J/24 Irish Championship at Lough Erne Yacht Club
by JP Mccaldin 28 Aug 00:26 NZST
23-25 August 2024
The Headcase team win the J/24 Irish Championship 2024 © JP Mccaldin
Lough Erne Yacht Club hosted the J/24 Irish Championship from 23rd to 25th August 2024. The event was sponsored and supported by Fermanagh & Omagh District Council, Hidden Hearing, Rope Locker, and Blakes of the Hollow.
With entries from throughout Ireland, including Carlingford, Cork, Sligo, Bray Wicklow, Lough Ree and Greystones. The largest entry was from the host club with 5 boats. The event included 2 under 25 teams and 3 past Irish champions with 16 boats in total.
Friday's racing was held in the broad lough with constantly changing direction and strength keeping both the race organisers and their competitors busy. Racing was dominated by double reigning European champions Headcase led by Cillian Dickson counting 3 1st places. Equally consistent were Dave Bailey and team Hard on Port with 3x 2nd places. Connor Haughton's team on Jupiter from Wicklow finished the day in 3rd. Both the silver and under 2 divisions were headed by Osin Brennan and his team from Sligo on Gossip.
Saturday dawned dry and initially the wind seemed moderate however continued to build throughout the day and meant the smaller jibs were the order of the day on all boats. Headcase continued to dominate winning the first two races on Saturday with a 4th Place in the final shortened race. Hard on Port continued their consistency in 2nd place to score two 3rd places and a second. Sligo team Blind Squirrel lead by Colm O'Flatterty had a good day in the strong winds moving up to 3rd overall.
Ken Draper and his young team from Sligo in Jevan took the lead in the silver fleet form Ossin Brennan in Gossip.
Unfortunately, due to the windy condition forecast on Sunday like most of the rest of Ireland no racing took place and Saturday finish positions remained.
Top local boat was Il Riccio, JP Mccaldin and team willing the last race after missing the first race due to crew injury. Luke Mcbride and team on Crazyhorse finished 7th with Tim Rippey and team on Jigilo 13th Barry Humphries on TJ 14th and the LEYC youth team led by Adam Torrens on Jet 16th.
Thanks to the race team led by Derek Bothwell form Howth Yacht Club and all volunteers who provided a successful event for all the competitors. Anyone interested in joining the J24 fleet for its autumn series are welcome to meet at the club at 11am on Sundays form 8th September to 13th October.
Overall Results:
Pos | Fleet | Boat Name | Sail No | Helm | Crew | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | Pts |
1 | GOLD | HEADCASE | 4247 | Cillian Dickson | Sam D'Byrne/Ryan Glynn/Marcus RYan/LOuis Molloy | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | (4) | 5 |
2 | GOLD | HARD ON PORT | IRL
4794 | Dave Baieley | Jack Hannah/Rory Groves/Sean Hayes/Chris Curran | 2 | 2 | 2 | (3) | 2 | 3 | 11 |
3 | GOLD | BLIND SQUARREL | IRL | Colm
O'Flatterty | Dave O'Connor/Lucia Nicholson/Gwen Draper/Sean
Flynn/Ciaran Walsh | 6 | 4 | 3 | 4 | (8) | 2 | 19 |
4 | GOLD | JUPITER | IRL
5270 | Connor
Haughton | Johnny Flood/Garrett Kinnane/Charles Heather/Rumo Best | 3 | 5 | (7) | 2 | 4 | 5 | 19 |
5 | GOLD | HUNG JURY | IRL
5278 | Brian Raftery | Gilly Henry/Diarmuid O'Donovan/Natascha Menieor/Sophie
Skinner | 4 | 3 | 5 | (6) | 3 | 6 | 21 |
6 | GOLD | IL RICCO | 5219 | J.P McCaldin | Ron Finnegan/Graham Priestly/Liz Copland/Brendan Brogan | (DNS) | 6 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 22 |
7 | GOLD | HEDGE HOG | IRL
4217 | Mark Usher | Ryan Usher/Matthew Hennessy/Dermot Clarke | 5 | (12) | 9 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 35 |
8 | GOLD | CRAZYHORSE | IRL
4533 | Luke McBride | Declan Brennan/Judie Anderson/June Clarke/Nigel Walsh | 7 | (8) | 6 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 36 |
9 | SILVER | JEVAN | IRL
4180 | Ken Draper | Mark Greer/Racheal McGarvey/William Draper/Daniel Draper/
Triona Harvey | 8 | (9) | 8 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 41 |
10 | SILVER | GOSSIP ‑ UNDER
25 | 4202 | Oisin Brennan | Frances Cadogan/Max Van Der Grijn/Oran Costello/Tom Walls | 10 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 10 | (12) | 47 |
11 | SILVER | LEGAL AILIEN | IRL
4064 | Craig O'Neill
Jnr | Craig O'Neill/Andrew O'Neill/Julie O'Neill/Paul Keal | 9 | (14) | 11 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 54 |
12 | SILVER | PROUD MARY | IRL
4384 | Brian
McConville | Colin Matthews/Ruiri Kennedy/Lorraine Fagan/Marcin
Gatalski/Joe McConnville | 11 | 10 | (13) | 11 | 12 | 11 | 55 |
13 | SILVER | JIGALO | IRL
5312 | Tim Rippey | Bridget Rippey/Jonny Beattie/Susanne Hughes Jordan/Rian
Kelly | 12 | 11 | 12 | 12 | (DNF) | DNS | 64 |
14 | SILVER | 'TJ' | 4155 | Barry
Humphreys | Kris Sokol/Laura Zahumenska/Stephen Trimble/Ramona
Harron | 13 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 13 | (DNS) | 69 |
15 | SILVER | PRINTFIX | IRL | Owen Carten | Andrew Davidson/Colum Furlight/Darragh Gillingham/Jemma | 14 | 13 | 15 | 15 | (17 | 13 | 70 |
16 | SILVER | JET ‑ UNDER 25 | IRL 739 | Adam Torrens | Leah Petterson/Peter Brines/Emma Brines/Emily | (17 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 84 |