Elmo Trophy 2024 Youth Team Racing at the Royal St George Yacht Club
by Steve Tylecote 2 Sep 21:24 PDT
31 August - 1 September 2024
Ireland showed again they are driving the sport of dinghy team racing to new levels of participation with 'The Elmo'. Hosted by Royal St George Yacht Club in Dublin's sailing stadium of Dun Laoghaire Harbour over the weekend.
A record 36 school age teams assembled and many more had applied. It is by far the biggest youth sailing event in Ireland and two teams from the UK also attended. They would compete in 6 flights of colour matched Fireflys in the normal 3 boat vs 3 boat format - internationally recognised as the signature pinnacle format of tactical sailing. Speed and shrewd individual and team tactics being in perfect balance. Across the weekend a round robin ladder system was used to keep the action flowing with well-matched racing the norm.
Saturday was full on and the many volunteers and pro-experts in event management got things ticking along nicely. They successfully did a pilot of a rolling two-minute start sequence and at the same time maintaining a sensible course length. The six boat international umpire team sprinted back and forth and managed to catch up with most of the action and support any competitive situations that might benefit from an external viewpoint.
138 races done - time to party hard. Rutland Raiders convincingly lost the karaoke competition despite being the only participants, but their time would come.
As a very light wind Sunday dawned the overnight leaders were team Prestige Worldwide who restlessly held the mantle of knowing they had to attempt to fend off The Leaders Curse. A further 42 round robin races were held and then the ladder (also known as a Swiss League) part of the competition was brought to a close. The PRO David Bolger and Event guru John Sheehy earned their glowing reputations when tough calls had to be made. Tempting as it was to wait it out for breeze and stick with the quarter-final plan... and the added attractive prospect that this could force the Brits to miss their flight... but no... sporting fairness prevailed and by about 3pm and several postponements for the fickle breeze they cut straight to semi-finals to commence battle in a 'robust' 5 knots from the SE.
Rutland Raiders took their semi against team 'Where's Peter?'. Schull Sharks, reigning Irish School Champions would join Raiders in the final having handled the cursed Prestige Worldwide. Ultimately Prestige and 'Where's Peter' should still hold their 'soon to be university student' heads high. Prestige won the competitive one race shoot out petit final against team 'Where's Peter?'.
Unknown to Schull the Raiders had been undergoing a light air training program over the summer that had included the Firefly Nationals on the Cornish Riviera. From the outset the Raiders showed both consistent speed and also a snappy but smooth boat handling that gave them an edge. Raiders generally were leading the approach to start lines and held that advantage despite the tenacity of the Schull team that particularly showed itself on the runs of both races in the final.
The event was live streamed, and Sheehy added his particular sauce to the proceedings with his informed commentary from his years of international team racing - and here is a clip from the final (by John Sheehy):
Graham Elmes in whose memory the event is held was a superb ambassador for the sport and Frank Elmes supported the prize-giving on the family's behalf as a tag team with Commodore Mark and guest star Robbie. So Rutland Raiders retained the trophy won in 2023. The Raiders did make their flight along with their co-team the 'Rutland Rebels' who finished a very creditable 10th.
Who were these brave sailors who stepped up to the mark on to one of the finest stages the sport of sailing has to offer?
Rutland Raiders (winners): Dylan Beatty, Oliver Mckee, Georgiana Caldecott, Harry Rowlands, Katie Robinson, Harry Burge
Rutland Rebels (10th): Luke Rowlands, Annabelle Hacker, Annabel Caldecott, Beau Beesley, Jude Beatty, Grace Cullen