| Photos by Gareth Craig from fotosail.com |
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| The Puppeteer 22 National Championships took place at Howth Yacht club over the weekend of 24th, 25th & 26th July. PRO for the event; Derek Bothwell succeeded in running 5 of the 6 scheduled races on the Saturday/Sunday despite no wind on the Friday evening. There was a mixture of Windward / Leeward and Olympic race courses set on the Saturday & Sunday. On the Saturday evening after 3 races in a steady building breeze, defending champion Garret May and his team on Ibis were leading the chasing fleet of David Clarke, Harlequin, Rob Stanley. Mojo, David Butler in Enigma and the visiting boat from Northern Ireland, Jellyroll helmed by Tom Molloy. |
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| Sunday brought heavy breeze and gusts up to 28knots and some great downwind sailing was experienced by the entire fleet. With another race win in race 4 - Garrett and his crew on Ibis took the title with a race to spare showing excellent speed in the conditions. 2nd place went to David Clarke on Harlequin and 3rd place was Rob Stanley on Mojo. Noel Davidson and his crew on Pinocchio secured the Echo title with 4 x 1st places with Mary Meaney March Hare 2nd and Gerry Kennedy in Schiggy 3rd. |
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| This was certainly one of the most enjoyable events that the Puppeteers have competed in recently and huge thanks and praise to Derek Bothwell and his team for the excellent W/L Racing - but the real star of the event was Class Captain; Suzanne Carroll who had everything faultlessly organised - even the weather. Congratulations to all those involved. |