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Team Racing - Monaco -Saturday 23rd Jan & Sunday 24th Jan 2010
Day 1 The day began with a briefing for the sailors at 10am in the Yacht Club de Monaco. Here the teams were introduced to the race officer, organisers and umpires for the event and also the two groups the teams were split into. Team IODAI were the 2nd race of the day and so had to rig their four optimists, provided by the club, and launch for the first gun of the day at 12pm. The breeze remained light for the day with only 4 of the required 8 flights being done. Team IODAI had the first 3 of their 5 races all in a row. IODAI got off to a great start beating the British team SC Dabchiks and Italian team Sanremo. Excellent luffing skills by Sophie Brown on the start line, making members of the opposing teams over at the start, and blistering pace from Adam Hyland, which not only saw him maintain first place in one of the races but also overtake over half the fleet of the race that had started ahead of him, saw clean victories. The final race of the day was against the Russian team St.Petersburg, who were one of the favourites to win the competition. The team all had a great start and were winning the race all the way to the finish. But sadly a bad call by the jury against Dara O’Shea, who was making a protest against a Russian boat for breach of the windward boat rule, saw the race snatched from IODAI at the finish. The RCYC team had a long time to wait for their chance to take to the water due to the light breeze which disappeared throughout the day. When their turn finally came they did not let the waiting dampen their spirits. First race for RCYC saw them up against Russian team Amber CYC. Straight into the start sequence RCYC began what can only be described as a hunt of the opposing team. Seafra Guilfoyle showed some of the cleanest and well executed start procedures of the competition, a procedure which was commented on by all other teams. Seafra managed not only to chase his opposition away from the line but also managed to give his opposing team member penalty turns ensuring a late start for the Russian boat was late for the start. Excellent team racing and speed by John Durcan, Patrick Crosbie and Cian Byrne saw the RCYC finish 1,2,3,4. Excellent pinning by Cian Byrne and Patrick Crosbie on the beats ensured that no Russian boat stood in the way of RCYC. The next race for RCYC saw them up against European Optimist Team Racing champions the Swiss team SN de Geneve. Seafra experience some trouble from a Swiss boat on the start was helped out by team mate John Durcan which resulted in penalty turns for the Swiss boat. A good pre-start was then hampered by a complete lull in the wind. This lull allowed the smaller and lighter Swiss sailors to move ahead and eventually win the race with a 1,2,3,8. At the end of Day 1 IODAI had 2 wins and 1 loss and RCYC had 1 win and 1 loss. IODAI were placed 2nd in there group and RCYC 3rd in their group. Day 2 Their first race of the day against the Belgian team Go Sailing was as close as any race seen in the competition. At the start IODAI were unlucky to have sailor Adam Hyland over the line but the other three members of the team, Dara O’Shea, Daire Cournane and Sophie Brown got off to a solid start against the Belgians. At the top mark it looked to be the Belgians race though as the rounded the mark in a 1,2,3,8 combination. However IODAI came back strong as they pursued the Belgian team around the course coming close on a few occasions to passing the Belgians placed 2nd and 3rd. On the final beat to the finish is where the action and sharpness of IODAI came to the fore front. The race looked all but over as the Belgian team crossed the line 1st and 2nd. However a sharp-eyed and observant Daire Cournane spotted the Belgian team member in 3rd attempting to scull his way across the line. Daire immediately hailed a protest against the Belgian boat, who when they did not take their penalty turn, were penalised by the jury and so were required to do a 720 degree turn. Dara O’Shea not to be out done by his team mate, maintained his course towards the line and as the Belgian boat intercepted him, while trying to complete their penalty turns, another hail of protest was heard from the Irish team and a further 2 penalties were given to the Belgian boat. The Irish team had secured a 3rd and 4th now all that was needed was for Sophie Brown and Adam Hyland to cross the line to win the race and we were not disappointed. The points were now even with the Belgians having a 1,2,7,8 and IODAI having 3,4,5,6 but as the Belgian’s had a 1st the race was given to IODAI or so we thought until afterwards it was brought to our attention that Dara O’Shea was OSC. A cruel ending to a terrific race by IODAI who demonstrated the meaning of never giving up. RCYC had their first race of the day against French team, CN Antibes. A poor start by RCYC saw the French team move ahead into a 1,2,3 off the start. Despite amazing speed from all the RCYC boats and the pressure applied to the French right up to the end RCYC were not gifted with a win. However despite this RCYC kept their heads held high as they went into their next race against the local team YC de Monaco. A good start and first beat saw RCYC obtain a 1,2,3,6 which they converted into a 1,2,3,5 by the finish, winning the race. Light airs hampered the race committee and racing was postponed on the water for almost 2 hours while we waited for the wind to fill in again. Once the wind had filled in it was onto the final flight of the day which saw both IODAI and RCYC in action. IODAI moved onto their final race against the third Russian team YC Moscow. IODAI managed to dispatch this Russian team without as much as the blink of an eye, finishing the race 2,3,4,5. RCYC saw their final race against Italian team CV Sicilia. The RCYC completed a comprehensive win over the Italian team finishing 1,2,4,5. The final results of the group stage saw RCYC 3rd in their group, missing out on the semi-finals by 1 place. IODAI finished joint 2nd with the Belgian team but because the Belgians beat IODAI the Irish team was put back to 3rd in their group. Full results available on http://www.yacht-club-monaco.mc/evenement/motr
Team Ireland: RCYC and IODAI |
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