GP14 Championship of Ireland 2021 at Lough Erne Yacht Club

by John P McCaldin 18 Aug 2021 00:12 BST 13-15 August 2021

GP14 Championship of Ireland 2021 at Lough Erne - Day 1 © Mark De Fleury

The weekend saw the GP14 fleet return to Lough Erne Yacht Club for the 2021 Irish Championships. The event was kindly supported by Enniskillen Bid, Fermanagh & Omagh District Council, Ropelocker.ie and Inish Macsaint Fermanagh Beer.

40 boats took part, including past Olympians, world champions and novice racers. Four of the 40 boats were from Lough Erne Yacht Club with the others travelling from all over Ireland to compete on the waters of Lower Lough Erne.

On the water volunteers set up eight races over the three days led by Derek Bothwell from Howth, Co Dublin, a national race officer.

Day one saw plenty of thrills and spills with winds gusting up to 20mph, maybe more at times.Tthree races were completed. The first race, after a photo-finish, was won by Ross & Jane Kearney of Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club and races 2 & 3 by Shane MacCarthy & Josh Porter of Greystones/Newtonards sailing clubs.

After a physically demanding day on the water, the crews welcomed the free Inish Macsaint beer, supplied by the sponsor.

Day two dawned windless. After several hours delay, waiting for the wind to arrive, the fleet launched for 3 more races. Race 4 went to veteran Hugh Gill and his son Dan from Sutton Dinghy Club sailing a beautiful new Duffin boat. Race 5 went to ex-Olympian Ger Owens and Brendan Brogan and a shortened race 6 to Shane MacCarthy & Josh Porter.

Going into the final day, three teams could win.

Race 6 went to Ger & Brendan meaning if they won the last race they would take the title. Despite a really close battle with Katie Dwyer and Michelle Rowley of Sutton Dinghy Club, Owens of Royal Saint George Yacht Club and Brogan of Sligo Yacht Club held on for the race win and took their fourth & eighth Irish GP14 titles respectively.

Shane and Josh finished 1 point behind in second place overall with Ross & Jane third.

Silver fleet went to James Peter Hockley & Alan Thompson from Lough Foyle Yacht Club, and the Bronze fleet to Matthew Cotter & Tom Mulligan from Sutton Dinghy Club.

First Veteran was Hugh Gill, with the youth title going to Ciaran Keogh & Adam Leddy from Greystones Sailing Club.

At the prize-giving, winner Ger Owens thanked all the Lough Erne Yacht Club volunteers and sponsors for a superb event.

See more photos at www.gp14ireland.com

Overall Results:

