Team Ireland West third in the Kinsale Fastnet race

by Aodhan Fitzgerald 21 Jun 2006 14:13 BST 16 June 2006

Team Ireland west Kicks off Round Ireland Campaign

Team Ireland West sailing their beneteau 40.7 “Ireland’s West“ had a very successful start to their Round Ireland race campaign when they placed in third place in IRC and ECHO in the face of stiff competition in the Anglo Irish Bank Kinsale –Fastnet race. The race started in a moderate westerly wind from outside Kinsale Harbour on Friday Evening and a fleet of 16 boats were entered , many of whom will be competing in the BMW Round Ireland race on July 1st.

“Ireland’s west” Skippered by Aodhán Fitzgerald, with patches crew Ronan Grealish standing in for Barry Heskin enjoyed a clear start and rounded the Old head in the company of several higher rated boats. Positions were swapped as the fleet made there way upwind along the coast with the local boats taking advantages of wind shifts along the headlands. A decision to head out to sea in the latter hours of the night to take advantage of a forecast strengthening in wind speed on the south of the course saw “Ireland’s West” round the rock in 4th position while many higher rated boats wallowed in complete calm to the north east of the rock.

A spinnaker run along the south coast followed while a strengthening wind and beautiful sunshine encouraged the crew to work hard to make gains. Daithi de forge proved invaluable as usual in the culinary department as he fuelled the crew with huge bowls of Magnetti’s Pasta! A few well timed gybes saw “Ireland’s West” move into third place on the water by Seven Heads. As the breeze freshened to over 18 knots the team peeled to a heavier spinnaker for the breezy reach to the finish in Kinsale Harbour where Conor Doyle’s “Freya” narrowly pipped them for 4th place on the water despite Ronan Grealish’s efforts. The team completed the 100 mile course in 19 hours 41 minutes and had now to await the arrival of the slower boats to get the result after handicaps were applied. The team were narrowly beaten by “Chameleon” and “Y-Dream” and were delighted with a third place on IRC and ECHO which saw them see off all of their Round Ireland opponents. An encouraging start to the campaign! The crew for the Anglo Irish Bank Kinsale –Fastnet race was:

Skipper: Aodhán Fitzgerald, Ronan Grealish, Noel Butler, Seamas Moneley, Martin Breen, Eoghan McGregor, Nigel Moss, Lary Hynes, Daithi De Forge and Phillip McCafferty.

Overall Results:

Pos	Boat Type	Sail No	Boat Name	Helm	Club
1st	fastnet 38	IRL 152	Chameleon	p o Donovan	KYC
2nd	Beneteau 36.7	FRA 2820	Y Dream	Murphy/O Riordan	RCYC
3rd	Beneteau 40.7	IRL 2811	Ireland's West	A Fitzgerald	GBSC
4th	Elan 31	IRL 3103	Grin and Bear It	C Dunne	KYC
5th	Corby 38	IRL 203	Gloves Off	Twomey/Mahony	RCYC