Sail-World.com : Irish triumph at Etchells European Championship
|
Irish triumph at Etchells European Championship |
Jay Burke sailing Nothside Dragon, with David Cagney and Declan Macmanus from the Howth YC, won the International Etchells European Championship organised and run by the Royal Mersey YC and the Holyhead SC.
Burke sailed a consistent series winning race 2, in the six race series to take the title with a five point lead ahead of another Howth boat, Matatu Dubh of David Burrows, Tom Hughes and Peter Coad. Making it an all Irish podium was another Howth boat, Fetching of Stephen Quinn with Peter Kingston and Stephen O'Flaherty.
The championship started with a 19 knot breeze and choppy seas causing some problems for the fleet. NED997 appeared with only two crew, the third having returned to shoreside feeling unwell. And Disco Volante of Graham Ellis, David Massey and John Collingwood, lost one of their crew overboard, who was picked up by a rib, after struggling with their kite.
GBR958 ROC did not make the start as they had to return to port for repairs and current European Champion Ante Razmilovic, Swedish Blue - Ante Razmilovic, Chris Larson and Stuart Flinn had to return to the marina with a broken tiller.
As the boats crossed the finish line, first was Matatu Dubh - David Burrows, 2nd IRL1330 Crop Duster – Dan O’Grady, Paul Reilly and Owen Meade and third 3rd ITA1351 Lady D Marco of Cimarosti, Henry Bagnall and Adelaide Giromella.
Race 2 started with the wind still at 20 knots with only 13 boats of the 21 entries on the line. First round was Northside Dragon with the sea now slightly flatter as the tide weakened although it was still wind against tide.
As the fleet same back down the track, the bright spinnaker of ITA1351 suddenly disappeared as he lost his mast due to gear failure.
74 minutes after the start, the first boat crossed the finish line, Northside Dragon with 2nd IRL1323 Fetching, Stephen Quinn, Peter Kingston, Stephen O’Flaherty and 3rd GBR962 Ragtime Rod Goddard, Tony Thackery, David Bedford.
Race 3 and a depleted fleet of 10 starters came to the line, the sea was flatter although the wind was approx 25-28 knots. The slackening tide and the rain came in, 26 minutes on the first leg, as the boats came down the course to the gate, the fleet split between the two buoys the 1st boat Northside took the left hand one, 2nd Matatu Dubh went round the right hand one.
The boats came down to the finish after 70 mins racing with 1st Matatu Dubh, 2nd Northside Dragon, 3rd GBR37 Evelina, Sam Carter, Richard Glen, Tudor Owen.
Day 2 dawned with light winds and bright sunshine, Marco Cimarosti who had travelled all the way from Italy was preparing to take his boat home. Dick Cowan’s boat had a cracked mast, but he was able to change boats and moved into NED997 to cover for the sick crewman.
Nineteen starters came to the line for race 4, wind 14 knots a perfect sailing day. The black flag restart caught out IRL1330 Dan O’Grady on Crop Duster and GBR937 Evelina – Sam Carter.
On the first downwind leg to the gates only 4 of the boats took the right hand gate with the others going through the left hand one, headed by GBR1333 Ante Razmilovic who was back after his gear failure from Race 1, followed by Crop Duster and Northside Dragon.
As the boats approached the finish GBR1333 Swedish Blue Ante Razmilovic, Chris Larson and Stuart Flinn were first across the line, followed in 2nd by Northside Dragon with IRL954 - The Conjurer Alex Lacy, Paul Derham and Russell McGovern in third.
For race 5, PRO Mike Butterfield went into a quick second starting sequence for the fleet and was rewarded by a good start, two boats were OCS, neither of them realising and sailing through to the finish. The sun was still shining and the waters of the bay were somewhat flatter then the previous day.
The top four boats swapped places throughout the race, being led through the gates by The Conjurer, followed by Crop Duster, again the majority of the boat rounding the left hand gate and going off down the right hand side of the track. After 5 legs of the course, the boats were finished just outside the harbour walls with Ist Crop Duster, 2nd The Conjurer and 3rd Fetching.
The final race was sailed in bright sunshine with a steady wind 10-12 knots. Northside Dragon had been OCS in race fiveso had everything to do to take the title, with Matatu Dubh being in the leading position, but needing to win with Northside worse than fourth to take the title.
With the windward mark laid at 1.7 miles, the fleet took off on split tacks to the first buoy, rounding it some 20 minutes later as the wind dropped to 8 knots. With the top Irish boats swapping places with the current European Champion Ante Razmilovic, a close finish saw Razmilovic beating Dan O'Grady' s Crop Duster to the line with Matatu Dubh third and Jay Burke on Northside Dragon safe in 4th to clinch the European title.
