Kinsale Yacht Club hosted the Squib Southern Championships this weekend. Six races were sailed over the two days with different wind and sea conditions each day. Saturday had a 12 – 15-knot breeze coming from due east so there was a swell which made for testing conditions while Sunday saw gusts over 20 knots but flat seas as the wind was due north.
Race 1 saw Colm Dunne & Fiona Ward on Allegro dominate from the start with Ian Travers and Keith O’Riordan on Outlaw second and Denis and Brid Cudmore on Sensation third. With less than 3.5 mins between the last finisher and the warning signal for the next race Race Officer Peter Crowley had his team running like a well-oiled machine. Race two saw the lead boats reversed with Outlaw in command and Allegro in second. Bodacious with Jeff Cochrane and Finbarr O’Regan were battling with Sensation for third but Sensation prevailed.
Race four on Sunday had Allegro in front from the start. Sensation tacked up the middle of the course and gained several places to secure 2nd and Bodacious was third. Outlaw was 4th which meant that this was possibly his discard. Race 5 got underway and Allegro was 1st and Outlaw 2nd. Sensation was jockeying with Bodacious again but secured another 3rd.
Race six got underway with Allegro and Outlaw on equal points. They tacked up the beat covering each other. Outlaw got to the windward mark first on the final beat but Allegro caught him on the run and they arrived to the leeward mark together. Allegro managed to push Outlaw up after rounding and this gave Allegro the edge he needed to beat to the line and secure the championship.
