18 Teams to Contest ITRA 75 Team Racing National Championships at the Royal St George YC

15th November 2023

Teams from Queens Belfast in the north to Baltimore SC in the south will be taking part in the Firefly dinghy-based ITRA 75 Team Racing National Championships at the Royal St George Yacht Club Credit: Afloat

Eighteen teams are lined up to contest the 75th Team Racing National Championships in the Royal St George YC in Fireflies this weekend, supported by a team of 35 volunteers on and off the water under the watchful eyes of Eunice Kennedy, ITRA Secretary Ronan Adams, Sailing Manager RStGYC and Event Director Ailbe MiIlerick.

Entries closed Monday, with Holy Child Killiney (HKC) taking the last youth spot. Demand from School teams was very strong, and three teams remained on the waiting list at closure.

Four places are reserved for invited youth champion teams as they are at or close to the standard of the ‘senior teams’ and will enjoy the experience rather than simply being cannon fodder. A few scalps will be taken by this talented group.

Teams from Queens Belfast in the north to Baltimore SC in the south will be taking part, including the Colleges and College alumni teams from both UCD, UCC and Trinity under various guises.

Favourites are Live Action (George) with Liam Glynn & Jack Fahey, who won the British University Sailing Championships for UCD earlier this year (a feat last completed by Johnny Ross Murphy and the Craig brothers Brian & Peter for Trinity 50 years earlier).

Also top-seeded is Johnny Durcan’s Baltimore SC team (UCC Alumni) who won the Irish Universities Championships in Carlingford, defeating UCD in light airs reinforced by Mark Hassett and Fionn Lyden. Deep6 represents DUSC. The George is well represented by the formidable ‘No Show’ (Toby Fowler, Peter Fagan and Noel McCarthy), ‘Live-Action’ Jack Higgins et al and Georges St. (Jacques Murphy, Finn Walker & Tim Norwood). Top schools’ teams comprise St Conleths (Daniel O’Connor ISTRA Champs), St Andrews College represented in two teams, SAC4Cup and Shake the Boaty.

Russel Bolger Junior Helmsman’s Champion is leading Prestige Worldwide. St. Michaels and HCK will compete for their rankings and have a tilt at the more experienced racers. Missing are former Elmo winners ‘Nauti Buoys’ Rocco, Turvey and Daley, who unfortunately couldn’t muster their team due to study pressure. The weather forecast is being watched by the organisers with interest but have confidence that Race Officer Michael Conway & his team will complete the event!

Teams: Live Action, Bunkers, Baltimore SC, Lunster, Deep 6, QUB, Georges St., George Jesters, George No Show, UCC1, UCC2, Tech Univ. Dublin, SAC4Cup, Shake-the-Boaty, Prestige Worldwide, St Conleths, St Michaels & Holy Child Killiney.

Published in Team Racing, RStGYC, Youth Sailing

Published in Team Racing

Tagged under

Team Racing

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.