DAY 1 :
Windy start to our championship and the fleet was surpringly fairly asleep on the start line with plenty room and gaps available. Tadgh Donnelly was the sharpest to spot the opportunities to score two solid races and lead the Irish by the end of the day in 18th (5th and 14th). Patrick Crosbie took a race to find the right pace but scored an excellent 5th on the second race. Craig Campbell and Sean Donnelly were both in the top 20 in the first race fading a little in the second one. We had a few sad faces by the end of the day but a solid debrief and a good night sleep got everyone fired up by this morning... and surely we needed patience outhere!

DAY 2 :
What started as a 10-15 kts cold (very cold) day ended up as a torture for the sailors nerves... Black flags, shifts, hail, wind dying complety and Craig's singing on the run...
The first race went off under black flag for all groups and there was a lot of damage within the Irish team! The first smile came from Jack Lee. the Galway sailors is surely looking for a place on the green Dragon as tactician delivering a superb first beat taking the lead at the first mark. It was surely tough upthere and he did well to finish in 11th. Patrick, after an average start (I am being nice actually!), showed speed and finding clear lanes came back to second and only an agressive cover from the leader prevented a first Irish win. Sophie browne recovered well after a slow first half of the race to take 21st. Another smile of the day came from Kinsale Cliodhna Ni Sullivan taking 25th.
The second race started for the first fleet under another black flag and became a nerve wrecking challenge for the sailors with the breeze dying down to nothing half way through. Patrick once more found his way through the fleet after a very average start ( I am being way to nice here again!) and managed to score another top ten (8th) placing him well overall as points are starting to add up for everyone at the top of the fleet. The race was hard fought and several sailors did not manage to reach the finish line before closure (not easy to moove towards it when there is not a ripple on the water... apart from RIB wakes maybe!). the other flights did not manage to start ( for the better I think) but some damage were already done on the second flight as tomorrow thety will re-start with about 25 boats watching from shore ( or in bed as the start in pretty early!)with a BFD.

So 3 races validated. Race 4 underway with one group finished. Patrick leading the Irish in 19th (with the 3 races). Tomorrow is the final day for the qualifying series before the split into gold, silver and bronze.

Quote of the day : "I cant wait for my Spare Ribs!" Craig on the final run of the 4th race.

DAY 3 : "The Crosbie show":
What a day! started early (very early) with a flat calm lake. after a relatively short wait, the fleet launched in order to finish race 4 (group 2 and 3). The Irish were surely still asleep as none popped at the front of any of the two races... The wind then shifted 90 degrees and started to slowly pick up to a lovely 8-10 kts for race 5. Sean Donnelly finally delivered a race in relation to his talent crossing the finish line in 3rd. Patrick Crosbie had a poor first beat but kept the fight on to climb to 13th allowing him to discard his 28th collected on the first day, closely followed by Sophie Browne in 16th. The wind kept picking for race 6 and Patrick had a solid initial beat taking an early lead. He had however to give it up to a young German sailor displaying amazing downwind speed. The mano a mano that followed went to the German sailor leaving Paddy to take 2nd once more. Sean Donnelly had a solid race taking 11th on the line. Aisling Keller started the race on fire looking good for a top 15 before dropping a little taking eventually a 25th.... and it was not finished as despite the cold 15-18 kts breeze, the OOD went for one more. Patrick was once more off a fine start fighting within the top 10 even looking good for a third before the final beat. He however missed a few shifts towards the end of the race and settled for 5th. He was followed by Sophie in 20th and Sean in 21st.

Day 4 : Two medals in bronze!

final day racing into the finals... Patrick was entering Gold in 6th joined by Sean and Sophie a little further down the fleet. Tadgh and Dara entered silver whilst the rest of the Irish contingent was on course for bronze fleet glory.
The breeze steadily picked up from 7-8 kts to 12-14 kts throughout the day.

In the gold, Patrick struggled off the startline in both races and despite a great fighting spirit could "only" pick up 40 places in each race. Sophie Browne was off a fine first race leading the Irish into 18th before making a good few mistakes pushing her down the fleet (in the gold, mistakes are paid dearly!). Sean Donnelly comfirmed his return in form by scoring a 19th and a 4th. Overall, Paddy took eventually 17th ahead of Sean in 34th and Sophie in 52nd.

In the silver Tadgh and Dara had a tough time and both pushed their luck too far under black flag finishing their event with a BFD.

with 16 sailors in Bronze, we were hoping to have a go at winning it and Craig, Jack Lee and jack Collins were the best placed entering the final day in the top 10... It was however from further back that the fight for a medal came from. Conor Totterdell had a solid day and a 4th and a 5th allowed him to climb right up to 3rd collecting a prize. Amy Lambert finished her event with a brilliant start rewarded by a 3rd on the final race. She managed then to climb from 24th right up to second collecting a prize as well. Andrew levie's consistency on the final day earned him 9th overall. Other good individual races included a 7th for Louise Magowan, and 8th for Craig and a 9th for Scott Levie.

17th, Patrick Crosbie
34th, Sean Donnelly
52nd, Sophie Browne
142nd, tadgh Donnelly
144th, Dara O Shea
148th, Amy Lambert
149th, conor Totterdell
155th, Andrew Levie
163rd, Jack Lee
167th, Scott Levie
168th, Caig Campbell
176th, Jack Collins
183rd, Aisling Keller
184th, Sorcha Ni Shuilleabhain
185th, Cliodhna Ni Shuilleabhain
189th, Peter Moore
192nd, Louise Magowan
193rd, Aaron O Reilly
201st, Donal Collins
205th, Sarah Kelly
218th, Cillian Joyce