ILCA Summer Sprint Series concludes on a high on the Curlane Bank

The ILCA summer sprint series came to a conclusion on Sunday at Royal Cork Yacht club with a finale event on the Curlane Bank. Five sprint races were again scheduled, but the finale event results contributed 1.5 time the normal scores to the overall series results which brought the leaders in each class within catching distance which really played out in the ILCA 7 fleet.

On the day, race officers Tim McCarthy and Brian Bird found a nice breeze on the Curlane bank with 9-10kts from the north holding for the duration of the racing. In the ILCA7 sprint, defending champion Jonathan O’Shaughnessy had a tough battle with Micheal O’Suilleabhain, but Micheal took four out of the five races completed to end with a perfect record after a discard.

They were followed by Sean O’Herlihy who was chasing the overall series prize. In the final placings of the series, Sean finished 0.5 points behind Olin Bateman who had another solid regatta finishing fourth. In the ILCA6 event, Robert Jeffreys who had won three of the sprint events in the 2024 series was surprised by Dara Jenkins who won four out of the five races on finale day. Dara has been developing his ILCA racing skills quickly this season and had a very strong series recently in the ILCA Nationals in Dublin. Eve McCarthy made a nice return to racing on the bank as first girl. It was too late though to keep Rob away from the series prize. In ILCA 4, It was Dara’s sailing partner Conor Lynch who has progressed quickly from Oppies in the last few months and is already showing his mark and winning events. Conor had five bullets ahead of Mike Egan, but it was Mike that swept the series with strong results across four events.  Rachel Hyde finished as first girl.

       

The overall series winners were  ILCA 4 Mike Egan. ILCA 7: Olin Bateman; ILCA 6 Robert Jeffreys 

 

The dinghy centre at Royal Cork hosted a barbecue for the sailors as they came off the water before prize giving with Vice Admiral, Denis Byrne. The vice admiral welcomed the sailors from Kinsale, Cove, Iniscarra and highlighted the winter sailing programs for anyone interested to develop their skills further. 

Huge thanks to all competitors, local volunteers and the clubs that participated in the sprint series again in 2024. Although Glandore was cancelled due to weather, the series provided fantastic sailing in some beautiful harbours in County Cork. There were a total of thirty eight sailors from seven Cork clubs that competed in the series overall and feedback is very positive about the quality of racing and the format of sailing multiple super venues across summer. 

Huge thanks to the Sprint Series Organising committee: Harriet Emerson (GHSC), John Sulivan (Kinsale YC), Kathryn Kingston(Bantry Bay SC), Aoife O’Herlihy (Iniscarra Sailing and Kayaking Club), Tim McCarthy and Eddie Kingston (RCYC) 

 

 

 

 

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