GP14 Leinster Championship at Skerries Sailing Club
by David Johnston 12 Jul 2018 05:31 PDT
7-8 July 2018
GP14 Leinster Championship at Skerries © SSC
After many weeks of amazing summer weather, the GP14 Leinsters did not disappoint with Skerries producing a fantastic weekend sailing. With light winds forecasted all weekend the OD and his team had planned ahead to allow for four races to be sailed on the Saturday in preparation of very little wind on the Sunday. In the end it proved to be the right call.
Much to the appreciation of the fleet, gate starts were proposed for all races, as the Mounts Bay bound Irish contingent prepared for the 2018 World Championships. With only a handful of very late, barging boats, the gate starts worked very well. With many boats benefiting from the great coaching sessions organised by the class earlier in the year, these gate starts have become a lot less intimidating for sailors not as accustomed to them.
The racing was very tight as the results from day 1 would tell you, with four different race winners the championship was still well open going into Sunday. Shane Mac Carthy & Damien Bracken took first honours in race one followed closely by Ger Owens and Melanie Morris in 2nd and a great performance by youth helm Peter Boyle crewed by father Stephen taking third. Ger & Mel took first in race 2, Niall Henry & Oisin Geraghty taking first in race 3, and Alan Blay & David Johnston winning the last race of the day.
With only two points separating second and fourth place, and then a further three to first, the championship was wide open. Despite matching Ger & Mel with a second and first on the final day (with time to spare for Alan to answer the call from nature up the final beat), Alan & David had to settle for third overall as Shane & Damien had done enough with a 3 and 5 to earn them top spot and another Leinster Championship. Ger & Mel narrowly missing out by one point.
Thank you to all in Skerries Sailing Club for hosting such a fantastic event in testing conditions.
Overall Results: (with apologies to the hard-working crews who are not named)
Pos | Sail No | Flet | Owner | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | Pts |
1 | 14203 | Gold | Shane Mac Carthy | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 11 |
2 | 14076 | Gold | Ger Owens | 2 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 12 |
3 | 14235 | Gold | Alan Blay | 11 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 13 |
4 | 13993 | Gold | Niall Henry | 10 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 20 |
5 | 14219 | Gold | Curly Morris | 4 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 22 |
6 | 14180 | Gold | Alastair Duffin | 8 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 7 | 4 | 33 |
7 | 14209 | Youth Gold | Gareth Gallagher | 7 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 14 | 13 | 38 |
8 | 13917 | Youth Silver | Josh Porter | 9 | 13 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 41 |
9 | 14116 | Youth Silver | Peter Boyle | 3 | 10 | 13 | 9 | 16 | 10 | 45 |
10 | 14214 | Gold | Keith Louder | 14 | 9 | 8 | 4 | 10 | 25 | 45 |
11 | 14144 | Gold | Colman Grimes | 18 | 17 | 3 | 12 | 9 | 12 | 53 |
12 | 14225 | Silver | Cathal Sheridan | 13 | 11 | 16 | 17 | 12 | 7 | 59 |
13 | 13888 | Youth Silver | James Hockley | 12 | 16 | 17 | 10 | 8 | 15 | 61 |
14 | 14054 | Silver | Doire Shiels | 15 | 20 | 14 | 11 | 13 | 11 | 64 |
15 | 4076 | Silver | Alan Pinder | 6 | 12 | 15 | 15 | 23 | 19 | 67 |
16 | 14105 | Gold | Katie Dwyer | 5 | 6 | 10 | 25 | 24 | 26 | 70 |
17 | 13669 | Gold | Norman Lee | 22 | 14 | 11 | 13 | 18 | 20 | 76 |
18 | 14138 | Silver | Simon Cully | 20 | 21 | 20 | 16 | 23 | 9 | 86 |
19 | 13644 | Bronze | Stuart McCormick | 16 | 15 | 24 | 18 | 15 | 23 | 87 |
20 | 13847 | Bronze | Noel Clarke | 25 | 25 | 18 | 24 | 11 | 14 | 92 |
21 | 14061 | Bronze | Michael Collender | 17 | 24 | 19 | 21 | 17 | 18 | 92 |
22 | 13840 | Bronze | James Hackett | 19 | 19 | 21 | 20 | 21 | 21 | 100 |
23 | 14133 | Youth Bronze | Jack Buttimer | 24 | 18 | 23 | 23 | 20 | 17 | 101 |
24 | 13624 | Youth Silver | Ciaran Keogh | 21 | 22 | 25 | 19 | 22 | 24 | 108 |
25 | 13782 | Silver | Simon Crowe | 23 | 23 | 22 | 22 | 19 | 22 | 108 |
26 | 14247 | Gold | John McGuinness | 28 | 27 | 25 | 26 | 23 | 16 | 117 |
27 | 13890 | Bronze | Ian Fitzpatrick | 26 | 27 | 25 | 26 | 24 | 26 | 127 |