Displaying items by tag: Mark Pettit

18th January 2011

Ireland's Dragon Team ends World Championships in Top Half

Dun Laoghaire trio Andrew Craig, Mark Pettit and Brian Mathews finished in the top half of the 70-boat Melbourne based Dragon World Championships at Port Philip yesterday after a six race series of predominantly light winds.

Hopes of bettering Ireland's best ever result at a Dragon Worlds, a fourth place overall, achieved by Craig in Tasmania in 2003, were dashed with a string of mid fleet results. The Irish crews best finish was tenth in a highly competitive fleet to be 26th overall. RESULTS HERE.

The event was won by Brtiain's Lawrie Smith who has not sailed since his Last Volvo Ocean Race campaign in 1999. "This really is such a joyous way to come back. I honestly did not think we'd get the win. Then again, I also thought it was going to blow 25 knots each day!" said Smith at the prizegiving.

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11th January 2011

Dun Laoghaire Dragon Trio are 29th in Melbourne

After three races in the Dragon World Championships in Melbourne, Australia, Dun Laoghaire trio Andrew Craig, Mark Pettit and Brian Mathews are 29th overall counting a 19, 36 and 28 in the 70-boat fleet. The event is being led by top German helmsman Markus Wieser, Sergey Pugachev and Matti Paschen sailing the Ukranian entry Bunker Queen. Full Results HERE.

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10th January 2011

Dun Laoghaire Trio Stay Mid-Fleet at Dragon Worlds

Andrew Craig, Brian Mathews and Mark Pettit sailing Chimaera have posted a 36th to add to their 19th at the Dragon World Championships in Melbourne yesterday. The second windward leeward race of the series was sailed in six to eight knots of wind. It puts the sole Irish competitors into 32nd place overall at the 73 boat championships. Australian entry Puff-eu, Richard Lynn, Ian Olson and Ron Rosenberg lead with 4 and 6 scored. The regatta is still in its early stages with nine races left to sail. More HERE.

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9th January 2011

Craig Opens Dragon Worlds with 19th

Andrew Craig, Mark Pettit and Brian Mathews have opened their account at the 2011 Dragon world Championships in Melbourne, Australia with a 19th place. The early leaders of the regatta are a legendary British trio Lawrie Smith, Ossie Stewart and Tim Tavinor.
Craig, of the Royal St. George in Dun Laoghaire, rounded the first mark in the middle of the 73-boat fleet but managed to gain places on each leg of the windward leeward course to finish 19th. Racing continues this week. More HERE.

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About Conor O'Brien, Irish Circumnavigator

In 1923-25, Conor O'Brien became the first amateur skipper to circle the world south of the Great Capes. O'Brien's boat Saoirse was reputedly the first small boat (42-foot, 13 metres long) to sail around the world since Joshua Slocum completed his voyage in the 'Spray' during 1895 to 1898. It is a journey that O' Brien documented in his book Across Three Oceans. O'Brien's voyage began and ended at the Port of Foynes, County Limerick, Ireland, where he lived.

Saoirse, under O'Brien's command and with three crew, was the first yacht to circumnavigate the world by way of the three great capes: Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin; and was the first boat flying the Irish tri-colour to enter many of the world's ports and harbours. He ran down his easting in the Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties between the years 1923 to 1925.

Up until O'Brien's circumnavigation, this route was the preserve of square-rigged grain ships taking part in the grain race from Australia to England via Cape Horn (also known as the clipper route).

At a Glance - Conor O'Brien's Circumnavigation

In June 1923, Limerick man Conor O’Brien set off on his yacht, the Saoirse — named after the then newly created Irish Free State — on the two-year voyage from Dun Laoghaire Harbour that was to make him the first Irish amateur to sail around the world.

June 1923 - Saoirse’s arrival in Madeira after her maiden passage out from Dublin Bay

2nd December 1924 - Saoirse crossed the longitude of Cape Horn

June 20th 1925 - O’Brien’s return to Dun Laoghaire Harbour