Irish Squib Freshwater Regatta at Lough Derg Yacht Club

by Brenda Delany 23 Oct 2012 11:08 BST 20-21 October 2012

UK Squibs head to Rutland for their Inland Championships, but the Irish fleet heads to beautiful Lough Derg in the Irish Midlands. The lake is 39 kilometres long so there is plenty of sailing water for the 14 Squibs which took part including Lough Derg Yacht Club's recently acquired small fleet of Squibs, which they intend to expand over the next few years.

On Saturday 20th. October when the mist lifted off the lake, and the wind appeared along with the bright autumn sun, the racing was held in Youghal Bay with the 6-8knot southerly wind coming from the village of Garry Kennedy. The wind was shifting through 30 degrees in a most unpredictable manner. In the first race James Mathews and Rob Jacob from Kinsale Yacht Club in No. 51 'Mucky Duck' finished ahead of Johathan and Hazel Craig from Howth Yacht Club in No. 37 'Kerfuffle' with No. 46, 'Lola' Frank Whelan and Gerry O'Connor from Royal St. George Yacht Club in third. However 'Mucky Duck' was subsequently declared DNF which give a win to 'Kerfuffle'.

In race two with similar wind and sunshine, 'Lola' won from No. 24 'Femme Fatale' sailed by Vincent Delany and Noel Colclough from the Royal St. George Y.C., and 'Mucky Duck' third place. All four of the Saturday races were held over an interesting course with a short beat, long reach followed by a leeward- windward-leeward legs.

Race three was again won by 'Mucky Duck' from Fred Campbell in No. 148 'Halloween' from the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club, and Derek and Jean Jago in No. 798 'Why Not' from Royal St. George Y.C.

The final race went to Des Clayton in No. 794 'Inishmara' from the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club in a tight running finish and dying wind, from 'Kerfuffle' and 'Mucky Duck'.

The tired crews retired to the Lough Derg Yacht Club for some well deserved refreshment followed by a night of entertainment headed by Johnny Logan, the double Eurovision winner. Unfortunately, we don't know if his entertainment skills afloat would be able compete with the likes of James Mathews, but singing in a small country pub he certainly can lift the roof!

Sunday dawned with mist and a calm. However, by the time the Squib crews had recovered from the previous nights entertainments, the fog had lifted and a good force 3-4 breeze was developing on Dromineer Bay. This wind was far steadier in direction than it had been the day before.

In the first race in a great battle over a windward leeward course 'Mucky Duck' just beat 'Femme Fatale' and 'Why Not', and in the final race the positions were turned around with the finishing order being 'Femme Fatale', 'Kerfuffle' and 'Mucky Duck'.

James Mathews did enough on the water to win this great late season event.

Overall Results:

Place	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Boat Name	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1	51	James Matthews	Rob Jacob	MUCKY DUCK	Kinsale Y.C.	DNF	3	1	3	1	2	11
2	37	Jonathan Craig	Hazel Ruane	KERFUFFLE	Howth Y.C.	1	(6)	4	2	4	2	13
3	24	Vincent Delany	Noel Colclough	FEMME FATALE	R.St. George .Y.C.	(8)	2	7	4	2	1	16
4	798	Derek Jago	Jean Jago	WHY NOT	R.St. George .Y.C.	5	7	3	(8)	3	5	23
5	148	Fred Campbell		HALLOWEEN	R.North of I .Y.C.	6	5	2	(9)	5	9	27
6	548	Colin Dunne		YACHT SERVICES	Kinsale Y.C.	4	4	(8)	5	7	8	28
7	46	Frank Whelan	Gerry O'Connor	LOLA	R.St. George .Y.C.	2	1	(10)	10	6	10	29
8	794	Des Clayton		INISH MARA	R.North of I.Y.C.	(11)	9	6	1	9	4	29
9	813	Peter Dee	Marie Dee	KOOKABURRA	R.St. George .Y.C.	7	8	5	6	(10)	7	33
10	44	Jill Fleming	Rupert Westrup	PERFECTION	R.St. George .Y.C.	3	10	11	(12)	8	6	38
11	95	Sheila Power	Se O'Leary	LITTLE DEMON	R.St. George .Y.C.	9	(12)	12	7	11	11	50
12	716	Conor O'Leary		WHERE'S WOOLY	R.St. George .Y.C.	10	(13)	9	11	12	12	54
13	510	Reggie Goodbody		NO WONDER	Lough Derg Y.C.	12	11	DNC	DNC	13	13	64
14	600	David Meredith		SQUANDER	Lough Derg Y.C.	13	(14)	13	13	14	14	67