With two wins from four races sailed (along with a DSQ in the opening race), foiling sailor Charlie Cullen successfully defended his Irish Waszp dinghy title in a cut-short programme on Dublin Bay at the weekend.
Belfast Lough's Robert Espey was second in the 15-boat fleet at the Royal St. George hosted event, with Rian Geraghty-McDonnell of the host club third. The results are below.
The first gun on Saturday was scheduled for 11, and Race Officer Barry O'Neill and his team were fortunate to find a nice seam of wind off Salthill to provide good foiling most of the time for three races in around nine or 10 knots. However, as the morning progressed, the wind pressure softened as per the forecast.
Given that the wind strength did not provide for foiling all the time in Race Three, a new box course was set to the leeward of the committee boat with a reaching start. This race was shortened to one round, and given the conditions, a decision was made to return to shore after the four races.
Given the strong wind forecast, the plan was to get racing early Sunday morning in a window before the storm's arrival. In the event, the Dublin Bay weather buoy was registering 20 knots with gusts of 30 knots at 7 am, and the race team cancelled Sunday racing early.
The Waszps were fortunate to get racing on Saturday, as the four races provided a discard and a championship in less-than-ideal Waszp conditions with the host club's Cullen – who has held the title since 2022 – retaining for another year.
