Irish Dragon South Coast Championship at Glandore Harbour Yacht Club

Irish South Coast Dragons 2014 at Glandore © Kathleen Hayes

Irish South Coast Dragons 2014 at Glandore © Kathleen Hayes

Irish South Coast Dragons 2014 at Glandore © Mary Casey

There was a bigger Dragon fleet at Glandore for this year's South Coast Dragon Regatta, we had 15 entries; 6 from Dublin Clubs, 5 from Kinsale and 4 from the home club GHYC, this is up from last year and bodes well for the Glandore fleet with the prospect of up to three more dragons joining the club for the 2015 season. The Club was delighted that Richard Leonard of RCYC was again able to come and act as PRO for the Dragon South Coasts and we wish to thank Jim Whitaker and Wayfarer for acting as committee boat.

Racing was scheduled to start at 13:00 on Friday 29th August, however given the storm crossing south of Ireland last Friday the PRO ribbed out south of Adam Island to assess the sea conditions before coming to a decision to postpone race one until Saturday morning. The forecast was that the weather would settle Saturday and Sunday so that the regatta would see the full five races completed before lift out on Sunday afternoon. There was a quiet reception at the new GHYC Club house on Thursday evening to welcome our visitors, the majority of the boats then lifted in on Friday morning.

On Saturday morning race one started on schedule in a settled 270 wind. The first race was won by Chimaera sailed by Andrew Craig with Mark Petit and Brian Matthews. Kinsale's Cameron Good sailing Little Fella came second with Martin Byrnes Jaguar in third place, there was a short postponement between race one and two as there was a slight northerly shift which meant the course marks had to be re-laid, race two got underway and the top three came in in reverse order of race one, Jaguar Martin Byrne, Adam Winklem and and Prof O'Connell, with Little Fella in second and Chimaera third. The winds lightened as the afternoon passed and for race three the conditions were quite light in the east-filling tide, local boat Sonata was looking good at the bottom of the second run starting the last beat second around the mark, however race three was won by Chimaera with Cloud sailed by Clare Hogan, Neil Hogan, Richard Leonard and Jay Burke in second place, both who went to sea for the final beat and came in with a great first and second place respectively. After Saturdays races Chimaera had 5 points, Little Fella on 9 and Jaguar were on 10, with two races left the overall result was still open.

The final day, Sunday 31st August turned out to be a challenge for the PRO as there was a threat to the final race because of poor visibility, however fortunately all races were sailed and a discard allowed. Race 4 was won by Shawn Kingstons Grey Hare, sailed by Philip Bendon with Jack Kingston, a good win for Philip who will be participating with his Glenmar match race team at the Dutch Match Race Cup later this month in Holland. The visibility improved enough to allow Richard Leonard start race five before the 14.30 cutoff time. Race five was won by Chimaera with Little fella in second and Chloe finished in third place sailed by Daniel and Sean Murphy with Nelson Moor getting their best result of the regatta.

Overall Results: