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Displaying items by tag: Irish Olympic Sailing Team

Cork Harbour has lost a true legend as former Irish Olympic sailing team manager, Michael Wallace, has passed away. Wallace led the team for 12 years, from the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, where Ireland won its first yachting medal, to 1992 in Barcelona. 

Wallace was not just a sailing expert, he was also a former Monkstown Bay Sailing Club (MBSC) Commodore in Cork Harbour. He was a dedicated sailor and a member of the Royal Cork Yacht Club at Crosshaven.

His passion for the sport was evident in his enthusiastic and successful racing helm and skipper in cruiser racing. He was also active in national sailing development, making him a well-known figure in the sailing community.

Wallace was also a Race Officer, and his knowledge of the sport and its rules and administration was immense. In 1980, he was a member of the Irish Laser Laser Team at the World Championships in Canada.

Wallace is survived by his wife, Greta, and sons Henry, Richard, Paul, and David. 

Our heartfelt condolences are with his loving family and very many friends.

More details here

Published in Olympic

#TrofeoSofia – The harsh reality of the mid week split hit home this morning as the Trofeo Princesa Sophia fleet was separated into gold and silver fleets for the next stage of the regatta, the finals series. Only Ireland's James Espey still has a chance of medal race participation come Saturday, for everyone else on the Irish Olympic Sailing Team it is time to salvage some honour in Palma's silver fleets.

But for both of Ireland's Laser sailors today's third day of racing never happened with the 2.4mR, Laser, Laser Radial and RS:X's unable to race due to light winds on their course. This left Ireland's Espey and Annalise Murphy ashore contemplating a truncated series tomorrow.

But London 2012 team–mates Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern did get to race  – and in breeze – the Belfast duo taking a second in the only race of the day for the 49er silver fleet to lie 44th from 79. At the top of this highly competitive skiff fleet, 2013 49er World Champions Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (NZL) have moved into the lead.

In the 49erfx class, Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey, also sailing in silver, lie 44th. 

Dublin Bay sailor Ross Hamilton is 65th overall in the Finn class. 

Full results here

 

Published in Olympic

#TrofeoSofia_en – Looking forward to another consistent showing this today, Ireland's James Espey lies 30th after three rounds at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Trofeo Princesa Sofía in Palma and leads Irish hopes at the massive Spanish regatta. The Belfast sailor counted a 10, 13, 8 leaving him 30th overall in the mens 144–boat Laser fleet.

The rest of the Irish Olympic Sailing Team will be seeking a better performance as they hit the water this morning about now with winds forecast to be slightly stronger than yesterday's 6-8 knots. First day Irish report here and vid highlights above.

Originally scheduled for 11am the fleets have been held ashore with the Finn dinghy (including Ireland's Ross Hamilton) released first. Two more races are scheduled in each of the 11 competing classes.

Espey has been in Palma for over a week and has experienced a host of different conditions which he appears to have mastered by virtue of yesterday's performance and his recent twitter postings:

Published in Olympic

Irish Sailing Classes and Association – There’s no shortage of one-design classes from which to choose and each gives its enthusiasts great competition, fun and camaraderie, writes Graham Smith in this review of the classes. 

One-design racing is where it all starts. It is, after all, where all the top sailors earned their stripes, battling away for line honours without a thought for a handicapper’s calculator wiping away a hard-fought victory!

Indeed, you could count on less than one hand the number of top Irish sailors who didn’t cut their teeth in a one-design dinghy! Just think of Cudmore, Barrington, Watson, Wilkins, Hennessy and Dix to name a few and you realise that they honed their skills in everything from Enterprises to Lasers and a lot in between.

At present count, there are a little over 30 one-design classes in Ireland, split almost evenly between dinghies and keelboats, a statistic which might raise a few eyebrows. They range from the long-established Mermaids, IDRA14s and Dragons to the newer additions like Fevas, Topaz and RS Elite. They all fill a particular need and give their owners and crews considerable enjoyment.

Many have attracted their World or European Championships to Irish waters over the years and while 2009 is notable for a lack of such events here, the following year will see the Etchells Worlds at Howth and perhaps a few other international regattas too.

In addition to the review, we asked each class to complete a questionnaire giving details of their fleet numbers, whether they were on a growth pattern or holding their own, so we could highlight those ‘on the up’ and those remaining static in terms of numbers. The older traditional designs, as you might imagine, fall into the latter category, although that’s not a negative!

CLASS REVIEW  The State of the Classes – League Table (as at February 2009)

S = Static; U = Up/growing

275     Optimist   U

200+   Laser   S

189     Mermaid   S

160     Flying Fifteen   S

130     RS Feva   U

115     Shannon One Design    U

100+   Mirror   S

100+   Topper   U

99       Topaz   U

94       Laser SB3   U

87       GP14   U

85       Squib   S

70       Fireball   S

70       Ruffian   S

60       J24   S

60       Shipman   S

52       Dragon   S

50       RS400/200   S

50       420    U

43       Multihulls    U

42       Dragon    S

40       Water Wags    U

40       Wayfarer    S

34       IDRA14    U

33       Puppeteer    U

28       Etchells    S

27       E-Boat    U

26       Glen    S

25       Enterprise    S

18       Sigma 33    S

18       Howth 17    U

13       RS Elite    U