Displaying items by tag: Team Racing
Royal St George Yacht Club Cancels Elmo Trophy Team Racing Event at Dun Laoghaire Harbour
The 2020 Elmo trophy for team racing at Dun Laoghaire Harbour has been cancelled. With the current measures in place to halt the spread of the coronavirus event organisers RStGYC have made the difficult decision to cancel the event for 2020.
Unlike conventional fleet racing regattas, the Elmo Trophy sees groups of young sailors sharing Firefly dinghies, carrying out on-water changeovers using support RIBs and often being in close proximity to one another ashore.
It also requires a high number of support staff and volunteers, as well as attracting a large number of spectators to the club.
A postponement to October and a change in format to 2v2 Team racing was considered to enable the event to be sailed but with the recent rise in cases, the event has now had to be cancelled.
This year's event was to have seen the addition of the new ISA fleet of fireflies and the introduction of a Swiss league to ensure teams on similar standards continued to race against each other all weekend. Both of these would have helped build on last year's record entry of 22 teams and 4 flights of boats.
RStGYC looks forward to welcoming teams back in 2021.
It may seem like another world now, but the energetically-organised Irish Inter-varsities team racers managed to get in their 2020 Championship early in March before the Covid-19 clampdown closed in. The venue was University of Limerick’s watersports facility at Killaloe on Lough Derg, and in three decidedly hectic days of Firefly racing, University College Dublin Firsts emerged as overall winners. Their Sailing Captain is Daniel Raymond, so he gets the nod as our Team Racer of the Month, but it’s all about team effort, and the complete lineup was Jack Higgins, Daniel Raymond and Patrick Cahill as helms, while crews were Alanna Lyttle, Kathy Kelly and Lucy McCutcheon, with Lucy McCutcheon (winner in 2019) taking the Irish Universities Sailing Association “Crew of the Year” title
UCD Sailing Club Win 2020 Team Racing Intervarsities
UCD Sailing Club has won the Irish University Sailing Association (IUSA) Team Racing Intervarsities 2020.
They came out on top after three tough days racing at UL Adventure Centre, Killaloe. Following three extremely competitive finals, UCD Sailing managed to take home not only Platinum Fleet (UCD 1) but also Gold (UCD 3) & Silver Fleet (UCD 5).
The UCD 1st's consisted of the helms Jack Higgins, Sailing Captain Daniel Raymond, Patrick Cahill and crews Alanna Lyttle, Kathy Kelly and Lucy McCutcheon. Lucy was also awarded IUSA crew of the year!
UCD Sailing has now qualified for BUSA Team Racing National Championships in England for the second year in a row.
Niamh Doran the Commodore, Shaun Condon the varsities captain and UCDSC’s committee organised the fantastic few days with top quality racing and were pleased to see the turnout of over 250 competitors.
The next event is UCD Vs Trinity Colours match and will be held in the 4th of April. They would like to thank their sponsors Bank of Ireland.
Irish Sailing Team Racing Weekend Scheduled for Howth
Howth Yacht Club will welcome the Irish Sailing team racing roadshow funded by BIM - Bord Iascaigh Mhara - (Ireland's Seafood Development Agency) which is designed to attract sailors between the ages of 14 – 30 from around the area, it is not just for members of HYC.
The Roadshow will start at 10 am on Saturday 7th March and run for two days. Team Racing is a fun and inexpensive way for clubs to attract young dinghy sailors after they have left the structured environs of class youth racing or the Irish Sailing Training Schemes. All boats and instructors will be there on the day, all sailors have to do is turn up in their winter sailing gear. Given the time of year, we would advise that sailors have sufficient dinghy sailing competency to cope with reasonable winds and colder climes. With a focus on rules knowledge, boat handling, tactics and team building, the programme will further develop transferable skills and give rise to skilled and competitive racing in a very sociable environment. Participants have the option of doing both days or just one day if they prefer and the cost is €30 for one day or €50 for both. See the event flyer here for more details.
This initiative came from active Howth Yacht Club member, Darragh O'Connor who teaches in Sutton Park School and is heavily involved in sailing himself. Darragh first started team racing in Schull community college which he says hugely benefited him in his college sailing days and he was hooked, not only by the competitive but fun racing but also by the great social side attached to the events. This event is the first of what is hoped to be many new sailing initiatives which will be run by Howth Yacht Club this season, all with the aim of making sailing in the club more accessible to all ages and levels.
For more information regarding the event please contact Christina Knowles [email protected] or to book your space you can phone the office in HYC at 01-8322141.
