Irish Mirror Southern Championships at Lough Ree Yacht Club

Near perfect conditions for the 19 boats competing in the Irish Mirror Southern Championships at Lough Ree © Gerardine Wisdom

Near perfect conditions for the 19 boats competing in the Irish Mirror Southern Championships at Lough Ree © Gerardine Wisdom

Near perfect conditions met the 19 boats competing in the Mirror Southern Championships in Lough Ree over the weekend of the 10th/11th of April. Sunny skies and a 14 knot southerly breeze was the order of the day, with a triangle / sausage course for all four races on Saturday. Most of the fleet had been sharpened up with two days of training with Tim Rush of North Sails, preceding the event, and this showed in a very compact fleet over the course of the weekend.

Race one got off to a clean start and Johnny and Adam Hill were first to the windward mark, closely followed by Beth and Shauna Armstrong and Adam and Toby McCullough in third. These three boats pulled away during the race and after much place changing, Beth and Shauna Armstrong came through to win with Adam and Toby McCullough second and Johnny and Adam in third, with Callum Maher and David Johnston in fourth. Peter Regan and Jack Ryan headed up the silver fleet and Sinead Dickson and Erica Markey led the bronze fleet.

The start of race two was more aggresive with a few boats over the line but all returned,w ith Beth and Shauna being one of those recalled, but they sailed well to recover to fourth place by the end of the race. First around the windward mark were Johnny and Adam Hill again, followed by Cillian Dickson and Lochlann O’Regan who went on to eventually clinch the win on the final few feet to the finish.Adam and Toby McCullough came through to finish third after a poor start. In the silver fleet Peter Regan and Jack Ryan again were the highest finishers in 5th place and Tiarnan Dickson and Shane Donohue finished in 9th place to take over the lead in the bronze fleet.

Race three was another tight affair with Beth and Shauna Armstrong reaching the weather mark first and were never headed going on to win from there. In second place were Johnny and Adam Hill, followed by Peter Regan and Jack Ryan who were running away with the silver fleet prize. Cian Hickey and Paddy McGowan finished fourth and Tiarnan Dickson and Shane Donohue again took the bronze fleet win in 7th place.

In what turned out to be the last race of the championship as there was no wind on the Sunday, Adam and Toby McCullough made no mistake and led all the way round to take the win, giving them second overall. Cian Hickey and Paddy McGowan sailed well to take 2nd place in the last race, with Cillian Dickson and Lochlann O’Regan in 3rd place to finish fourth overall. However Beth and Shauna had done enough in their previous races to finish first overall with two firsts and a fourth to become Irish Mirror Southern Champions. Johnny and Adam Hill finished the line up in third overall. Peter Regan and Jack Ryan won the silver fleet and Tiarnan Dickson and Shane Donohue won the bronze fleet.

Overall Results:

1st BETH and SHAUNA ARMSTRONG (Sligo Yacht Club)
2nd ADAM and TOBY McCULLOUGH (Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club)
3rd JOHNNY and ADAM HILL (Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club)

Silver Fleet
1st PETER REGAN and JACK RYAN (Lough Ree Yacht Club)
2nd JACK MAYE and RONAN ARMSTRONG (Sligo Yacht Club)
3rd ANDREW BRADY and MAURISH FITZGERALD (Sligo Yacht Club)

Bronze Fleet
1st TIARNAN DICKSON and SHANE DONOHUE (Lough Ree Yacht Club)
2nd SINEAD DICKSON and ERICA MARKEY (Sutton Dinghy Club)
3rd ROSIE DONNELLAN and ASHLEY McDERMOTT (Lough Derg Yacht Club)