International 12 foot Irish Championship at the Royal St George Yacht Club
by Vincent Delany 3 Sep 2018 17:03 BST
2 September 2018
Mark Delany in Cora © Vincent Delany
The term 'vintage' is rarely used in respect of racing dinghies, however in 1920 the Olympic Federation were felt that a suitable dinghy should be used in addition to the 40m.2, 30m.2, 15m., 12m., 10m., 8m., 7m., and 6m. keelboat classes. The International 12 foot dinghy was selected.
This class is still active in Ireland, in two forms, the original single sail rig, and the later Dublin Bay Sailing Club innovation of moving the mast aft and providing a jib, but with no increase in total sail area. The Royal St. George Yacht Club organised the fifth Irish Championship of recent years, on 2nd September 2018. Entries came from far and wide including one UK entry, one dinghy from Clew Bay and one from Lough Ree. Four races were held in Dun Laoghaire Harbour, two in the morning and two in the afternoon.
Race one was held in 6 knots and George Miller in 'Pixie' led from beginning to the end of two laps of the triangular course, with 'Scythian' second, and 'Cora' third. For race two the wind had increased to 10 knots, and Gavan Johnson in 'Albany' led initially, to be passed by Mark Delany in 'Cora' who took the gun. In this race 'Scythian' had a difficulty with her rig, and in solving that problem, she created another by capsizing!
A leisurely lunch was held in the clubhouse, at which point last year's winner 'Cora' held a small lead in the overall standings.
George Miller in 'Pixie' won race three from 'Scythian' in an unstable light wind, and in the final race Andrew Johnston's 'Scythian' took an early lead and won from 'Pixie'.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Boat Name | Category | Sail No | Helm | Crew | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st. | Pixie | Internat. | IRL 11 | George Millar | | RStGYC | 1 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 8 |
| 2nd | Cora | Internat. | IRL 8 | Mark Delany | | LRYC | 3 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 11 |
| 3rd. | Scythian | Internat. | AUS 1 | Andrew Johnston | | TBC | 2 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 12 |
| 4th | Albany | DBSC | 9 | Gavan Johnson | Tim Varian | RStGYC | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 14 |
| 5th | Calypso | DBSC | 37 | Paul Gillespie | Gail Varian | RStGYC | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 17 |
| 6th. | Dorado | Internat. | 5 | Billy Beddington | Aidan Henry | SDC | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 23 |