Royal St. George Yacht Club Hosts Leinster Team Racing (UPDATED)
Update Saturday 14 March: Due to the evolving situation with the COVID-19 Virus and that all schools are currently closed, this event is postponed for this term.
Royal St George sailing manager Ronan Adams says: “Discussions are ongoing as to when the Leinster Championships and National Championships will take place and the Irish Team Racing Association will update all school representatives as soon as is reasonably possible.”
Dun Laoghaire's Royal Saint George Yacht Club is once again hosting the Leinster Schools Team Racing event on Wednesday the 11th of March.
The event is open to all schools in the Province of Leinster. In the event of bad weather, there is a fall back date for the 25th of March.
As Afloat reported in 2019, Gonzaga College were Leinster Championship victors after eight teams competed in Firefly dinghies for the title in mostly light airs in Dun Laoghaire harbour.
The Royal St. George leads the way in Irish Team Racing affairs with Junior, Schools, Youth and Adult Team Racing squads training and competing locally, nationally and internationally from the club. Queries can be made to Eunice Kennedy, Leinster Schools Team Racing Representative at the following email:- [email protected]
Shanahan Cup Leads Team Racing Calendar of Events in 2020
Representatives from clubs, schools and centres have been working tirelessly throughout the winter to develop a calendar of events for Team Racing throughout Ireland. The first schools’ event is to be held on 12th February where teams from around the country will compete in the hotly contested Shanahan Cup. Now in its second year, the team racing event is growing in popularity amongst local schools. Organised by Gonzaga College and hosted at the Irish National Sailing and Powerboating School the event will be sailed in Topaz’s in Dun Laoghaire Harbour.
The Inaugural event won by Gonzaga College in 2019 is sponsored by the Shanahan family from the National Yacht Club. The family have a long sailing history and a close association with Gonzaga College, the organising school. The event is intended to promote the sport of team racing in schools. It particularly aims to attract less experienced sailors with all schools encouraged to “give it a go” as Fiachra Etchingham – Event Organiser suggests; “We had 9 teams from 6 Dublin schools and 54 competitors braving the cooler weather last year which is a great turnout for any inaugural event. We hope to build on that this year and have had interest from some of the North Dublin schools as well. It was great to see some recently formed teams at the last event just getting started in team racing. It’s important that we continue to increase participation in such a fun and social sport.”
Indeed, the first event welcomed participants from Holy Child, Blackrock College, Loreto on the Green, Gonzaga College, St Gerard's and Loreto Foxrock. However, interest in Team Racing is increasing as Rory Martin – Irish Sailing’s Team Racing contractor highlights “Irish Sailing is rolling out the BIM FLAG (Bord Iascaigh Mhara) funded Team Racing Roadshow where clubs, centres and schools can avail of free Team Racing coaching. With interest from 37 venues to date, interest is building nationwide. We have spoken to several local schools and hope to get some more programmes delivered in the coming weeks as a lead up to the event.”
Dublin Bay is often considered the home of Team Racing in Ireland. With many of the local clubs and training centres purchasing boats and organising training courses and events. The family-run Irish National Sailing and Powerboat School welcomes 8000 participants per year on training courses and is delighted to be hosting the event as Kenneth Rumball – Chief Instructor explains;
“We offer the ideal venue for Team Racing with all the equipment, support and facilities to run a successful event. Last year the kids enjoyed the great racing on the water and the social in between races on our Mothership the ‘Lula Belle’. We’ll be offering Hot Chocolate and tasty treats to all competitors and have enlisted the help of a great race team including umpires, race officer and volunteers”
The event is the first in the calendar of schools’ events in 2020. Provisional dates for The Leinster and National Schools Team Racing Championships were released for March and April respectively.
New Fleet of Firefly Team Racing Dinghies for Irish Sailing
With an increased in demand for Team Racing amongst clubs and training centres, Irish Sailing are delighted to receive their brand-new fleet of six Fireflies writes Treasa Cox.
The boats were partly funded by BIM FLAG (Bord Iascaigh Mhara, Fisheries Local Action Group) as part of the Irish Sailing Team Racing Development Programme.
The boats are part of the Irish Sailing Team Racing Roadshow and will be made available for clubs to hire at a heavily discounted rate to cover transport, damage and upkeep. With a 6- stacker trailer, distinctive sail colour scheme and upgraded rudder assembly, the boats are robust, attractive and transportable.
