International Laser II Class Association of Ireland

Nigel Skudder & Keith Hills of Great Britain win 2007 Worlds in Germany. Click here for 2008 Europeans in The Netherlands information.

(Photos by Heather Davies, more excellent pics on www.fotoboat.com)

A very tense 24 hours on the last day of the Laser II European Championships at Teignmouth, Devon. with 2 races to go, Conor Byrne / Kate Fitzsimmons (Uni. Limerick S.C.) lie only 1 point ahead of Nigel Skudder / Keith Hills (UK), and Marty O'Leary / Yvette Deacon (Courtown S.C.) another point behind in 3rd place.

The last day dawned with very light breezes, then thunderstorms, then wind. No race could be started after 4pm, and 2nd and 3rd placed boats were very anxious to get racing, for obvious reasons. It was decided to hold only one race, at 3pm. Byrne / Fitzsimmons would have to keep Skudder / Hills behind them no matter what, but also had to be, at worst, one place behind O'Leary/Deacon.

As the starting gun fired, the top three boats were placed beside each other at the starboard end, with plenty of room around, no other competitors dared become involved. Byrne / Fitsimmons were keeping all options open and places themselves between the rivals, with enough gaps to provide escape routes. The course was to be the longest of the week, 4 lap triangle around 3 marks lasting over an hour and a half.

Mark 1 and Byrne / Fitz were in the lead by inches, followed by Skudder / Hills, then O'Leary / Deacon. The reach was tight and Skudder / Hills made every effort, in vain, to overtake. O'Leary / Deacon took the low route but lost out. Byrne / Fitz were inching ahead until the end of the second beat saw the wind shift right to favour the Brits, and the lead was shortened. Shooting the mark, disaster struck as Ireland's mainsail brushed the tall inflatable mark and were forced to take a 360 degree turn penalty.

Now about half a leg ahead of the rest of the competitors, Britain were ahead of Ireland by mere inches, which they held for exactly one lap, all the time making ground upwind with heavier weight in the increasing winds. Things were not looking good for Ireland at all.

Rounding the second last mark, with only minutes before the end of the championship, Britain had it in the bag as they were at least 10 boatlengths ahead. Byrne / Fitz did not relent and used direct covering tactics, coupled with their blistering downwind pace, to catch upon their transom. The wind died slightly. A quick glance behind and then at the spinnaker and Ireland smelled a windshift. Clean gybe. Keep distance so they cannot luff. Britain gybes, and as predicted they begin to luff. Ireland powers over them, halting their breeze. Britain is on the offensive, crossing our transom by milimeters and both boats are close reaching, in the opposite direction to the mark! Britain bears away for the mark in an attempt to regain lost ground, but Ireland spies wind to the far left of the run and carries on, only for a gust from god to catch their spinnaker and a beautiful plane to the last mark, several boatlengths ahead. The race would be over in several minutes. Ireland rounds first, waits for Britain, then both boats tack simultaniously. The wind is progressivly shifting to the left, favouring Britain. We could smell the gunsmoke from the finish line at this stage. The wind increases and Britian destroys our lead in seconds. Britain tacks to lay the finish, and are now level with Ireland. Ireland throw in a leebow and are inching ahead. A knife wouldn't even cut the tension between the two boats. Ireland tacks, followed by Britain, and cross the line. According to the finish officer 'to say half a boatlength ahead would be far too much'

That was by no means the end.

Bang, bang, as both boats crossed the line. Byrne drops the tiller and roars in jubilation, the boat bears off and hits the opposition. 'protest' is hailed. These boys were not going out quietly.

The prizegiving is postponed, competitors are delayed from leaving, anxious to discover the outcome. The protest is heard, witnessed by the gunner on the finish boat. What seemed like weeks passed, until finally, at about 9pm, the protest was dismissed as both boats had finished the race before any incident occured. Conor Byrne and Kate Fitzsimmons were declared Laser II European Champions 2006. This is Ireland's third Laser II European title, won by Tom Fitzpatrick and David McHugh in Germany in 2000 and Chris Forristal and Paddy Blackly in Skerries 2004. Noel Butler and Stephen Campion won the world Championships in Holland in 2003

Teignmouth, Devon, UK, IRL joint 3rd at moment, 4 races left. After 8 races, Great Britain's Nigel Skudder & Keith Hills are ahead with 4 wins, but still carries some heavy results. 4 races are left with Conor Byrne (Uni Limerick SC) /Kate Fitzsimmons(GBR) and Marty O'Leary/Yvette Deacon (Courtown SC)in joint third place, with a race win each. Terry Palmer/Caroline Cooper are 3 points ahead in second place. Daragh McDonagh and Frankie McSwiney (Courtown SC) are in 12th position, after loosing a protest over a technicality Overall a good week is being had by all, with some strong winds, strong drinks and cold nights snuggling up in the tents. Conor Byrne and Kate Fitz are fairing exceptionally well considering they met for the first time just before race 1!