The top places went to the Irish Fleet from Howth Yacht Club, the venue for the next World Championship in 2013
International Etchells European Championship - Final results:
1st IRL1038 NORTHSIDE DRAGON Jay Burke David Cagney Declan Macmanus Howth YC 4.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 (22.0 OCS) 4.0 35.0 13.0
2nd IRL1015 MATATU DUBH David Burrows Tom Hughes Peter Coad Howth YC 1.0 8.0 1.0 5.0 (9.0) 3.0 27.0 18.0
3rd IRL1323 FETCHING Stephen Quinn Peter Kingston Stephen O'Flaherty Howth YC 5.0 2.0 (8.0) 6.0 3.0 6.0 30.0 22.0
4th IRL954 THE CONJURER Alex Lacy Paul Durham Russell McGovern Howth YC 8.0 (11.0) 9.0 3.0 2.0 5.0 38.0 27.0
5th GBC937 EVELINA Sam Carter Richard Glen Tudor Owen R.O.R.C 9.0 7.0 3.0 (22.0 BFD) 4.0 7.0 52.0 30.0
6th GBR962 RAGTIME Rob Goddard Tony Thackery David Bedford Hamble River YC 7.0 3.0 5.0 (10.0) 6.0 9.0 40.0 30.0
7th GBR987 BEDROCK Robert Elliott Mark Cartwright Sam Richmond Royal Corinthian YC 10.0 6.0 4.0 4.0 8.0 (11.0) 43.0 32.0
8th GBR1067 SLIEVEELVA Tom Alexander Peter Kingston Crispin Windsor R.O.R.C. 6.0 4.0 6.0 7.0 10.0 (22.0 OCS) 55.0 33.0
9th GBR1009 MAYHEM Geoff Gibbons Dave Moy Helen Draper Nick Gibbons Hamble River SC (11.0) 5.0 7.0 8.0 7.0 8.0 46.0 35.0
10th IRL1330 CROP DUSTER Dan O'Grady Paul Reilly Owen Meade Howth YC 2.0 9.0 (22.0 DNS) 22.0 BFD 1.0 2.0 58.0 36.0
11th GBR1333 SWEDISH BLUE Ante Razmilovic Chris Larson Stuart Flinn Royal Thames YC (22.0 DNF) 22.0 DNC 22.0 DNS 1.0 5.0 1.0 73.0 51.0
12th GBR894 INVADER Trevor Tansey Simon Shepherd Mike Hartley Royal Mersey YC (13.0) 10.0 10.0 11.0 12.0 10.0 66.0 53.0
13th IRL1040 JABBERWOCKY Simon Knowles Jonathan Hartshorn John O'Shea Howth YC 12.0 (22.0 DNF) 22.0 DNS 9.0 11.0 12.0 88.0 66.0
14th GBR463 DISCO VOLANTE Graham Ellis David Massey John Collingwood Royal Mersey YC 15.0 (22.0 DNF) 22.0 DNS 12.0 13.0 15.0 99.0 77.0
15th GBR1034 POINTLESS Ray Huntington Geoff Sheen Graham John Royal Mersey YC 14.0 (22.0 DNC) 22.0 DNS 15.0 16.0 13.0 102.0 80.0
16th GBR958 ROC Andrew Whittingham Jones Nigel Anderton Ian Scott Royal Mersey YC (22.0 DNS) 22.0 DNC 22.0 DNS 14.0 14.0 14.0 108.0 86.0
17th NED997 IMPULSE Leendert Faber Ane van der Schaaf Harald de Roo WSV Hoorn (22.0 DNF) 22.0 DNC 22.0 DNC 13.0 15.0 16.0 110.0 88.0
18th ITA1351 LADY D Marco Cimarosti Henry Bagnall Adelaide Giromella Circolo Nautico Rapallo 3.0 (22.0 DNF) 22.0 DNS 22.0 DNC 22.0 DNC 22.0 DNC 113.0 91.0
19th GBR803 FALDETTA Paul Flower Tom Edge Dave Massey Royal Mersey YC (22.0 DNF) 22.0 DNC 22.0 DNS 16.0 17.0 17.0 116.0 94.0
20th GBR1004 ATALANTA'S GOLD Cliff Renshaw Chris Renshaw Julie Dawling Royal Mersey YC (22.0 DNF) 22.0 DNC 22.0 DNS 17.0 22.0 OCS 22.0 DNC 127.0 105.0
21st GBR1005 ECCENTRIC Dick Cowan Mark Jones Richard Bradbury Royal Mersey YC (22.0 DNF) 22.0 DNC 22.0 DNS 22.0 DNC 22.0 DNC 22.0 DNC 132.0 110.0
by Event media
4:55 AM Sat 30 May 2009 GMT
Click here for printer friendly version
Click here to send us feedback or comments about this story.
If you want to send this story to a friend, please use link below
http://www.sail-world.com/USA/Irish-triumph-at-Etchells-European-Championship/57301
Click for further information on
Related News Stories:
MORE STORIES ...
|
| |