Pos	Fleet	Boat	Sail No	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Pts
1st	Gold		14256	Ger Owens	Brendan Brogan	2	‑3	3	3	1	‑8	1	1	11
2nd	Gold		14203	Shane MacCarty	Josh Porter	‑4	1	1	‑7	2	1	4	3	12
3rd	Gold	Purple Rocket	14242	Ross Kearney	Jane Kearney	1	2	2	‑9	‑12	2	3	7	17
4th	Gold	Yin Tang	14275	Hugh Gill	Daniel Gill	3	‑11	5	1	3	7	5	‑8	24
5th	Silver	Fred	14254	James Hockley	Alan Thompson	5	9	6	‑25	8	‑14	6	4	38
6th	Gold	No Surprise	14144	Colman Grimes	Ross Gingles	12	4	‑19	11	14	5	2	‑15	48
7th	Gold	Delusion	14270	Norman Lee	Alan Leddy	7	16	9	4	11	3	DNF	‑17	50
8th	Gold		1414	Adrian Lee	Gareth Gallagher	6	6	SCP	8	‑22	‑24	8	10	50
9th	Gold		14247	John McGuinness	Donal McGuinness	9	OCS	7	10	OCS	4	7	18	55
10th	Silver	Kanaka	13901	Steven Nelson	Daniel Nelson	‑15	13	8	13	9	6	DNF	6	55
11th	Gold		14214	Keith Louden	Mateo Louden	17	12	‑18	6	6	13	DNF	5	59
12th	Gold	Trouble on the way	14219	Curly Morris	Stephanie Corkhill	8	‑21	DNF	5	16	12	10	11	62
13th	Gold	Solaro	14 0	Katie Dwyer	Michelle Rowley	11	15	DNF	16	10	10	DNF	2	64
14th	Gold		X	Diarmaid Mullen	Lauren Donaghy	10	17	11	‑28	7	15	DNF	13	73
15th	Silver		14241	Patrick Hamilton	James Dewhurst	13	7	10	22	13	11	DNF	‑24	76
16th	Silver	Pig	14138	Simon Cully	Libby Tierney	‑21	10	13	19	‑21	9	11	16	78
17th	Gold	Joe Batts Arm	13466	Richard Street	Conor Flynn	‑29	22	25	2	4	22	DNF	9	84
18th	Silver	Beltraka	14257	Bill Johnson	James Johnson	14	5	14	18	17	‑28	DNF	20	88
19th	Gold	Blue Flame	13645	Robert Gingles	Chris Gingles	20	DNF	15	14	5	16	DNF	19	89
20th	Silver		13928	Sam Wray	Luke Henderson	‑23	8	16	20	15	‑27	21	12	92
21st	Silver	Curved Gold	13624	Ciaran Keogh	Adam Leddy	18	18	12	15	‑28	18	13	‑26	94
22nd	Silver	Gringer Sails Again	14225	Cathal Sheridan	David Cooke	19	‑23	21	12	18	19	9	‑27	98
23rd	Silver	Cloud 9	13981	Sam Street	Josh Lloyd	DNF	14	17	21	‑29	21	17	14	104
24th	Bronze	The Wrong Trousers	14165	Matthew Cotter	Tom Mulligan	‑25	19	20	23	25	23	19	‑32	129
25th	Bronze	Trouble I've Seen	14077	Michael Brines	Peter Brines	24	24	22	‑26	23	‑25	16	22	131
26th	Silver	Ice & Slice	14271	Brian Morrison	Rian O'Hailin	22	27	DNF	31	DNF	17	12	23	132
27th	Silver	Falkor	14212	Michael Cox	Claire Cromie	16	20	24	‑33	20	32	DNF	21	133
28th	Bronze	Geepers	14061	Michael Collender	Brian Walker	30	32	DNF	17	24	20	18	‑36	141
29th	Silver	Brane Wave	14207	Simon Jeffrey	Meredith Grieve	28	29	DNF	27	19	30	15	‑31	148
30th	Bronze	The horse with no name	14116	Joe Doherty	Oscar Langan	26	26	23	‑34	‑27	26	24	25	150
31st	Bronze	This One	13207	Max Cully	Ollie Lloyd	31	25	DNF	24	31	‑37	20	28	159
32nd	Bronze	Boatzart	13865	Jennifer Bryce	Lara Sunday	33	DNC	28	30	26	34	25	‑37	176
33rd	Bronze	Finbarra	14129	Newenham de Cogan	John Borne	DNC	DNF	DNF	29	30	29	22	29	180
34th	Bronze		4237	Luke Kellett	Denis McCarrick	DNC	DNF	26	36	38	36	26	30	192
35th	Bronze	Ventura	796	Derek McCune	Graham	32	31	27	37	32	33	DNF	DNS	192
36th	Bronze	Ships n' Giggles	13257	Adam Torrens	Tiernan	27	30	DNS	38	36	31	DNF	33	195
37th	Bronze		1386	Dennis Cully	Mark Stanley	DNC	DNC	DNC	39	33	38	14	34	199
38th	Bronze	Probably The Best ...	12560	Jorgen Pedersen	Eve Pedersen	DNS	DNC	DNC	32	35	35	23	35	201
39th	Bronze	Hell Fire	11111	Peter Murphy	Ciara Mulvey	DNS	28	DNF	35	34	40	27	38	202
40th	Bronze		13927	Aedan L'Estrange	Emily Lowe	DNC	DNC	DNC	40	37	39	DNF	39	237