#teamracing – This year, Trinity Sailing hosted the annual Colour's match at Grand Canal Dock, where the six sailing teams of UCD and Trinity competed against each other writes Amelia O'Keeffe of Trinity Sailing Club.

Traditionally the event takes place in Dun Laoghaire harbour but after the success of last year's match, which took place on the River Liffey, Trinity decided to take the event to another new and unique location – Grand Canal Dock. The event has been made possible by the kind support of Dubarry of Ireland.

Racing began at 9.30a.m. on Saturday March 21st. The weather was ideal for sailing, with a strong Easterly breeze and lots of sunshine.

TCD6 and UCD6 took to the water first in a best of five head-to-head. UCD secured a win with 3 races won to 2.

Then it was TCD5's turn to take on UCD5, where Trinity secured a great victory with a 3-0 win.

Due to time constraints we then moved in to best of three racing. UCD4 beat TCD4 with a 2-0 victory. Next the third teams took to the water and managed to win their first two races securing another win for Trinity.
TCD2 vs. UCD2 saw the racing return to best of five. TCD2 won with a 3-1 score.

The next two sets of races were the traditional Alumni and Ladies' races. UCD Alumni beat TCD 2-0 in a best of three and the Ladies of UCD beat those of Trinity with a 1,2,3 in a single race.

The last racing of the day would be the decider of the winner of Colours' 15 when the two first teams raced against each other. TCD1 won the first race with a 1,36, following it up with a 1,2,5 finish in the second race. UCD fought back in the third race, securing a win with a 1,2,6. Everything was very tense as the teams crossed the start line for the next race. Trinity managed to start with an outstanding 1,2,3, finishing with a 1,2,4 securing the title for the second year in a row of Colours' winners.

We had plenty of spectators come down to watch the racing and listen to music from Nick Nowlan and Chris Raymond. Lunch deals were kindly provided by Donnybrook Fair. The view of the racing was excellent, with even the Viking Splash tours stopping to watch!

An event such as this does not happen on its own so there are many people we need to thank for making this happen including Dubarry of Ireland for sponsoring the event, Harry Crosbey and Michael O'Leary for their help in securing the on-land licenses for the event, Mark Clarke, the dockmaster, for his help with getting the ribs through the locks and managing the Viking Splash, Shane Anderson from Waterways Ireland for the on-the-water licenses, DUCAC for their support in all aspects of organising the event and the many people we had helping on the day including the jury, committee and finish boats, photographers and helpers.

We hope that the event highlighted the potential and the importance of University racing and Team Racing in Ireland and that all who took part in the event or came down to watch enjoyed it, we certainly did!

#teamrace – A very exciting and eventful finals series on Saturday, produced an all UCC final, with UCC1 facing off against UCC2. UCC1 won the first three races of the five race final which saw them being crowned Intervarsity Champions for 2014/2015. From the 26th to the 28th of February UCC Sailing Club hosted the IUSA Intervarsity Championships in the Fastnet Marine Outdoor Education Centre, Schull, Co. Cork. The event consisted of three days of highly competitive racing, despite the extremely heavy conditions. Days one and two saw 28 teams racing in three fleets (Gold, Silver and Bronze), which were selected according to team rankings based on the results of the regional events this season.

On day three, the top 16 teams were selected for the finals series, with the winners of each respective race going on to quarter finals, namely University College Cork 1, University College Cork 2, University College Dublin 1, University College Dublin 4, Trinity College Dublin 1, Scottish University Sailing Association, Loughborough University and Cork Institute of Technology 1.
Sadly, due to the increasingly adverse conditions, the race committee were forced to cancel the Silver and Bronze fleet finals and therefore their prizes were awarded based on the standings from the first two days of racing.

The semi-finals saw defending champions UCD1 narrowly lose out to UCC2 and UCC1 overcome SUSA. As a result, the host club found themselves in an all-UCC final, with UCC1 coming out on top, securing victory over their fellow club members by winning the first three of the best-of-five final.

The awards ceremony took place on Saturday night, with the National University of Ireland Galway being awarded Best Club of the Year for their tremendous efforts in promoting and enhancing their club over the past year, and for being incredibly compliant and helpful to any club who hosted events during the season. Event of the Year was awarded to UCD who hosted the Eastern Championships in Blessington earlier in the year. First Year Sailor of the Year was awarded to newly crowned Intervarsity champion, Fionn Lyden of UCC1. Sailor of the year went to the very deserving Philip Doran of UCD1.
On behalf of UCC Sailing Club I would like to thank everybody who partook in the organisation and running of this event, in particular the Irish University Sailing Association committee, the volunteers (including many UCCSC alumni), the race committee – lead by Denis Quinlan, the umpires, everyone in the Fastnet Marine Outdoor Education Centre, the community of Schull, and our fellow university clubs.

