Irish Dragon South Coast Cup at Glandore Harbour Yacht Club

Irish Dragon South Coast Championships at Glandore © Richard Harriso

Irish Dragon South Coast Championships at Glandore © Richard Harriso

The 2011 Dragon South Coast regatta took place at Glandore Harbour last weekend Friday September 2nd to Sunday September 4th, five races were scheduled to be sailed two Friday afternoon two Saturday with the final race scheduled for Sunday morning.

Racing on Friday outside the harbor got off on time on Friday for the fleet of just ten Dragons with representation from the Irish Dragon Fleets of Dublin, Kinsale and the local Glandore Harbour fleet. Conditions were good,a calm overcast day with a 10/12 westerly wind. Geoff O’Donoghue of Lough Derg was Principal Race officer for the regatta Hal Sisk’s “Molly Bán” was acting as committee vessel.

Two races were scheduled for the Friday afternoon with first Gun at 13.30. The first race had to be abandoned and was restarted promptly. Race number two of the day finished quite late in the afternoon, but a good if long days sailing was enjoyed by all. Later on Friday evening following a hearing the first race of the day was declared void. This meant that on Saturday morning the Race Officer had to run three races to stay on schedule. Race one on Friday was won by Andrew Craig, Brian Matthews and Maurice O’Connell sailing Chimaera. Phantom Phantom sailed by Niel Hegarty, David Williams and Peter Bowring was second and Seabird Donal Small, Sean Kingston and David Dwyer was third.

Saturdays four races were held in lighter winds, again racing was very tight at the top of the fleet. Race two was won by Jaguar, sailed by Martin Byrne, Adam Winkleman and John Simms. Chimaera was second and Phantom was third. Race three Phantom was the winner with Jaguar second and Chimaera third. Race four winner was Phantom, in second place was Little Fella, Cameron Good, Henry Kingston and Simon Furney, and Seabird were third. The Regatta Dinner was held on Saturday night at the Marine Hotel prizes were given for the first four races, speeches were made by representatives of visiting fleets.

Race five scheduled for Sunday morning at 11.00 started in much bigger seas, the early morning view was that a front would pass through and give a window to get in one final race completed before getting all boats in for lift out at Keelbeg pier at 13.30. Race five was a spectacular race with wonderful rolling white-capped swells and winds that gusted to about 25Kts took their toll on the fleet. Two of the boats suffered mast failure.

With all races sailed there was one discard applied and the winners of the 2011 South Coast Dragon Championship were Phantom sailed by Niel Hegarty with Peter Bowring and David Williams, Second was Chimaera, Andrew Craig with Brian Matthews and Maurice O’Connell and third were Jaguar, Martin Byrne and his crew of Adam Winkleman and John Simms. Prizes were presented late Sunday evening following the final protest hearings of the weekend.

Overall Results: