Team Ireland in Braassemermeer - FINAL UPDATE

The story of B'Meer 2009

(Go to gallery for photos)

17 sailors from various club around Ireland with various expectations, 2 coaches and a bunch of parents... this was the line up for what was one of the best B'Meer for years all taken into account!

The weather was with us and far far away was last year's snow ball fight... The coaches even managed to test the shorts and T shirt style in order to prepare for summer. But, back to the event...

Racing Day 1 :

The sailors enjoyed a lie in in the morning as registration had been confirmed the day before... but with a steady enough forecast we were very keen to have a short morning session in order to get our information before the two scheduled races.

10-14 kts from a southerly direction were giving us a good size course and the usual shifty conditions settled on the lake... David stayed around the starting area and I took the top of the course. We could communicate info via VHF... And my first communication about the ongoing of our sailors was : " tadgh is coming strong from a middle position, he might be top 5, I dont have the angles yet... oh no sorry, we have a leader!". After a solid start, Tadgh played each of the lifts very smartly on a course very biased to the right to round the first mark of the event in the lead. A few mistakes on the second beat cost him the leading bunch but he kept the fight to the end to secure a excellent 10th for his first international event. On the second fleet, Alex Rumball had a solid start with a good 4th.  The come back of the event was secured by Patrick who sailed to the wrong mark ( actually the one to windward of the start line) before realising his mistake and rounding the top mark 2nd last by miles. He picked 32 places thereafter!

In the second race it was to be another great fight by Tadgh who secured another 10th to place a top 20 overall. Sean Donnelly ( alias Midget 1) and Sean GR (alias midget 2) finished in the top 20 took advantage of the dying breeze to show a good display of speed despite dropping a little on the concentration on the 3rd and final beat. Xander had a solid first day with two mid 20 and gained valuable confidence in his light wind ability.

Day 2:

The forecast was definitely not the most promising and when we arrived on the lake via our little journey on the Dutch canal from our hotel, it was flat calm.

Some breeze picked up late morning and the first fleet just about managed a race before we were all sent ashore ... Not before a few black flag penalties were given! Midget 1 and 2 where amongst the unlucky as well as Conor Murphy and Robert Ferris.

After a long wait, the breeze came back around four to finish race 3 for the two groups which were still waiting. With our black flagged and finished kids on the watch it was to be a good apportunity for the coaches to do live comments about the racing and try to get some learnings done! And Alex R delivered the perfect race, only spoiled by a very controversial yellow flag penalty only a few hundred yards from the finish line while match racing his direct final opponent in order to secure what would have have been the most deserved bullet! Fiona started her recovery with a 17th after  the most dreadful start to her championship on the previous day (54th and bfd! ouch!). Chloe and and Katherin made no mistakes taking advantage of the large number of black flagged sailors in their fleet to secure good points towards a Silver fleet finish target. Tadgh almost took Patrick's come back down when after he had to take turns right off the start line and rounded the top mark with 3 boats behind, he overtook 29 boats!

Day 3:

Final day of the selection before entered the final phase. Pressure was definitely higher on the boat pen as a few sailors were starting to look at their targets of the day to achieve their personal objectives. The wind was still pretty light and there was a lot of work for all with 3 races on the program.

Midget 2 got the first top 10 of the day with a 9th on the 2nd race, but it was really the last race that put a smile on the coaches faces when midget 1 took the lead of the final race of the day, eventually taking 7th... his comment crossing the finish line "now I can lead, I need to learn how to win"! Previously Aodh K had finally secured a excellent 4th way more in line with what he can deliver. Conor took 17th and Fiona a solid 20th.

Chloe's quote of the day "It is so hard to get a DFL (ie last), i think I might have missed the bronze fleet"

The day concluded with 4 sailors in Gold : Alex, A K, a very consistent Tara and our surprise package Sean D.

                                            8 sailors in the silver : Tadgh, Conor, Xander, Fiona, Sean GR, Patrick, Chloe and Katherine

                                            5 sailors in Bronze : Georgina, Paul, Craig, Robert and Alex D

Day 4 :

GOLD : surely a very hard day for our sailors... The fleet was compact and our guys really struggled to find clear lanes and solid mark roundings. The highlight of the day was Alex's final race when he took a creditable 20th gaining him 2 places overall, still a country mile ahead of last year's champion.

final results

22nd, Alexander Rumball

78th, Aodh Kennedy

80th, Tara Flood ( also 13th girl)

90th, Sean Donnelly

SILVER : Tadgh and Conor were still in touch to keep the silver trophy in Ireland, but the initial race proved it was not to be their day. Patrick was our initial flyer. he raced a excellent race keeping in touch with a potetial win before eventually taking a good 6th. Fiona was the next finisher with an 18th gettting her closer to a overall top half finish. The second and final race was to be Fiona's when she finally nanaged to place herself in the leading group concluding her event by a 4th. Sean GR (15th), Conor (17th) and Patrick were not far behind and we anxiously had to wait and see who secured a top half (coaches had set themselves to have 6 sailor achieving a top half)... Fiona climbed a good few places to take 7th in silver while Conor, Sean and Patrick ended up just outside our "little magic target"

Final results

7th (97th) Fiona Daly

16th (106th) Conor Murphy

19th (109th) Sean Gambier Ross

21st (111th) Patrick Crosbie

30th (120th) Tadgh Donnelly

50th (140th) Xander Morrison

83rd (173rd) Chloe Crosbie

86th (176th) Katherine Geoghegan

BRONZE : Another title to have a go at! Georgina and Paul were still in touch to grab it! Georgina started very well rounding the top mark in 4th and actually virtually taking the lead of the bronze fleet, but with the light air really settling in, it was not to be her day and she dropped to 10th. Alex D had to be credited with the best start of the week but unfortunately he could not capitalise on it as he could not find the pace to stay upfront. The second race did not change much and Georgina had to settled with 5th overall followed by Paul 10th.

Final results

5th (185th) Georgina Corbett

10th (190th) Paul O Connor

23rd (203rd) Craig Campbell

24th (204th) Robert Ferris

26th (206th) Alexander Delamer

Fiona, Georgina and Alex D went home with prizes

Tom

Team Coach

Seventeen Irish Optimist sailors are currently in Braassemermeer, Holland for the Annual International Easter Regatta.  For many of the sailors it is their first taste of an International Regatta and three training days before the start of the event have been put to good use. 

Typical Braassemermeer weather greeted the sailors in the first serious session.  With rain and up to 25 knots of breeze all sailors coped well with the fresh conditions.  Coaches Thomas Chaix and David White worked hard with the team and combined with Dutch and Belgian sailors for a few practice races to give the sailors a feel for the waters (and of course suss out the opposition).

With 270 boats expected the event numbers are back up to previous levels and with the waether expected to improve, sailors and support parents are looking forward to an enjoyable regatta.

A highlight of the arrival procedure was the presentation of the Viking Marine sponsored Team Ireland jackets and hoodies.  All sailors can been seen in our photograph sporting the new gear.  Some of them need to grow a little before the jacket will be a good fit but at least they will be able to wear them with pride for many years yet.