RCYC ILCA sailors in Weymouth for UK qualifiers
On St Patricks weekend, Royal Cork had three laser sailors competing in an ILCA UK qualifier event at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy. (WPNSA) The WPNSA was the site for the 2012 Olympics
and has several fantastic sailing areas inside and outside the harbour areas.
Day one was a tough fickle day on the water with 5-7 kts and large shifts. The course was outside the breakwater and was an hours commute from the launch. A total fleet of over 150 lasers with eighty in the ILCA 6 category made for a busy launching area and start line. A total of six races was planned and the race committee achieved the full complement over two days.
Among Several places to visit around Portland is the D-Day museum, full of WW2 memorabilia. Weymouth was a massive staging area for D-day.
Day two started with a curtain of fog and sailors disappearing into the fog bank as they launched.
However, at the start of racing, the fog had burned off and the sailors enjoyed fantastic sunshine for day two.
Sean O’Herlihy was competing in his first international event and got to experience an incredibly large start line with eighty boats. Michael Doherty had also competed in Vilamoura recently and is building his regatta experience nicely prior to the munsters. Andrew Kingston had an excellent second day with two top ten finishes and would have finished in top ten if he had avoided a scoring penalty on day one due to a sail numbering issue. Two other Irish sailors, Lewis Thompson and Daniel Palmer from Ballyholme YC also competed over the weekend. The WPNSA is host to the British nationals in August on the week prior to the Irish laser nationals. Might be worth a place in your sailing calendar.
Jon Emmet is well known for his interviews around events and has coached several Olympic sailors. He was competing in the ILCA 6 category.
Finally a trip to Portland had to include a famous landmark that appears on many RYA navigation classes. Portland Bill is the lighthouse at the very southern tip of the peninsula that stretches right out into the English channel.
Next up for Lasers is the Munster championships in Baltimore on 30/31st of March, followed by Irish Youths, PY1000, the Connaughts and the masters – busy times.
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