Irish Cork 1720 Nationals at Kinsale Yacht Club Overall

by Lyn Crawford 19 Jun 2001 20:40 BST

Olympic veteran Mark Mansfield became the Irish 1720 National Champion for 2001 after a very closely contested three day event. Sponsored by Cork Dry Gin, and held at Kinsale Yacht Club the event saw some of the windiest conditions ever for a 1720 championship event

Day one saw the Officer of the Day make the call for small jibs and spinnakers, and with waves of up to 20 feet and the wind gusting to over 30 knots, the 32 entries were more than eager to comply with the decision. Despite atrocious sailing conditions and near constant rain, it was a credit to all the sailors that not a single rig came down. It was generally agreed that it was one of the most exciting days racing that a 1720 fleet has ever enjoyed. The only people that may not have welcomed the strong winds were the McWilliams Sail Loft team as they worked over night to repair the several sets of sails that had been damaged in the high winds.

Day two, and the wind strength had moderated some what. This enabled the OOD to get in the full complement of three races compared to day one's two. The racing was highly competitive with former Olympians Mark Mansfield and David Burrows battling it out on the windward- leeward courses. This competiveness continued the whole way down the fleet, with the bottom slots being as closely contested as the top places.

At the start of day three, there were only two points separating the top three boats. It was going to go down to the last three races. by this stage the wind had eased further and the sun had made its first appearance of the event. The top three boats at this stage were Union Chandlery (Mark Mansfield) Wet n Black ( David Burrows) and On all Fours ( Max Mc Mullan) Despite two bullets in the last three races for On all Fours, it wasn't enough to stop Mark Mansfield helming Union Chandlery to take the title.

It finished with 1st Union Chandlery ( 18.75) 2nd Wet n Black ( 21.75) 3rd On all Fours ( 23)

The Nationals are the last major event for a while. The East Coast Championships are being held at the end of July, while the Europeans are being held in September in Wales. The event was a huge success, proving that the 1720 class can provide some of the most exciting and competitive racing available.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Boat	Owner	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Pts
1	1801	Union Chandlery	Terry English/Mark Mansfield	RCYC	2	33	3	0.75	4	2	2	5	18.75
2	1843	Wet n Black	Reilly/Beshoff	HYC	4	2	6	2	2	5	12	0.75	21.75
3	1791	On All Fours	Max McMullan	HYC	9	0.75	0.75	15.5	0.75	8	0.75	3	23
4	1807	Ford Racing	Anthony O'Leary	RCYC	11	6	11	4	7	4	11	12	54
5	1755	Donpack	Ray O'Donoghue/David Rose	RCYC	13	7	5	7	3	12	9	13	56
6	1808	Schullduggery III	Robert Dix/Richard Burrows	HYC	3	10	7	20	5	0.75	17	15	57.75
7	1797	Peugeot Motocycles	Murphy Bros.	HYC	7	5	2	6	25	9	13	18	60
8	1772	Red Green	Shawn Douglas	RUYC	0.75	16	10	9	13	15	5	33	68.75
9	1812	Xerox	Robert Cagney/Brian Lennon	HYC	12	18	9	3	21	14	7	8	71
10	1804	Aquatack	Des Faherty	HYC	17	8	8	10	9	11	15	16	77
11	1818	Merlin	Des Cummins	RStGYC	19	33	15	18	12	10	6	2	82
12	1730	Mivan	Ian Wilson	BallyholmeYC	8	4	12	12	10	21	19	33	86
13	1781	Key Events	Martin Byrne	NYC	15	9	13	14	16	3	22	19	89
14	1773	Yoke	Adam Winkleman	NYC	6	12	4	17	11	16	25	33	91
15	1805	Afloat	Lyden/van der Puil/Devlin	RStGYC	20	3	24	13	23	7	10	17	93
16	1789	Whirlpool	Adrian Allen	BallyholmeYC	18	33	16	11	8	6	3	33	95
17	1723	Cork Dry Gin	John Crotty/Douglas Deane	RCYC	10	11	23	5	20	33	33	4	106
18	1776	Industrial Solutions	John Simms	RUYC	14	13	18	19	24	20	14	9	107
19	1803	Martin Reilly Motors	David Maguire	HYC	5	15	20	15.5	30	23	8	33	116.5
20	1760	Mailspeed Marine & Co	Simon Relph/Dave Eddowes	Pwllheli SC	16	33	19	8	14	26	4	33	120
21	1756	RF Communications	Finbar Tighe	HYC	27	14	25	21	28	18	20	14	139
22	1798	Eagle Star	Paul Burke/Richard Henry	RIYC	23	33	22	23	6	17	28	22	141
23	1767	Yon-ka L'Experience	Tom Evans/Mike Evans	HYC	21	19	33	33	33	13	18	6	143
24	1769	Sun Microsystems	Richard Stafford	NYC	28	17	28	29	19	27	21	7	147
25	1771	Pura Unleaded	Barrington/Byrne/Smith	NYC	30	33	26	31	17	19	26	10	159
26	1799	Billboard	Doherty/Hughes/Crosbie	RIYC	22	33	33	26	26	25	16	11	159
27	1724	Proscon	Alan Hofler/T. O'Shea	RCYC	29	33	27	24	18	22	29	20	169
28	1751	Lemon	Colin Galavan	RIYC	26	33	17	30	22	33	23	23	174
29	1779	Premgroup	Peter Redden/Dan O'Neill	RIYC	24	33	21	27	27	24	24	33	180
30	1790	Hot Stuff	Jones/Murphy/McQuiston	NYC	33	33	30	25	15	29	30	21	183
31	1728	If	David Skerritt	RIYC	31	33	14	22	29	28	27	33	184
32	1762	Fun 4 U	Michael Howell	HYC	25	33	29	28	31	30	33	33	209