Ten University teams took to the water over the weekend of 29th & 30th March to compete in the annual University Keelboat Championships held in the HYC J80s reports Race Officer Scorie Walls. The event is divided into two flights of five teams with the top two in each flight qualifying for the final on Sunday. They are joined by the lowest scoring third placed team.
Flight 1 consisted of UCD 1, TCD 2, Queens, UCC 1, & Cork IT. They started in a freshening breeze but it was still deemed safe to start with spinnakers which led to some exciting viewing. After two races in which there was some damage, and with the breeze freshening, the Race Committee thought it prudent to leave the spinnakers in their bags for the duration of the day. With four of the five scheduled flight races for Flight 1 completed and with a Small Craft Warning due to come into affect later that day, the decision was taken to stick with four races only in each flight. Flight 1 results showed UCC 1 winning on 6 points, Queens as runners up on 10 points, with CIT sweating in third place on 13 points.
Flight 2 saw TUD, UCD 2, UL, UCC 2, & TCD 1 line up to fight for the right to sail in Sunday's final. Again, there was some really close racing which saw both TUD & TCD 1 finish on 9 points with the later winning the group stage on count back. The all female team of UCD 2 finishing in third place on 13 points, which is the same number of points as third placed CIT from Flight 1. Again, the tie breaker was required to see which of them would make the final. Countback came down on the side of the girls from UCD 2.
Sunday morning started out with a fresh breeze and a lot of tired people due to the clocks having gone forward and all involved losing an hour's precious sleep due to the start of Daylight Saving. The blustery winds led to the Race Committee instructing the competitors to keep the reef in the mainsails and the spinnakers safely tucked up. The lack of the coloured sails didn't take away from the excitement and, at one point what was described as "carnage" at the top mark. Thankfully the competitors sorted the issues out and there was no damage done.
Hectic times with the coloured cloth. Photo: Karolina Kernan
After race three, with TCD 1 looking like they were planning to take the trophy back to Dublin, the wind had abated sufficiently for the introduction of a bit of colour into the proceedings as the spinnakers were released. This decision did not prove to be one that the Race Committee came to regret as the extra sail area was handled expertly by the competitors.
With the wind continuing to fall away the reefs were shaking out between races six & seven, and ironically, the day which started out with some concern over the high winds, became a day where we wondered would we get all the races in due to the decreasing pressure and fickle winds. With two races abandoned due to wind shifts, eventually the event was finished with a shortened course in race eight and all on the water reaching for the sunscreen. TCD were crowned the worthy winners and we wish them well in France at the SIYWOC event. With the clocks going forward to usher in summer time we were all treated to some very welcome summer weather.
Final results:
- TCD 14
- UCC 20
- UCD2 23
- TUD 26
- Queens 37