Gold Fleet prize winning teams:
UCC1: Cian O' Regan, Fionn Lyden, Aidan McLaverty, Eimear O' Leary, Dave Healy, Niamh Ní Chonghaile
UCC2: Ross Murray, Brendan Lyden, Conor Lyden, Liam Manning, Chloe Crosbie, Emma Geary
UCD1: Philip Doran, Conor Murphy, Rory Lynch, Tara Flood, Clíodhna Connolly, Ally Morehead

#teamracing – The ISAF Team Racing Worlds will be sailed in Rutland UK on 19th-24th July 2015. The ISA has already reserved places for an open team and a youth team. Other places may become available during the entry process.

The Irish Team Racing Association will select Open and Youth teams to represent Ireland at this event.

Teams shall consist of six sailors, including at least one male and one female competitor. The age limit for Youth teams is under 19 on 31st December 2015. All competitors must be eligible to represent Ireland under ISAF Eligibility (Regulation 19).
On the basis of information supplied by the candidate teams the Selection Committee will select a number of teams to compete in a trial event. Criteria for selection will include consideration of the individual sailing CVs of all six team members, and results in team racing in Ireland and abroad, particularly in 2013 and 2014. Preference will be given to teams that have already demonstrated their capacity to compete in international competitions.
A one day, multiple round robin event will be sailed. This event will be sailed in Fireflies, and the event is planned for Saturday 14th February in the Royal St George Y.C. Dun Laoghaire.
Selected teams will be nominated by the Irish Team Racing Association for approval by the Irish Sailing Association to represent Ireland at the ISAF Team Racing Worlds.

#teamracing – The Irish Team Racing Nationals were held over the 8th and 9th November 2014 in Schull, West Cork. Following a great weekend, 170 races using 4 flights (24 boats) 21 teams competed for the National championships. A Schull Alumni team won the national title and comprised Mark Hassett with crew Liam Manning, Fionn Lyden with crew Michelle Morgan and Oisin O'Driscoll with crew Katie Moynihan.

Three teams from the UK travelled across to be part of a sunny, 10 to 15 knots from the NW weekend, with the top 18 Irish teams.

For the first round, teams were seeded into three leagues of seven teams, after 63 races the top three teams from each league were placed in the Gold league the next two teams from each league placed in the Silver league and the last two from each league placed in the Bronze league.

For the second round, Nine teams sailed in the Gold league to seed the teams for the quarter finals, with the Silver and Bronze doing the same to seed the teams for the semi-finals.

Following the Quarter finals four teams came out on top, two Irish and two English
Oxford & Cambridge
Schull Alumni
Wessex Exempt
Gladiators

Following very close semi finals Oxford & Cambridge and Wessex Exempt went through to the Final with Schull Alumni and Gladiators paired off to fight it out for the National Champions

Wessex Exempt took the title and Schull Alumni the National Champions

Schull Alumni team
Mark Hassett with crew Liam Manning
Fionn Lyden with crew Michelle Morgan
Oisin O'Driscoll with crew Katie Moynihan

#teamrace– The Irish Team Racing Association 2014 National Championships will be sailed in Schull on 8th-9th November. The event will be run by the Fastnet Marine and Outdoor Education Centre using their fleet of TR3.6 boats.

Several British teams have expressed their intention to make the trip to West Cork.

There will be a Youth prizes, with a separate knock-out stage if more than 3 Youth teams enter.

Youth is defined as under 18 on December 2014 - so that sailors in this section will meet the age requirements for the 2015 Worlds

In order to provide the best facilities possible, and to ensure that we have invited enough personnel, including umpires please return the attached pre-entry form with the required deposit before Monday 6th October. Only teams that have pre-entered by that ate will be guaranteed entry to the championships.

#TeamRacing - Schull Sharks have been crowned British Schools Team Racing Champions for the third time in a row at the BSDRA Nationals at Rutland earlier this week.

Twenty-two teams took part at this year's nationals from 30 June to 2 July, which were held at Rutland Water for the first time.

