Irish SB3 National Championship report and results

by Sarah Byrne on 23 Sep 2009 Peter Kennedy, Dave Cheyne and Stephen Kane from the RNIYC have won the Laser Performance / Matthews Centre SB3 Irish National Championship sailed in Crosshaven over the weekend of 18th to 20th of September. 47 boats competed over 8 races in a variety of sailing conditions.

Friday started with a light South Easterly breeze and testing conditions for all competitors. Brian Reilly from Sligo got off to a good start with a win in race 1 which was followed by a win in race 2 for young local 420 sailor Rob Lehane who continued to impress throughout the event. With the breeze dying away completely race officer Donal Mclement postponed race 3 and finished racing for the day.

Friday started with a light Northerly Breeze for Race 3. The right hand side of the beat favoured with boats approaching the top mark near Trabolgan from the right having a nice lead. Gareth Flannigan sailing McCready Sailboats sailed a nice race holding on to take a comfortable win. However following a protest over the starting sequence this race was thrown out.

Race 4 saw the breeze shifting further to the right and increasing to a nice 10-12 knots. Ben Duncan returning to form took the race win from Brian Reilly. Race 5 and 6 continued in similar conditions with Brian Reilly continuing well taking race 5 from Stefan Hyde / Gerry Dowling.

Competitors were over eager for a number of starts and following a number of General recalls 8 boats were Black Flagged and returned home early. Sean Craig sailed very consistently with no results outside the top ten and took the race win from Gareth Flannigan in race 6.

With the breeze constantly shifting Race Officer Donal Mclement did very well to get 4 races sailed and sailors returned to shore after a long day on the water at 19:00. The overnight lead was held by Peter Kennedy / Dave Cheyne who had a narrow lead from Sean Craig and Gareth Flannigan.

After the long day on the water competitors were rewarded with an excellent meal in the packed yacht club together with the National 18 class and enjoyed live music in the bar until the early hours.

Sunday started with a light Southerly breeze and nice sunshine. The breeze had just filled enough to allow racing commence on time at 12:00. With the right hand side of the beat favouring, Peter Kennedy rounded the top mark in first and was not to be caught taking the race win from Sean Craig to set up for a tight final race with only a few points separating the top 3 boats.

With the breeze building nicely to 10 -12 knots for the final race, competitors were again over eager on a number of occasions and following a number of general recalls 13 boats fell foul of the black flag and headed for an early shower and crane out. Among those caught was Peter Kennedy who had to return to shore in the knowledge that a good result for either Sean Craig or Gareth Flannigan would deny them the title. The race was won by Emma Mcdonald from Darragh Sheridan in second both from HYC. However with Sean Craig having his worst result and Gareth Flannigan managing a 12th the title went to Peter Kennedy / Dave Cheyne with Sean Craig a few points behind in second and Ben Duncan and the Sharkbait team from HYC snatching third from Gareth Flannigan.

Laura Dillon sailing Investwise.ie narrowly beat Emma Mcdonald for first Lady helm with the 2 HYC boats finishing in 6th and 7th. The Silver fleet trophy was won by Daragh Sheridan sailing Dinghy Supplies with Rob Cahill taking the Bronze fleet trophy.

The winners received excellent prizes courtesy of Laser Performance and the Matthews Centre with Peter Kennedy / Dave Cheyne winning a new jib for first overall.

Laser Performance & Matthews Centre SB3 Nationals Entries: 47      Races Sailed: 7      Discard: 1 Final Results

