ISA All Ireland Championship - Anthony O’Leary emerges victorious

by Irish Sailing Associaton on 12 Sep 2014 Anthony O’Leary – the Commodore’s Cup powerhouse – has been crowned 2014 ISA All Ireland Sailing Champion. He has beaten fellow Corkonian Stefan Hyde on count-back following a two day, 12 race battle against 15 other national class champions. The Royal Cork sailor has competed in the Championship numerous times but to date had never been able to bring home the coveted Helmsman Trophy. He and his sons Peter and Nicholas have now won the championship a record breaking combined six times.

Beautiful sunshine and a breeze of 10-12 knots again awaited the sailors today (07 September) for the finale of the ISA All Ireland Sailing Championship hosted by Howth Yacht Club. First to take to the waters north of the harbour were the eight sailors competing in the repechage for the remaining two Final spots.

Local sailor Conor Turvey and J24 Champion Flor O’Driscoll finished Race 1 at the top of the leader board. O’Driscoll went on to win Race 2, and the repechage, to qualify him for the Final but a penalty for Turvey cost him the remaining place. Ultimately it was consistency that paid off for Clontarf’s Pat O’Neill. His 3, 3 earned him the eighth place in the Final.

Royal Cork’s Anthony O’Leary stormed into the lead in Race 1 of the Final and just could not be caught. He rounded each mark in pole position to take the win and push him to the top of the leader board. O’Leary was tailed by Pat O’Neill and RS200 sailor Alex Barry but fellow Corkonian Stefan Hyde’s fourth was enough to keep him in second place overall with defending champion Ben Duncan only a point behind in third.

There was a significant shift in the leader board after the second race. Stefan Hyde, Anthony O’Leary and a third Cork sailor; Alex Barry were first to cross the line. This resulted in a Cork takeover of the top four places with overnight leader Ian Nagle rounding off the domination by moving up to fouth. Duncan pulled in his worst result of the championship and even the discard couldn’t save him from dropping to seventh overall.

The penultimate race couldn’t have been closer. All eight competitors were neck and neck throughout, jostling positions. In a shock result Stefan Hyde finished in last place but he discarded to hold on to the top spot. Alex Barry had his second consecutive bullet followed by Pat O’Neill who finished in second place for the second time in three races. Now only 3.5 points separated the top four sailors in a Cork dominated fleet.

The wind dropped off to about seven knots for the final deciding race. Again, it was so close that the positions changed frequently. At the first mark, Anthony O’Leary was at the back of the fleet but he then led around the second mark. Alex Barry, who had been third around the first mark, dropped to the back of the fleet rounding the final mark. But O’Leary and his crew Dylan Gannon and Dan O’Grady could feel the win. They maintained their lead, crossed the line two places ahead of Stefan Hyde, tied them on points, and won on count-back in what was undoubtedly the closet fought All Irelands in many years. Hyde and his crew Jerry and Jimmy Dowling ultimately took Silver and Alex Barry, Sandy Rimmington, Lisa Neary and Patrick Good claimed Bronze.

Final Results

 

Boat	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Dis	Total
2	Anthony O'Leary	RCYC	1	4	3	1	3	7	1	7	13
4	Stefan Hyde	RCYC	1	1	2	4	2	8	3	8	13
8	Alex Barry	MBSC	4	2	4	3	1	1	8	8	15
5	Ian Nagle	RCYC	1.5	1	2	6	6	3	2	6	15.5
1	Pat O'Neill	CY&BC	5	2	8	2	5	2	4	8	20
3	Chris Helme	RSGYC	3	5	1	8	3	5	6	8	23
7	Ben Duncan		2	5	1	5	7	6	7	7	26
6	Flor O'Driscoll	RSGYC	6	3	6	7	4	4	5	7	28

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Repechage Results

Flor O'Driscoll and Pat O'Neill have won the repechange and will now sail in the Final.

Boat	Helm	Class	R1	R2	Total
8	Flor O'Driscoll	Royal St George YC	2	1	3
4	Pat O'Neill	Clontarf Y&BC	3	3	6
1	Conor Phelan	Royal Cork YC	5	2	7
2	Conor Turvey	Howth YC	1	7	8
7	Richard Evans	Howth YC	4	5	9
5	Ross Vaughan	Royal North of Ireland YC	6	4	10
6	Laurence Hanley	Lough Ree YC	7	6	13
3	Guy Kilroy	Royal Irish YC	8	8	16

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