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Windjammer crew members were in attendance for the Round Ireland Yacht Race lecture by Kenneth Rumball and John White at the Royal Irish Yacht Club last Thursday 7 February, which also highlighted a crew overboard incident on the J97 late last month.

Video of the incident on Sunday 27 January made available by the crew themselves showed how a heavy weather practice session on Dublin Bay went awry when one of their number slipped overboard during a tack — and also their subsequent successful rescue.

The crew on the day comprised former INSS sailing instructors Aisling O’Grady, Aonghus Byrne, Andrew Irvine, Conor Corson, Jeff Fahy and Saoirse Reynolds with Lindsay Casey, one of the boat’s owners — and Noel Butler, who told Afloat.ie that Rumball and White’s presentation was not intended as a ‘how-to’ but more “a description of what happened and how [the crew] dealt with it, so that others might benefit from their experience”.

Classic Sailor reports on the video footage as “a good example of how a well-drilled and experienced crew retrieved the casualty”, and the incident has also prompted discussion on social media. Video of the full training session is available on YouTube.

Sailing in lighter airs the following weekend, Windjammer sailed into the lead in the first race of the 2019 DBSC Spring Chicken Series with Saoirse Reynolds at the helm.

Update 12 February: This article was corrected to make clear that the main subject of the RIYC lecture was on the man overboard incident on Jedi during the 2018 Round Ireland Yacht Race.

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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