Roy Dickson wins 2008 IRC National Championships C

by RNZYS Media on 5 Oct 2008 Veteran keelboat skipper, Roy Dickson and a crew from the RNZYS Youth program have won the 2008 IRC Nationals, sailing a Stewart 34 Playbuoy.

Race Reports:

Friday 3rd October.
Day one of the IRC Nationals was contested today, Friday October 3rd. Only one race was scheduled, a 27 nautical mile harbour race starting and finishing in the Northern Leading area. With a good westerly breeze of 15 - 20 knots the course offered a variety of windward, reaching and running legs. After today's race, the 12 metre Akatea with Simon Minoprio at the helm is leading followed by Roy Dickson's Stewart 34 - Playbuoy.

Saturday 4th October.
With westerly winds of 15 knots forecast, the fleet headed to the waters off the East Coast Bays and managed to get in all scheduled races that included 3 back-to-back windward/leeward races followed by a harbour race that took them to the finish in the Northern Leading area of the Waitemeta Harbour.
In the B Division Akatea was again the dominant boat with 3 wins and a second on IRC corrected time and in the C Division, Playbuoy beat all rivals by the same margin (3 1st's and a 2nd).

Sunday 5th October
The final 4 races of the series were sailed on Sunday with the same format as Saturday. Even with winds now in the 18 - 24 knot range, both Akatea and Playbuoy continued to dominate their divisions, both winning all 4 of their races on IRC corrected time.

Final results are:
1st on line Div B - Bobby's Girl (John Melville).
1st on line Div C - Vilda Hilda (Pelle Petesen).
1st IRC Div B - Akatea (Eoin Fehsenfeld).
2nd IRC Div B - Power Play (Ian McGowan).
3rd IRC Div B - Bobby's Girl (John Melville).
1st IRC Div C - Playbuoy (Roy Dickson).
2nd IRC Div C - Shokran (Joe Brownlee).
3rd IRC Div C - Advantage (Derek Brandt).
1st overall and 2008 IRC National Champion - Playbuoy (Roy Dickson).