Colour’s match at Grand Canal Dock

by Gail MacAllister on 28 Mar 2015 This year, Trinity Sailing hosted the annual Colour’s match at Grand Canal Dock, where the six sailing teams of UCD and Trinity competed against each other.

Traditionally the event takes place in Dun Laoghaire harbour but after the success of last year’s match, which took place on the River Liffey, Trinity decided to take the event to another new and unique location – Grand Canal Dock, which was brilliant for spectators to enjoy the action. The event has been made possible by the kind support of Dubarry of Ireland.

Racing began at 9.30a.m. on Saturday March 21st. The weather was ideal for sailing, with a strong Easterly breeze and lots of sunshine.

TCD6 and UCD6 took to the water first in a best of five head-to-head. UCD secured a win with three races win to two.
Then it was TCD5’s turn to take on UCD5, where Trinity secured a great victory with a 3-0 win.

Due to time constraints they then moved into best of three racing. UCD4 beat TCD4 with a 2-0 victory. Next the third teams took to the water and managed to win their first two races securing another win for Trinity. TCD2 vs. UCD2 saw the racing return to best of five. TCD2 won with a 3-1 score.

The next two sets of races were the traditional Alumni and Ladies’ races. UCD Alumni beat TCD 2-0 in a best of three and the Ladies of UCD beat those of Trinity with a 1,2,3 in a single race.

The last racing of the day would be the decider of the winner of Colours’ 15 when the two first teams raced against each other. TCD1 won the first race with a 1,36, following it up with a 1,2,5 finish in the second race. UCD fought back in the third race, securing a win with a 1,2,6. Everything was very tense as the teams crossed the start line for the next race. Trinity managed to start with an outstanding 1,2,3, finishing with a 1,2,4 securing the title for the second year in a row of Colours’ winners.

There were plenty of spectators come down to watch the racing and listen to music from Nick Nowlan and Chris Raymond. Lunch deals were kindly provided by Donnybrook Fair. The view of the racing was excellent, with even the Viking Splash tours stopping to watch!

An event such as this does not happen on its own so there are many people that need to be thanked for making this happen including Dubarry of Ireland for sponsoring the event, Harry Crosbey and Michael O’Leary for their help in securing the on-land licenses for the event, Mark Clarke, the dockmaster, for his help with getting the ribs through the locks and managing the Viking Splash, Shane Anderson from Waterways Ireland for the on-the-water licenses, DUCAC for their support in all aspects of organising the event and the many people helping on the day including the jury, committee and finish boats, photographers and helpers.

Amelia O'Keeffe of Trinity Sailing Club says 'We hope that the event highlighted the potential and the importance of University racing and Team Racing in Ireland and that all who took part in the event or came down to watch enjoyed it, we certainly did!'