Leinster Championships

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   While Royal North’s more mature sailors basked in the sunshine of the Northern Squib Championships, seven of our youngest sailors travelled to the Royal St George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire for the Leinster Optimist Championships.  To put the report quite simply, Royal North put up an excellent performance and the “Oppie circuit” is certainly getting to know about us.

Here’s how they all got on:

Main Fleet

Ross Vaughan, the Daddy of the fleet at 14 this weekend (10th June), is really at the top of his game and put in an excellent performance to finish 4th overall.  As the No 1 ranked Oppie sailor in Ireland Ross was right up at the front of the field after day one but with a couple of 11th places in the first two races on Sunday (excellent by anyone else’s standards) it looked like Ross was going slightly downhill.  However, just to show that he justifies his ranking he came back with a win in the final race to finish fourth overall for the championship.  Ross travels to the Worlds in Uruguay at the end of the year to represent Ireland and Royal North.

Jess Brien improves her performance with every regatta and the Leinsters were no exception.  With a main fleet of 89 boats, a 12th place in the first race meant she was off to a good start.  Consolidating this with another five excellent placings she finished 5th in the Silver fleet and 27th overall.  Jess’s sailing has really improved over recent regattas and with a few more results like this and she will move into the gold fleet and be playing with the top notchers.

Holly Campbell, after her win in the Regatta fleet in Crosshaven, moved up to the bronze fleet for the first time.  She faced the daunting prospect of sailing in an 89 boat fleet for the first time but nonetheless came 56th in her first race.  Things improved in the second race with an extraordinary 18th place.  A 38th in the final Saturday race saw Holly sitting in 2nd place in the bronze fleet overnight.  With steady sailing on Sunday she managed to say in prizes and finished a very credible 48th overall and 5th in the bronze fleet.

Ryan Gilmore, also previously a regatta fleet contender made the decision to sail in the main fleet with some excellent results on the Saturday.  After such a hard day’s racing and a poor night’s sleep Ryan decided to revert to the regatta fleet for Sunday’s racing where he promptly turned in two race wins.  Switching between fleets meant that Ryan didn’t really count in the overall placings of either but when he was able to score two race wins in the regatta fleet when he was feeling quite poorly it holds great prospect for the future.  Good luck in your next event Ryan.

Jack Brien also competed in the main fleet for the first time and gave us all great pleasure to see Jack enjoying himself among the more experienced sailors.  Jack managed to finish in three of the six races and entertained all on the mothership by going for an impromptu swim in Dublin Bay at the end of the regatta.  Despite being a very tired young man at the end of two days hard racing it was noticed that he put up an excellent performance during the water fight on the tow-in to the harbour.

Regatta Fleet

Adam Hill competed fully in the Regatta fleet and came through to win the trophy.  With one race win and results no lower than 7th (27 boats) Adam’s consistency paid off to win by a clear margin.  He was very pleased to win his first trophy and having seen his face at the prizegiving I am sure if you had looked South from Royal North you would have seen the glow.  Adam has competed quite a bit with his Dad, Michael, on the Mirror circuit but his victory proves that he is capable of winning in his own right.  An excellent result and yet another excellent prospect for the future.

Craig Campbell competed in the regatta fleet and finished in ninth place out of 27 boats.  Not bad – aged nine and finished ninth.  His best result was in race 2 when he managed a 6th place – in fact beating eventual regatta fleet winner Adam.  Craig was very quick to point this out to everyone, indicating the fun that all these guys get out of competing against each other.

The following shore managers and child psychologists also attended the regatta:

Val Vaughan (Husband competing in Squib Northerns)

Juanita Brien (Husband sailing in France)

Una Gilmore (Husband competing in Squib Northerns)

Fred Campbell (NOT competing in Squib Northerns and awaiting points allocation)

Jill Campbell (Actually seen helping out on the slipway and rigging boats)

Mike Hill (Wife working to fund Oppie circuit)

While some stayed ashore and got on with such serious matters as long lunch, shopping and refreshment, others ventured out unto the water to watch their prodigies and the racing.  Suffice to say an excellent time was had by competitors and spectators alike and all are looking forward to the remainder of this year’s circuit.

The success of our rapidly expanding Oppie fleet is attributable to a number of people:

Mike Vaughan for organising an excellent Oppie Nationals last year which has kick-started the Royal North Oppie fleet into 11 boats.

Ross Vaughan for his excellent performance in the class and his inspiration to all.

Our retired Oppie sailors, Tiffany Brien and Catherine Vaughan for their help and support of the new kids to the class.

Andrew Vaughan for his rescue boat and coaching services – your efforts have certainly paid off.

All the parents and other club members who have given up their time to give the kids this excellent opportunity to join in the fun of the whole Oppie scene.

Royal North’s Oppie fleet looks set to continue with new prospects coming up rapidly – Peter Brien, Toby McCullough, Ben Hunter, and Sophie McKinney.  Hopefully you will all be able to join your chums on the Oppie circuit in the next few years.

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