Sovereign Ski Topper Worlds at Dun Laoghaire, Ireland Day 1
by Phil Harland 17 Aug 2011 08:34 BST
14-19 August 2011
The first day of the 2011 Sovereign Ski Topper World Championship at the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland dawned bright and sunny with a gentle south west F3-4, but forecast to build. Competitors had travelled from every corner of the UK, Ireland and as far as Korea and numbered 174. The plan was to race a round robin as three flights (Yellow, Blue and Red) for the first two qualifying days before being split into Gold, Silver and Bronze fleets for the final three championships days.
Launching commenced at 10:02 and boats were managed out of the dinghy park in an orderly line down the slip. Within 40 minutes all the boats were afloat and making their way to the race area, to the west side of Dun Laoghaire harbour fairly close in-shore to stay out of the stronger tides.
At 11:45 the first yellow flight was away under a black flag start after a general recall of the enthusiastic sailors. This was followed by the blue flight which had a few individual recalls and finally the red flight. Victory in the first race of the championships went to Yellow: Danielle Thomas (GBR), Blue: Calum Healy (GBR) and Red: Laura Gilmore (GBR).
With 8 knots from the south-west reported on the course, Race 2 got underway quickly. The promised stronger winds weren’t materialising, though odd gusts swept across the race course with some big shifts to catch out the unwary. In general though, the effects of tide had to be uppermost in the sailors’ minds both at the start and around the course. Race 2 winners were Yellow: Liam Glynn (IRL), Blue: Dan Venables (GBR) and Red: Matt Venables (GBR) – and yes, Matt and Dan are brothers…
The final race of the day, Race 3, was run in similar conditions, with race wins going to Yellow: Edward Higson (GBR), Blue: Danielle Rowe (GBR) and Red: Lawrence Logan (GBR). An orderly return to shore avoided any big crush on the slipway and all sailors were reunited with their trollies and back in the dinghy park around 16:30 and ready to enjoy the evening entertainment laid on by the National Yacht Club, back out on the water, but this time in Aqua Spheres!
So, three races completed as per the schedule and a good start to the Championship, but with some shifty conditions and reasonable tide some sailors were delighted with excellent results whilst others may be looking for some better winds tomorrow. One of the coaches described the day as a game of snakes and ladders with some huge gains to be made in the shifts, but equally some big losses. Overnight the leaders were the two brothers: 1st place Matt Venables (GBR) posting a 2nd, 1st, and 2nd. In 2nd place Dan Venables (GBR) posting a 5th, 1st and 2nd. In 3rd place William Tarn-Chapman (GBR) posting a 4th, 2nd and 2nd.
More photos by Gareth Craig / fotosail.com can be found here.
More information and full results on the event website.