Hurricanes Don’t Stop Racing at the RS400 Inlands at Killaloe Sailing Club

25th September 2023

Afloat.ie Team

Strong winds at Killaloe Sailing Club on Lough Derg for the RS400 Inland Championships

With the tail end of Hurricane Lee sweeping the island, numerous sailing events were cancelled last weekend across Ireland. The team at Killaloe Sailing Club decided to go ahead as planned, hoping to get some racing for the 33 boats entered across three classes: the RS400, the RS200 and the RS Aero.

Saturday saw the fleet launch in 20 kts of southerly breeze with the first race getting underway in strong but manageable conditions. Govan Berridge and David Coleman dominated the first RS 400 race and held the lead throughout. Luke McIlwaine/Ryan Wilson and Chris Helme/Alan Claffey followed closely, taking 2nd and 3rd.

The RS400 fleet ashore at Killaloe Sailing Club

Race two saw the wind increase to survival conditions for the second lap, with the maximum gust at 38kts. A similar result sheet followed with Govan/David taking the win, followed by Jocelyn Hill/Rowan Berry and Luke/Ryan.

Saturday evening commenced with news that racing would be moved forward an hour on Sunday to try and get three races in before the breeze built in the afternoon. The evening entertainment began with a BBQ, which saw a great attendance due to most sailors camping on-site. Later in the evening, many enjoyed the rugby and stayed around until the early hours before retiring for an early start the next morning.

Sailors woke to a pleasant sunrise and winds of 12-15 kts. Race 3 saw an incident at the windward mark, which removed Govan/David from the race following a protest. This meant Rob Hastings and Dan Sherriff (this time using a kite without missing panels!) were promoted to 1st place.

William Findlay and Ben McMeekin in the RS400 on Lough Derg

Luke/Ryan took the win in race 4, closely followed by Govan/David and Jocelyn/Rowan as they headed into the final race of the championship.

RS400 Winners Luke McIlwaine and Ryan Wilson

Race 5 saw the lightest conditions of the weekend as the heavens opened and the rain fell. Chris and Alan built an impressive lead over the fleet with Jocelyn/Rowan in 2nd and Dara McDonagh and Kevin Brazel in 3rd.

RS200 Travellers Series champions are sisters Jocelyn and Emily Hill

A closely fought championship saw Luke/Ryan take the win with Govan/David in 2nd and Jocelyn/Rowan 3rd with Jane McMeekin taking first masters.

Race Results

You may need to scroll vertically and horizontally within the box to view the full results

Published in RS Sailing

Tagged under

RS400

About The Author

Afloat.ie Team

Email The Author

Afloat.ie is Ireland's dedicated marine journalism team.

Have you got a story for our reporters? Email us here.

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven't put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full-time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.