Unfortunately, the wind god’s didn’t play ball on Dublin Bay for day two of the Grant Thornton, Avolon and SeaChange Now sponsored Irish Optimist Dinghy National Championships at the Royal St. George Yacht Club.
Just one race was sailed across both Junior & Senior Main fleets. Unfortunately, the northerly gradient never allowed the sea breeze to materialize, leading to a four to six knot average wind across the Bay. Nonetheless, the race committee persevered and managed to squeeze one race in before the decision was made to send the fleets ashore, not before they enjoyed some swimming, water fights and sunbathing from the mother ships.
Conor Cronin of MYC/RSGYC is the Senior Main Fleet overnight leader on equal points with Lila Edwards of Parkstone Yacht Club (PYC) in second, with Dylan Creighton of Cardiff Bay in third. Harry Draper, also of PYC, is leading the Junior Main Fleet, with Toby Waggett (TDSWC) and Max O’Hare (RSGYC) in a tie for second place.
A northerly gradient wind on day two of the Optimist Championships never allowed the sea breeze to materialize, leading to a four to six knot average wind across Dublin Bay Photo: Andrew Conan
In the Regatta Racing fleet, GBR sailor Finn Byrne of Royal Southern is leading Aurele Dion of NYC, with GBR sailor Roisin Epstein in third. In the Regatta Coached fleet, RSGYC sailors Jessica Walsh, Adam Anderson and Megan Foley lead the way in first, second and third place, respectively.
The Royal St. George put on another fabulous evening of fun, games, music and food before sun-kissed and tired sailors headed for bed, no doubt hoping for a breezier day tomorrow. The highlight of the evening was the daily prize giving and the ‘in it to win it’ prize draw, once again kindly sponsored by Viking Marine & Vodafone.