Series Place Sail No Fleet Helm Club Series Points Race 1 Race 2 Race 4 Race 5 Race 6 Race 7 Race 8 1 3500 Gold Peter Kennedy/Dave Cheyne RNIYC 21 2 5 6 4 3 1 48 2 3281 Gold Sean Craig RStGYC 27 9 2 7 6 1 2 14 3 3287 Gold Ben Duncan HYC 32 11 8 1 3 11 3 6 4 3433 Gold Gareth Flannigan RUYC/BYC 33 5 6 3 14 2 5 12 5 3537 Gold Brian Reilly SYC 40 1 20 2 1 13 7 16 6 3240 Gold Laura Dillon/ Dave Quinn HYC 47 6 48 11 8 4 9 9 7 3501 Gold Emma Mcdonald HYC 52 7 48 4 21 15 4 1 8 3339 Gold Rob Lehane RCYC 52 17 1 15 5 6 36 8 9 3312 Gold John O Driscoll RStGYC 65 8 4 22 22 12 6 13 10 3548 Gold Andrew Algeo RStGYC 69 4 32 9 24 8 19 5 11 3280 Gold Greg Bell RNIYC 75 13 3 18 7 28 13 21 12 3490 Silver Darragh Sheridan HYC 77 15 19 12 15 14 33 2 13 3283 Gold Gordon Patterson RNIYC/NYC 87 23 14 17 17 5 11 48 14 3324 Silver Kieran Dorgan CSC 89 21 29 13 13 48 10 3 15 3298 Silver Mike Vaughan RNIYC 94 28 10 24 11 7 27 15 16 3307 Gold Stefan Hyde /J Dowling RIYC 101 12 24 5 2 10 48 48 17 3338 Silver Rob Howe RCYC 108 18 30 29 18 9 17 17 18 3164 Silver Doug Smith RIYC 112 16 12 19 9 21 35 48 19 3449 Silver Dave Barry HYC 112 26 9 20 16 23 30 18 20 3257 Silver Colin Galavan RIYC 113 25 11 48 19 16 14 28 21 3279 Gold Aidan O Connell RStGYC/ RCYC 115 10 7 8 20 48 22 48 22 3045 Silver Trevor Darcy CSC/RNIYC 124 14 18 34 26 27 32 7 23 3484 Silver Martin Cuppage RStGYC 126 29 33 27 27 18 21 4 24 3062 Silver Ronan Downing KYC 132 19 27 14 23 24 25 48 25 3043 Silver Audrey Adamson NYC 136 24 22 16 33 17 24 48 26 3273 Silver Tom Molloy EDYC 143 34 13 10 30 25 31 48 27 3322 Bronze Rob Cahill RStGYC 149 30 16 23 38 48 23 19 28 3259 Silver Emmet Ryan HYC 150 20 37 35 28 19 26 22 29 3437 Silver Marco Sorgassi RStGYC 152 48 48 25 10 20 39 10 30 3148 Bronze Ronan Cull HYC 152 31 25 26 32 48 12 26 31 3323 Bronze Justin Burke NYC 161 33 26 21 25 48 8 48 32 3286 Bronze Eoin Quinlan HYC 161 35 15 30 29 34 18 48 33 3306 Bronze Chris Arrowsmith RStGYC 164 22 36 28 37 33 34 11 34 3426 Bronze Aidan Breen GBSC 177 39 28 32 35 30 28 24 35 3321 Bronze Rory Byrne NYC 184 27 48 37 31 26 15 48 36 3320 Bronze Louise Mckenna RStGYC 188 41 31 36 43 37 20 23 37 3532 Bronze Fionnuala Lougughney NYC 189 36 17 31 39 40 37 29 38 3341 Silver David Stewart RStGYC 191 38 23 48 12 22 48 48 39 3025 Bronze Geoff O Donoghue LDYC 203 42 38 42 34 31 16 48 40 3270 Bronze Nigel Moss GBSC 203 40 35 39 40 35 29 25 41 3337 Bronze Jen Toettcher RStGYC 206 48 34 33 42 29 48 20 42 3524 Bronze Ian Patterson CSC 209 37 21 38 41 32 40 48 43 3344 Bronze Roger Little RWYC 230 43 48 41 45 36 38 27 44 3551 Gold Ronan Collins RCYC 243 3 48 48 48 48 48 48 45 3268 Bronze Declan Keogh RStGYC 248 32 48 43 36 48 41 48 46 3288 Bronze D Hartnett LDYC 269 48 48 40 46 39 48 48 47 3343 Bronze Nick Doherty NYC 270 48 48 44 44 38 48 48

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