There is no doubt it has been a strange season…but one very positive aspect has been the upturn in our Junior sailing. With great response to our July & August courses, we also saw a significant increase in no.s of Juniors racing on Wednesdays and Sundays. Todays rearranged Club Regatta, originally planned for July saw a superb turnout of Lasers, Toppers, Mirrors, Opis and a couple of GP14. There was also an Adult course taking place in the creek as well. A few others were just pottering around including a Pico and a Feva enjoying the day. Each fleet had a superb 1st race, raced off our committee boat, a first for many of these young sailors. However the wind dropped off causing some of Fleet 1 to fail to finish inside the time limit, while Fleet 2 second race was abandoned with wind dying away and the fleet still to counter an ebb tide back to the finish line.
Our Novice Opi Fleet got 2 starts in also out off the committee boat, with all who came to the start getting round the triangle course no problem. The second race saw them impacted by the dying breeze with only 3 of the fleet getting across the finish line. They were supported on the water by Opi coach Saoise Kelly and they all seemed to have a ball.
A big thank you to our PRO on the day Jim Lambkin, Safety co-ordinator Mandy Kelly, our safety boat drivers and crews including Saoirse Kelly, Emily Lowe, Alex Hynes, Peter & Melanie Knief, Mark Masterson, Ben Robinson. A big shout out to our volunteers co-ordinated by Kirk Durnford and Roisin McLoughlin, who provided launch and retrieve services and looked after our sign-in book. Also a big thank you to SuperValu Sutton for their continued support of the Club
Many of the competitors had made their way home by the time the results were entered and ready for prize-giving. Undestandable considering Covid restrictions in place. In the absence of our Commodore Ian McCormack, who was competing at the J80 Nationals in Dun Laoghiare, our prizegiving was overseen by Vice Commodore Ciara Mulhall. For those named below in the prize-list who were not able to stay, your prizes can be collected from the Clubhouse during this week. Again a big thank you to all the competitors for turnout out and their parents for facilkitating them and making it a great day. Let hope next year will be as successful but with some of the normal social aspects we are famous for in Sutton Dinghy Club.
Summary Results:
Fleet 1 – Laser Std, Laser Radials, Laser 4.7 & GP14 – 16 Boats
- Overall – 1st Peter Boyle & Shane O’Brien (GP14), 2nd Overall Alan Carr (Laser), 3rd Joe Doherty (Laser Radial)
- Laser Radial – 1st Joe Doherty, 2nd Luke Kellett, 3rd Aedan Lestrange
- Laser 4.7 – 1st Denis McCarrick, 2nd Hugh Dummer, 3rd Ciaran Durnford
Fleet 2 – Toppers, Opi, Mirrors – 9 Boats
- Overall – 1st Oisin Kelly (Opi), 2nd Piers Hallwood (Opi), 3rd Bear & Henry Dummer (Mirror)
- Topper – 1st Jack Beary, 2nd Michael Clarke, 3rd Eimear Flemming, 4th Maeve Kellett
OPi Novice Fleet – 11 Boats
- Overall – 1st Naiomi Wilson, 2nd Gemma O’Flanagan, 3rd Aoife Clarke, 4th Juliet Weston
Full detailed results are on the home page.