 Dux (Photo by David Branigan) |
| Idyllic sailing conditions were had in Kinsale for the Sovereign's cup over four days with eight races in all. The first day was delayed due to no wind, however it built in the afternoon and the race officers managed to get two races in. From then on for the next three days, the wind ranged from 15 to 25 with flat seas and sunny weather. Only a handful of Howth boats took part out of the 95 entrants, however managed to come home with top 3 places in each of their classes. Storm came away with a 2nd overall in Class 1, where they were racing with Class 0 with 25 boats going to the start. Peculiarly Storm won the J109 fleet which was sailed within the class despite another J109 winning the overall event Dux and Sunburn represented Howth for Class 2 in the largest of the Classes with 18 boats in contention and stiff competition from the Waterford based Slack Alice and Cavatina, who is well known for her Round Ireland success. After a slow start for Dux in the light weather of the first day, we picked up pace and going in to the final day it was all to play for with one point between the top three boats. It was fantastic racing with the lead changing constantly and some of the finishes literally seconds between boats. Dux came away with both the IRC and ECHO trophy and was placed second for the overall Sovereign's Cup prize which was awarded to Peter O'Leary in the 1720 class, who were having their European Cup. The White Sails had one race each day and Colm Bermingham's Bite the Bullet came away with the honours after managing to keep some consistent results in White Sails Class 1. As always the hospitality in Kinsale Yacht Club was superb and with the temperature in the high 20's at times, there were a lot of thirsty sailors after each days racing. Well done to Kinsale Yacht Club for organising a great event once more and arranging the weather to be more Caribbean than Irish! Click here for Full Results >> |