British Squib Nationals 2005

back

Howth YC, 17-24 June 2005

Eight RNIYC boats travelled down to Howth (Toy for the Boys, Fagin, Blue, Full Marks, Born Wild, East Coat Joy, Halloween and Tai Pan). For several of the team it was their first trip to the Nationals and they found the standard of GB entrants to be a real eye opener.

I think it is safe to say however, that the RNIYC fleet has improved in
leaps and bounds from last year, with several top ten performances.

Several people feel that the event is too long and this has been discussed at several meetings and AGM's of the class. However, I find it hard to justify MAJOR changes to an event that will probably have one of the biggest turn outs of any one design Nationals in the British Isles. However, following the AGM and Fred Campbell's letter in Squibble, a compromise has been suggested which will mean that two races will be sailed on a couple of the days.

So, how did we all get on? Well, RNIYC had 3 boats in the top twenty.

Peter Wallace and Michael Wright managed to be in joint first place by the end of the second race with a marvelously consistent result of two fourths. Although the boys (with their toy) didn't manage enough consistency to keep them up at the front, this is a wonderful achievement which bodes well for the Irish Nationals and Rutland.

Blue (Aidan O'Connell and Sian McCleave) started off the week in the late teens and early twenties and hoped for a couple of better results to get them into the top fifteen. Neither Aidan or Sian expected to be in the top four in race five and then be able to sneak through to first in the last
minutes of the race. Peter and Michael crossed in second a couple of seconds later. According to Howth, this is the first time in 13 years that an Irish boat has won a race in the British Nationals so a Royal North 1-2 was much celebrated news. This was an amazing achievement and took several days to sink in!

A second (further amazement!) on Friday catapulted them into eleventh place - and first Irish boat.  Fagin (Greg Bell and Leah McCleave) managed a couple of great results in the Practice Race (5th) and Race 6 (7th) which gave them 19th overall.

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and the event was hailed a great success.

Now eyes are well and truly focused on the Irish Nationals which will be
held at RNIYC from the 30 July to 1 August.

                                                         return to top of page