ITRA Team Racing Nationals
The weekend of the 18th/19th/20th October 2024 brought Storm Ashley to our shores and the ITRA Team Racing Nationals to Baltimore SC. A full slate of 24 teams signed up, and 149 races were fitted into a 27-hour window from 1400 Friday to 1700 Saturday by the race management team – no mean feat with boats hitting the water shortly after sunrise on Saturday.
The Junior Title went to a predominantly Royal Cork Yacht Club Optimist affair sailing under the flag of the “Royal Republican Yacht Squadron”. Captained by Dougie Venner, the other helms were Conor Cronin (MYC) and Rory Whyte (RCYC/WHSC) and crews were Blake & Isaac Vaughan and Brendan Hughes. While a little light for conditions on Friday, they managed 3 wins on Saturday including bragging rights over UCD1, one of the pre-regatta favourites. They also gave another hot team, UCC1 a bit of a scare but the experienced Jonathan O’Shaughnessy emptied his team-racing toolbox to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Tie-breaks meant they narrowly edged out Schull Sharks for the Junior title. Previous winners Baltimore SC took the overall title after a nail-biting final that went to the last beat followed by some nervous checking of the SIs following a pre-start capsize.
The club’s Junior section was also represented on other teams including David McSweeney, Matt Mappleback and Tommy Hiras on the CBC team and Oisin Pierce filling in on one of the Royal St. George teams.
A huge thanks to the Irish Team Racing Association and Baltimore Sailing Club, in particular Johnny Durcan and Jack Fahy, Rob O’Leary and James Kitt for a memorable weekend.
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