The 2024 university team racing season has started with a bang for Trinity College’s Sailing Club. On the 10th of Feb, the club made a remarkable showing by dispatching three teams to three separate events, dubbing the weekend ‘Super Saturday’.
After inviting Oxford to Trinity’s annual alumni event hosted in the Royal St. George, the favour was returned with a spot in Oxford’s esteemed Top Gun Invitational Trophy event. While sailing at Oxford, the Trinity Firsts team beat each individual team over the duration of the event, gaining another top position in a collegiate sailing competition.
(Above and below) The Trinity Sailing Club Firsts Team in Oxford: (left to right) Toby Hudson Fowler, Harry Twomey, Emily Arrowsmith, Emma Gallagher, Finn Walker, Morgan Devine (Team Captain and Sub) Marcus Boggan
While the Firsts Team was sailing in Oxford, the Trinity Seconds Team was invited to attend another BUSA event, The Imperial Icicle, hosted by Imperial College London. This event brought together fourteen teams, comprising a mix of college and alumni teams from around the UK, alongside Trinity Sailing. The team won the round-robin stage, positioning them in first place heading into the semi-finals. Unfortunately, TCD was bested by the eventual winners of the regatta, Plymouth Alumni.
(Above and below) The Trinity Sailing Club Team in London: (left to right) Tim Norwood, Rian Geraghty McDonnell, Simone Daranyi, Ella Dempsy, Max Goodbody, Trevor Bolger
The Fresher's Team represented Trinity at home as the top two teams were engaged in international competitions. Despite it being their college sailing event, the Fresher’s team secured a commendable third place overall at the UCC Alumni Sailing Event. It is an impressive feat when considering they sailed against some of the best competitors in the IUSA.
(Above and bellow) Trinity Sailing Club Freshers Team in Cork: Oisin Hughes, Sam LeDoux, Becky Lowney, Kei Walker, May McGlew, Luke Johnston
The sailing club has gained great confidence, which is due to the new training regime created by this year’s sailing captain, Finn Walker. Teams are now sailing consistently four days a week: two days midweek, one Saturday training session, and a Sunday training for the top teams in the club. Additionally, this year the club has focused more on theory sessions and bringing in coaches before events to broaden their knowledge base and skills set.
In addition to the theory and regular training sessions, the team has introduced a new set of programs to encourage women at the helm. Once a month, the team hosts women at the helm theory and training session to promote gender diversity within the sport, specifically within Trinity Sailing.
Last weekend Trinity Sailing competed in the IUSA Southern’s at Dingle Sailing Club, with 21 teams from colleges around Ireland competing. After completing the required number of races in the round-robin, TCD1 and TCD2 found themselves in the Semi-Finals, taking on UCD1 and UCC1, respectively. After hard-fought battles in both semis, it was an all-Trinity final, with TCD1 taking on the leaders of the round-robin, TCD2. In a best-of-three format for the finals, it was TCD1 who came out victorious, winning 2-0 in two nail-biting races to finish off a fantastic event, organised by the University of Galway Sailing Club and Trinity Sailing. This is the first IUSA event Trinity has won in more than 5 years.
The final is available to watch on the Trinity Sailing Instagram here
Trinity Sailing would like to thank Oxford, BUSA, UCC, and Dingle Sailing Club for making these events possible and look forward to competing in these events again.