Light airs were the name of the game for most of the event, with huge shifts and periods with no wind at all, but for the finals a nice 10 to 15 knots filled in from the north-east.

Irish Team Racing Nationals champs Schull Sharks, along with two teams from Florida in the USA and a team from Berlin, Germany, made up the international entries.

The West Cork sailors' first race was a lottery start to the event, which took three times longer than normal to complete due to the lack of wind.

Winchester College just won at the finish, but this was the last race Schull didn't take, as they went on to win their group and progress to the finals.

Schull were up against the USA in the semi-finals, where they won all three races and progressed to the final against the UK favourite Magdalen College, where again they won all three races.

Top form from Munster team racers has produced second overall at a 2k team racing event in Italy. Three days of brilliant sunshine and great breeze set the backdrop for the most dramatic of 2K events. Teams from Italy, The Netherlands, Germany and Ireland gathered for what the international jury described as the closest racing the series has seen all year.

Day 1 saw the Cork Racing Team in blistering form, winning 6 of their 7 round robin races, and losing only to the Rome Racing Team.

DAY 2 was comprised of 8 hours on the water, 6 races, 5 wins. This left us 2nd overall in the Gold Fleet standings.

Day 3 started with a light breeze which quickly filled to a steady force 3, flat water, and 25 degrees under a cloudless sky.

In semi final 1, The Royal Cork Yacht Club met the seasoned Dutch Team, fresh from a winter of team and match racing.

Race 1, and a pre start error by the Dutch gives the lead to the Irish... Undeterred, the Dutch got back into the action only to watch the Irish team with great boat speed, take an easy 1-2. Declining to change boats, the Dutch quickly turned the tables in race 2 leaving the score 1-1. Race 3 goes to the Irish and their first slot in a 2K finals.

The all Italian semi final proved to be the shoot out all had expected with protest flags flying even before the prep. With positions changing on every leg, the young Roman team of Saverio Ramirez and Edoardo Scotti Mancinelli finally took the 3rd and final race to win 2-1, and the Italian Championships.

With time running out the Irish now entered the fray against the exuberant Romans. A poor start by Italy set the scene for an easy win....and so it was till the last 50 meters. With Scotti spinning, all was down to Ramirez, who started what was the most exciting of dog fights, some six penalty turns later and the Italians gained the inside at the pin, and locked the Irish out to win 2-3. The time limit of 4PM cancelled the chance of a best of three final, and so, the Italians took the title this time.

1st Reale Circolo Canottiere Tevere Remo
2nd Royal Cork Yacht Club
3rd Dutch Match and Team Racing Association
4th Yacht Club Costa Smeralda
5th Circolo Nautica Velo Argentario
6th Banana Race Team
7th AFAP Sailing
8th Bavaria Yacht Club

#teamracing – A Royal Cork 2K Racing Team skippered by George Kingston and Fred Cudmore compete at the Royal Club Tevere Remo in Rome today. After scoring fourth place at the last event at Yacht Club de Monaco, the team are ready for three days of intense racing. 

The Cork team pictured above are: Fred Cudmore, George Kingston, Sarah O'Leary, Sonia Minihane, Phil O'Leary, Sean Cotter, Emma Geary and Ian McNamee

#schoolsailing – Local team 'Schull Sharks' were winners of the Irish Schools Sailing Association Team Racing National Championships held in Schull Bay, West Cork from May 3–4. UK visiitng team PBC were second but in a show of strength for West Cork team racing a further two Schull teams took third and fourth. Rathdown Girls School from Dun Laoghaire were next followed by Mt. Anville, Gonzaga and then Blackrock College.

Full results are attached for download as a pdf file.

Although it was hoped this year to host the Nationals in Dublin, a clash of dates resulted in the Schull venue for 2014. If clubs are in a position and would like to host this event in 2015 please contact [email protected]

#teamracing – Located in central England near Leicester and Peterborough, the 2015 ISAF Team Racing Worlds will be held at Rutland Sailing Club on Rutland Water.

Following a bid process, the ISAF Team Racing Sub-committee made a recommendation to the ISAF Executive Committee who approved the choice of Rutland.

ISAF Competitions Manager Jon Napier said "Rutland Sailing Club has a strong team racing heritage and passion for the discipline. With an exceptional infrastructure in place we look forward to working with the Organising Authority to deliver a successful event."

The 2015 ISAF Team Racing Worlds are provisionally scheduled for July 2015.