"The boats are part of the Irish Sailing Team Racing Roadshow"
Rory Martin, Irish Sailing’s Team Racing contractor commented “with several clinics provided to date and interest building nationwide, we are really looking forward to getting out and delivering the workshops with the new fleet. Whilst many clubs have their own training boats, the Fireflies enable those that don’t to avail of the programme with this top-class equipment. Our experienced team racing coaches make the clinics interesting, fun and informative and they are receiving great feedback. The boats have been highly spec’d and look really cool with green and gold striped sails, so should be pretty noticeable from the shore.”
Bookings are coming in already for 2020. With over thirty clubs interested throughout the country, it is likely that availability during weekends and holidays will book up quickly. To find out how your club or training centre can get involved, or to express an interest in sponsorship, get in touch with Rory Martin [email protected]
Mark Hassett is Sailor of the Month (Team Racing) for November 2019
The 71st annual National Team Racing Championship hosted by Royal St George YC in the mid-November weekend attracted 16 squads from all over Ireland, and it was one of the furthest-travelled teams - Baltimore Sailing Club - which went home with the honours after a convincing 3-0 win in the finals against a hyper-talented squad – including an Olympic sailor – which sailed under the moniker of Fast Not Furious. Ably led by West Cork-based sailor Mark Hassett, Baltimore kept their cool against everything that the rest of Ireland and particularly Leinster could throw at them, and Captain Mark Hassett carries the “Sailor of the Month” honour on behalf of his team-mates Fionnn Lyden, Johnny Durcan, Amy Harrington, Trudy O’Hara and Adam Hyland.
UCD Sailing Club Host 'Movember' Team Racing Event at Royal Irish Yacht Club
This Saturday 30th of November, UCD Sailing Club are running a charity team racing event in aid of the Movember Foundation.
Teams have been going head to head throughout the past month seeing who can grow the best moustache, and they will continue to battle it out on the water during the racing. The participants will spend the last few hours with their furry friends on the water, and on recovery, we will have a ceremonial shaving.
There will be free tea and coffee all day for UCD, kindly provided by the Royal Irish Yacht Club. After racing there will be mince pies and mulled wine waiting inside, for a celebration for the freshly shaved faces.
If you know anyone who would be interested in entering a team in this event, or can be of any help sponsoring prizes, please email [email protected]. If November sailing isn’t for you, we also have a donation link for our team and we really appreciate all donations here
Baltimore Sailing Club Claim National Team Racing Title at Royal St. George Yacht Club
The Royal St George Yacht Club hosted 16 teams at the 71st National Team Racing Championships last weekend in Dun Laoghaire.
Near perfect team racing conditions of 8-12 knots breeze allowed a full round-robin competition of 120 races to be sailed. Each team completed 15 races against their opponents. Baltimore SC conceded one loss to Not Fast Just Furious and Royal St George Knights conceded to Baltimore SC who both emerged on top with 14 wins apiece. In their wake were’ Not Fast Just Furious’ on 13 wins and Howth YC and Poppa J and Hoochie Men on 10 wins apiece.
HYC won the tie on lowest points to qualify for the Semi Finals against Baltimore. Not Fast Just Furious faced the George Knights in the other semi-final leg. Time was limited by the sailing instructions and consent had to be sought from the leading two teams to permit a semi final after 3pm: sportingly both Baltimore and the Knights agreed. Surprisingly ‘Fast not Furious’ overturned the Knights 2-0 to face Baltimore who despatched Howth 2-0; all races were fought frenetically with the umpire team fully engaged in sorting out the flurry of flags during racing.
‘Fast and Furious’ were true to their moniker but calm and collected the Baltimore team comprising Mark Hassett with Adam Hyland, Fionn Lyden with Amy Harrington and Johnny Durcan with Trudy O’Hara controlled the races from the starts and systematically ground their opponents back to convincingly claim the title 3-0 in the final races. Fast not Furious comprised Finn Lynch, Liam Glynn, Conor O'Beirne, Cora McDowell, Sally Bell and Graine Young...... George Knights comprised John Sheehy with Rachel McManus, Nick Smyth with Jodie Jane Tingle, and Gerald Owens with Melanie Morris. The Knights despatched Howth YC in the petit final to claim the bronze medals. H.Y.C. Simon Rattigan, Lynn Reilly, Darragh O'Connor, Kerrie O'Leary, Aidan McLaverty & Jenny Andreason. The Youth division was won by RCYC Lola! Lola kohl, Eva Spillane, Justin Lucas, Killian Oregan, Rory O'Sullivan & Rob Keal
Results are downloadable below.