505 Irish and British Isles Championships at Monkstown Bay Sailing Club

505 Irish Championships at Monkstown Bay © Ciaran McSweeney

505 Irish Championships at Monkstown Bay © Ciaran McSweeney

Monkstown Bay Sailing Club hosted the 5o5 British Isles Championships and 5o5 Irish Nationals 2012 as a two day event (Sat-Sun 20/21st October) with 3 races planned for each day. Six teams travelled from the UK to compete against the seven local entries.

Mother nature provided the fleet with 15degrees C and moderate breezes to keep everyone happy. Winds were South - South East on both days. The wind was 8-10kts on the Saturday and increased slightly to 10-12kts for Sunday with the odd gust reaching 14-16kts. All races were sailed under an ebbing tide out of East Ferry. The race committee (OD's Dave Barry and Ciaran McSweeney) choose Cuskinny inside Cork Harbour as the race area for both days. All 3 scheduled races were completed on Saturday and 2 out of the 3 sailed on Sunday. 1 discard was allowed to help those who had difficulty finishing on the correct side of the line on the first day. Courses were 3-lap courses windward leeward Irish style (one windward mark with no spreader mark and one pin end of the line/leeward mark). Line honours were shared between Ian Pinnell/ Christain Diebtisch with 4 wins and Harry Briddon/ Adam Kenny 1 win.

Day 1

Race 1 started in 8kts of breeze with light patches on the race course Six boats converged on the windward mark in close proximity making for a busy windward mark. Ian Pinnell and Christain Diebtisch lead the fleet around the race track closely followed by Harry Briddon & Adam Kenny. However a navigational issue at the finish saw one team cross on the wrong side of the line which allowed team Briddon/Kenny take line honours followed by Pinnell/Diebtisch in second and Barry/Almond in 3rd.

Race 2 got off in slightly more breeze allowing Jones/Frost to get a flyer off the start line. Left of center seemed to be the way up the beat with no team willing to slam any corners. The positions at the top mark were Pinnell/Diebtisch followed by Briddon/Kenny and Jones/Frost. These positions remained unchanged off-wind. However a battle opened up for third position between four teams on the following upwind leg between Jones/Frost, Bird/Nurse, Barry/Almond and Wright/Powell. The race finished on a shortened course (off-wind finish) after two laps with team Pinnell/Diebtisch taking their first win of the event followed by Briddon/Kenny in second and Jones/Frost in third.

Race 3 started in 10kts of breeze and turned out to be a race of two tacks. The usual suspects (Pinnell/Diebtisch and Briddon/Kenny) were out the front having their own battle leaving the remainder fighting for 3rd to 6th. Most teams headed right downhill while Barry/Almond headed off on a flyer down the left and jumped from 6th to 2nd much to the surprise of those on the right. Upwind most teams went right with the exception of Briddon/Kenny and Jones/Frost who had had to tack off to get clear air. Jones/Frost tacked half way up the beat onto the mother of all private lifts and jumped from 6th to 2nd much to the surprise of themselves and those who went right up the beat. The race finished on a shortened course (windward finish) on the third beat with Pinnell/Diebtisch in 1st, Jones/Frost 2nd and Bird/Nurse overhauling Barry/Almond into 3rd position.

The teams returned to shore and headed for the showers in preparation for the stew buffet that evening in the clubhouse. The teams got down to the serious business of re-hydration as soon as the last bit of food had been consumed. Rumour has it that alcoholic beverages were consumed well into the early hours of the morning.

Day 2

It was an early start for all as the first gun had been set for 11:30 to allow the traveling teams enough time to pack the boats for the ferry after racing. I'm pretty sure that this early start didn't suit the same traveling teams who were seen leaving the club in the early hours of the morning. However all groggy heads and red eyes cleared as soon as the first gun sounds.

Race 4 started in 12kts of breeze and like all the previous races was a very close affair at the top mark. Berry/Barnes rounded in 3rd behind Pinnell/Diebtisch 1st and Briddon/Kenny 2rd. However the "evil sailing gods" (Barney's words not mine) struck again and put a knot the size Mount Everest in the spinnaker halyard on board team Berry/Barnes. This put them back into 7th by the end of the race. All teams raced consistently in this race with little or no change in position for the remainder of the race.The final positions at the end of the race was Pinnell/Diebtisch 1st, Jones/Frost 2nd and Briddon/Kenny 3rd.

Race 5 and the breeze had picked up to 14kts for the start. Team Pinnell/Diebtisch lead at the top mark with Briddon/Kenny behind. Yet again there was a close battle behind with 4 boats (Illfe/Lake, Jones/Frost, Bird/Nurse and Barry/Almond) in contention for 3rd position. There was no change at the front after the third beat with the boats rounding Pinnell/Diebtisch 1st, Briddon/Kenny and Illfe/Lake in 3rd. Illfe/Lake split from the fleet off-wind and headed left downhill on a flyer as Barry/Almond had done in race 3. However the pair over cooked it leaving the gybe too late and slipped back to 4th position by the finish. The race finished Pinnell/Diebtisch 1st, Briddon/Kenny 2nd and Jones/Frost 3rd.

The prize giving was held in the clubhouse at 1700 once all the 5oh's had been packed back on the trailer. A special prize was presented to Jim Berry on his retirement from sailing 505's. Jim was also made an honorary member of MBSC in recognition of his support of the 505 class and for bringing the 505's to Monkstown. The 505 fleet would like to thank the Monkstown Bay Sailing Club, OD's Dave Barry and Ciaran McSweeney and the rescue boat crew of Dion Barrett and Barry O'Sullivan for providing the 505 sailors with two cracking days of sailing. Full results can be found on the Monkstown Bay Sailing Club at MBSC. Photos can be found here

Overall Results:

5o5 British Isles Championships
1st Ian Pinnell/ Christain Diebtisch
2nd Harry Briddon/ Adam Kenny
3rd Brian Jones & Gary Frost

505 Irish National Championships
1st Brian Jones & Gary Frost
2nd Ewen Barry & Martin Almond
3rd Michael O'Brien & Colin Barry