Dun Laoghaire Regatta Championships - Overall
by David Quinn 11 Jul 2005 10:03 BST
7-10 July 2005
Action from the Dun Laoghaire Regatta Championships © David Brannigan / Oceansport
Squibs sailor Tim Concannon wins overall trophy at Dun Laoghaire Regatta
After some early fog blistering sunshine broke through on Dublin Bay for the final races of the Dun Laoghaire Regatta Championships. Smiles were evident throughout as boats re-entered the harbour this afternoon, and the general consensus is that the inaugural event was a great success and has huge potential. It is widely agreed that the formula of the event, and cooperation of the 4 clubs worked extremely well, and we can look forward to even better things in 2007, and hopefully some wind !
Racing today was held in very light Easterlies again. In the Squib class an impressive scoreline of 7, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1 won Tim and Emmet class honours, although only on count back from Gillian Guinness and Se O'Leary. Both boats shared the lead in most races and were clear ahead of third place. This performance earned the Howth pair the overall Dun Laoghaire Regatta Championship trophy, presented by Dubarry.
Handicap fleets did not get racing today and with only 2 races over the four days they had an incredible string of bad luck on their courses with the wind never quite reaching them.
A summary of all class winners follows. Eamonn Connelly's Patches won Class Zero with two firsts, and after a jury decision to reinstate all boats who missed the time limit on Thursday, Colm Barrington's Flying Glove narrowly beat Tim Costello sailing Tiamat, into third place. Class one supremo Anthony O'Leary continued his winning streak this season on the Corby 25 Antix with a win on countback in Class 1 from Andrew and Niall Allen on No Naked Flames. Anthony was also chosen as Handicap fleets overall winner.
Local boat Blue Berret Pi sailed by Enda Connellan won class 2 with Kinetic from Howth sailed by John and Susie Wallace in second. Gaelic Kiwi sailed by Declan Curtin won the biggest class of the event, Class 3. In contrast, Class 4 with 7 boats racing, was won by Maxelle, sailed by Christopher Ploux. The gentlemans white sail class was won by Mark Hamilton's Destrier.
One Design's had some excellent racing over the four days. Michael Halpenny won the Dragon contest on Susele. Flying Fifteens winners were Ben Mulligan and Ian Mathews. Donal OConnor's Glenluce won the Glen event. The Howth 17 class, definitely the oldest fleet of boats in the regatta, was won by Ian Malcolm sailing Aura. Nigel Bigg's Checkmate, true to form, won the 31.7 event easily with all first places. Barry O'Neill, sailing Just for fun, won out in the J24 fleet. Dermot Baker sailed a superb regatta on Shillelagh to win the Sigma 33's and John Masterson won the Shipman regatta on Curraglas. The 1720's, now racing under new club rules in what is a rejuvenation for the class, were won by Mike Evans, sailing Yonka.
A very encouraging aspect of he regatta is the support for Dinghy Fleets, who averaged the most number of races. Clontarf sailor PatO'Neill won the IDRA14 event, Killian Sargent, also from Clontarf won the Laser event and Aisling Kelly won the 420's. Denis and Margaret Woods won the Water Wag class, who raced inside the harbour today, in what appeared to be the best breezes of the day. Mermaid and overall dinghy fleet winner was Roger Bannon sailing his wooden boat Endeavour. Finally, Neil Colin and Margaret Casey won the Fireball event.
In the end between the three overall fleet winners, Anthony O'Leary ( Handicap ), Roger Bannon ( Dinghies ) and Tim Concannon ( One Designs ), it was decided that the Squib sailors should be awarded the overall trophy, much to the Howth sailors delight. Brian Craig, speaking at a party for the 200 plus volunteers after the event noted " the event has now proven its potential and the fantastic support from sailors and the four waterfront clubs was a real success story ". The next event will be held in July 2007 and organisers are looking forward to an even bigger and better regatta.
Full Results are online at www.dlregatta.org