The Optimist Connacht Championships 2010

152 sailors congregated in Dromineer last weekend for the Connacht Championships.
Light winds and shifty conditions (surprise surprise!) were the order of the day in Lough Derg. Beautiful summer weather in Lough Derg perfect for parents not so great for sailing.

Due to the late start many travelled down on Saturday morning and racing got under way shortly after 1pm. With the forecast for Sunday being a mere 5knots the pressure was on to get as many races completed as possible,
It is a credit to the PRO that four races were achieved in the light conditions with the sailors coming off the water at 6:30pm.

Daire Cournane (KYC) dominated the top of the junior fleet once again followed closely by Robert Dickson (HYC) and fellow club mate Fergus Flood (HYC) in 3^rd .

In the senior fleet Peter McCann (RCYC)  in true Mc Cann style won 3 out of the 5 races. The competition was tough at the top and he was followed closely by Patrick Crosbie (RCYC), Adam Hyland (RSGYC) and Sean Donnelly (NYC Winner of the Munster’s).

Sunday: After one race for the juniors with a general recall followed by a black flag start the wind dropped away to nothing and twenty seven of the seniors were timed out. The PRO made the decision to abandon racing for the day as the sailors bobbed about and all the fleet were towed home.

The Regatta Fleet led by head coach Katie Malcolm and assisted by Katie White had a great two days sailing in the close to the club house where parents could watch the younger sailors from the balcony.

Full results can be viewed on http://www.iodai.com/live/results/

Many Thanks to all in Lough Derg Yacht Club for a fantastic event.