Dubarry Irish Squib Nationals at Royal St George Yacht Club

The Royal St. George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire hosted the Dubarry Squib Irish National Championships over the weekend of August 25th–27th. 2012 with 32 entries which is was proportionally a far higher entry that in the UK equivalent championship.

Before racing commenced, the competitors were advised of the weather forecasts for the next three days which involved benign winds on Saturday, calms on Sunday and gales on Monday. The competitors voted to sail three races on the first day in order to minimise the number of races in extreme weather.

Race one was a windward leeward race sailed in the middle of Dublin Bay with winds never exceeded ten knots from the north-east and was won by Vincent Delany and Fergal Gaynor in 'Femme Fatale' from Peter Evans and John O'Rahilly in 'Anemos' and Peter Wallace and Kerry Boomer in 'Toy for the Boys'.

Race two followed in similar conditions with last years Champions Gordon Patterson and Ross Nolan in 'Quickstep III' winning from David Eccles and Phil Hutchinson in 'Inishallagh' and 'Toy for the Boys' all of whom come from the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club.

Race 3 was won by Frank Whelan and Brian Hare in 'Lola' from Brian O'Hare and Paul Maguire in 'Nimble' and Marcus and Meagan Hutchinson in 'Sensation' which was the leading boat after the first day's racing.

It was a long days sailing so the crews were happy to get ashore for some refreshment.

On Sunday the western breeze was about 5-6 knots, but as 'Lola' rounded the windward mark in first race, P.R.O. Peter Craig realised that the wind on the Committee boat was from the south east, so he took the decisive measure to abandon the race. A new stronger breeze came in from the south east and 'Femme Fatale' won the first race from Aidan O'Connell and Ben O'Donoghue in 'Ruby Blue' and Derek and Jean Jago in 'Why Not'.

Race 5 with a wind of force 4 was won by Thomas and Jack Anderson in 'Born Wild' from 'Ruby Blue' and 'Anemos'.

The final race of the day was won by 'Quickstep III' from 'Nimble' and Nigel and Paddy Barnwell's 'Andromeda'.

At this stage the leader-board consisted of 'Ruby Blue' from 'Femme Fatale' and 'Sensation' each separated by one point.

Monday morning was a grey day with heavy rain, poor visibility and strong winds. Racing was postponed for one hour while the PRO reviewed the conditions afloat. Despite the small craft warnings he sent the fleet out for a final race but 15 boats or almost half of the fleet decided not to compete in the final race of the 7 race series. It was like an Olympic medal race.

Initially it was 'Sensation' who took the lead but by the first leeward gate 'Femme Fatale' had surfed into a very small lead. Soon 'Quickstep III' took control of the race on the upwind leg as she tried to hold off 'Sensation', but her manoeuvres back-fired and allowed 'Ruby Blue' to take the lead. At the finish of three laps in about 16 knots of wind with stronger gusts the order was 'Ruby Blue', 'Quickstep III', and 'Sensation'.

Overall Results:

1st 35 'Ruby Blue', Aidan O'Connell and Ben O'Donoghue (R.St.G.Y.C.) 21pts
2nd 24 'Femme Fatale', Vincent Delany and Fergal Gaynor (R.St.G.Y.C.) 25pts
3rd 523 'Sensation', Marcus and Meagan Hutchinson (Kinsale Y.C.) 25pts

For full results see www.rsgyc.ie

For photos see www.fotosail.ie