call of the sea was never far from his mind, however, especially in May when he was supposed to have been cruising the Scottish islands in Star Chaser.

But since July he’s been making up for lost time, starting with cruising the East Coast of Ireland and hopefully embarking on that long-awaited jaunt around Scotland before autumn sets in.

Read the full interview on the RYANI website.

About Match Racing

A match race is a race between two competitors, going head-to-head.

In yacht racing, it is differentiated from a fleet race, which almost always involves three or more competitors competing against each other, and team racing where teams consisting of 2, 3 or 4 boats compete together in a team race, with their results being combined.

A match race consists of two identical boats racing against each other. With effective boat handling and clever use of wind and currents, a trailing boat can escape the grasp of the leader and pass. The leader uses blocking techniques to hold the other boat back. This one-on-one duel is a game of strategy and tactics.

About the World Match Racing Tour

Founded in 2000, the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) promotes the sport of match racing around the world and is the longest running global professional series in the sport of sailing. The WMRT is awarded ‘Special Event’ status by the sport’s world governing body – World Sailing – and the winner of the WMRT each year is crowned World Sailing Match Racing World Champion. Previous champions include Sir Ben Ainslie (GBR), Taylor Canfield (USA), Peter Gilmour (AUS), Magnus Holmberg (SWE), Peter Holmberg (ISV), Adam Minoprio (NZL), Torvar Mirsky (AUS), Bertrand Pace (FRA), Jesper Radich (DEN), Phil Robertson (NZL) and Ian Williams (GBR). Since 2000, the World Match Racing Tour and its events have awarded over USD23million in prize money to sailors which has helped to contribute to the career pathway of many of today’s professional sailors