SAILING:AN SB20 National Championship on Belfast Lough this afternoon will be the sixth Irish title to be decided in the last fortnight in a busy season climax for Irish dinghy and keelboat classes that concludes next week with Kinsale's staging of one of the most prestigious events on the international calendar, the Dragon class Gold Cup.
Fresh from Monday’s Squib National Championship win in Dún Laoghaire, skipper Aidan O’Connell, sailing with Ben O’Donoghue, can deliver back-to-back championship wins if he can unseat Howth’s Ben Duncan in the SB20 sports boat class. Hosted this morning by Royal Ulster Yacht Club (RUYC) the fixture has attracted a 30-boat entry.
On form, though, Duncan has already scored a Scottish National, Irish Eastern, Western and Southern titles. His move into the Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) scene this season has produced six wins from six races.
Also at RUYC this morning are brothers Emmet and James Ryan, winners this month of the RS400 title. They lifted the RS trophy after an inaugural “Irish RS Games” hosted by Howth Yacht Club where 54 boats in three classes competed. Winners in the RS Feva were UK visitors Elliott Wells and Jake Todd, and Seán and Stephen Craig were RS200 winners.
Belfast’s Simon Brien, who won the Dragon Class Edinburgh Cup on home waters in July, is competing for RS Elite honours in Cowes today.
Many of the 70-boat Gold Cup fleet are already on the south coast for tomorrow’s Irish South Coast championship, a warm-up cup event. Entries for the Brewin Dolphin-sponsored event are from Japan, Hong Kong, Russia, Ukraine, Sweden, Germany, Finland, France, Portugal, Denmark and Monaco as well as strong fleets from Ireland and the UK.
Some of the top international helmsmen competing include Lawrie Smith, who with Ossie Stewart and Tim Tavinor, are the world champions. Germany’s Markus Wieser is the Dragon Gold Cup holder and has won the Dragon European title three times. Poul Richard Hoj-Jensen, Tommy Mueller and Vincent Hoesch – all well known international sailors are also competing.
The Irish fleet will also be represented by Dún Laoghaire’s Martin Byrne, Don O’Donoghue, Andrew Craig and Kinsale’s Cameron Good.
On freshwater, Lough Erne sailor JP McCaldin, sailing Jamais Encore, lifted the J24 title on Lough Ree last weekend by a three-point margin. The Northern Ireland crew had six results in the top three from eight races sailed .
Four Irish London 2012 Olympic representatives were back in action at the the VonZipper-sponsored Laser National Championships last Sunday. In the full rig division, James Espey of Ballyholme YC pipped Annalise Murphy (competing in the full rig for the first time) for the Irish title.
Robin Hegarty, helming Eclipse, has won the Puppeteer National Championships at Howth YC by half a point from former IDRA 14 champion Terry Harvey second.
Irish Melges 24 skipper Conor Clarke finished second overall at the North American Championships in San Francisco last week.
On Lake Garda, Italy, Ireland’s sole entry John Lavery (crewed by your correspondent) led the 35-boat fleet after four races of the 10-race Flying Fifteen European championships.
