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.

Trinity Sailing Club will be organising a charity run next Saturday 23rd May in aid of RNLI and Jigsaw, in conjunction with the sailing clubs of Universities around Ireland writes Hannah Collins

As all on-the-water activities are curtailed during lockdown, Trinity Sailing Club will be organising an IUSA (Irish University Sailing Association) Round-Ireland Run in aid of the RNLI and Jigsaw to fill the time for some great causes. Beginning on May 23, participants will attempt to run/walk/cycle a combined 704 nautical miles (1,300 km) around Ireland. The current record by sail is held by a Mod 70, completing the circumnavigation in 38 hours and 37 minutes. We will be attempting to beat this by combining participants’ distances covered individually on foot in accordance with government COVID-19 guidelines. 

Each participant will run/walk/cycle individually within their own 5-kilometre radius and everyone’s combined distance will be virtually tracked by Trinity Sailing. The challenge hopes to see not only current students but also alumni and friends of all of the student sailing clubs in Ireland take part, with sailors from UCD, DCU, TUD, UCC, CIT, NUIG, QUB, UL and RCSI joining the effort.

Both the RNLI and Jigsaw rely heavily on fundraising efforts which have been de-railed by the pandemic. As sailors we all greatly appreciate the work of RNLI, providing safety and saving lives on the water year-round as we enjoy our sailing. Jigsaw also provides an essential service of support for young people struggling with their mental health and since 2008 they have reached 32,000 people and saved countless lives with their work. Organisations like Jigsaw have become particularly vital during this crisis and this run provides a perfect opportunity for sailors to give back to causes we appreciate so much. You can also follow along with us live on the Trinity Sailing Instagram, which will show updates on how our participants are comparing to the speed of the Mod 70’s passage. We would encourage anybody who can, sailor or non-sailor, to join us in putting our newfound free time to good use and donating through our go fund me page.

Sign up to run/walk:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfcyG_SYb6nDGNzrQbmkS1-ES56scbcc1BblZhUJU0BwMAdqA/viewform

Donate to the RNLI and Jigsaw:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/iusa-round-ireland-run-for-rnli-amp-jigsaw

Follow the event on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/714895035994289/?active_tab=about

Follow updates on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/trinitysailing/