Three Irish teams are now making the trip to England for the Europeans in Teignmouth; National Champions Marty O'Leary / Yvette Deacon (Courtown S.C.); Daragh McDonagh / Frank McSweeney (Courtown S.C.); and new pairing of Conor Byrne / Kate Fitzsimmons (Uni. Limerick S.C.).

The pressure is on for an Irish team to bring home the title after Chris Forristal / Paddy Blackly wiped the Europeans scoreboard in Skerries in 2004. O'Leary/Deacon are anxious for a good result after 5th in last year's World championship in Canada, and are spending extra time in training at the venue before the championship; Conor Byrne achieved 16th in the 2003 Worlds with Caroline Mason, and 4th in the 2004 Europeans with Paul Ruddy, and topped the Irish ranking of 5 events. McDonagh has consistantly been in the hunt, showing good form in moderate winds in Irish events.

Racing commences on Sunday 13th August 2006.

With 900 Laser II's in Skerries for the SSC Regatta, the pressure was on current national Champions Marty O'Leary and Yvette Deacon in 'Poo Two' from Courtown Sailing Club. Who'd have thought a bunch of dirty strawberry-picking Wexford peasants could hold off the might of Conor Byrne and Paul Ruddy in 'No Balls, No Glory', reunited again to crush anyone from outside the pale who might pose a threat.

The breeze was on for nthe first day with a force 3 increasing to 4 and sailing under the islands. Race 1 started with Poo Two getting wind out to sea and with a slight lead to the first mark only for their spinnaker to leave the sheet and force an emergency bowline. No Balls.. took the lead, but only until Poo Two's devestating upwind speed began to reel them in. Second windward, No Balls.. ony inches behind. The boats were neck and neck for the first lap, and then drew dead level on the Run leg, for some tense sailing (and heckling) to the bottom mark. Poo Two had water, but an over-enthusiastic crew (we won't mention any names...) touched the mark on the way out to the trapeze and Poo Two had to take a penalty, leaving No Balls to take and extend their lead to take race one by a comfortable margin. I've just used Poo, Balls, Inches, Touching and Bottom in the same paragraph, all by accident.

Race two and No Balls takes the lead in the breeze, with close encounters of the Poo kind from Daragh McDonagh and Shane in the origionally named 'Poo One' (I'm tellin ya, these Wexford farmers and their humour...) Poo Two was inspecting wildlife or something on the startline and was nowhere to be seen in This race, allowing No Balls an easy time.

That night, the now legendary Laser II AGM was held on the North Strand, in an area known by local teenagers as 'The Ledge', this year with added technology, a cooler box with ice. After the sucess of the 'Wetness' idea last year, We've decided to sell our Laser II's and buy Seals, and pit them against each other in a ring of death, fighting using their cunning and intelligent hunting skills. And their flippers. Then on to the Sailing club to meet up fellow failed Laser II sailors Kate Grimes, Clodagh O'Sullivan and Ian McGonigal; recovering from their life-threatening hangover; to drink, be merry and abuse locals. The regatta was then cancelled and it was decided after some drinking races to have a Wexford V Dublin monster team racing competition for the remaining 2 races. Of course Kate was still reeling from her permanent hangover so that was the end of that idea...

After playground, stargazing and orthodontal adventures, we hit the sack somewhere between silly o'clock and stupid AM.

Day 2, light winds, heavy heads. Kate Rainey and Colman Grimes in 'Matthews Chandlery' found the 'Pointing' button on their boat and used it to scare us, to much effect. Race one, With POO 1 taking the hot spot on the starting line, forcing No Balls to tack and take the left side of the beat, out of the tide. Poo1, Poo2 and Matthews all went out right for better winds. All converged at the first mark and the race began. Poo2 extended their lead using carefully exerted covering on No Balls for the remainder of the race, No Balls managed to catch them on the run but lost them upwind. Matthews were closing in on No balls all the time and overtook them on the third beat Experience showed for No Balls on the downwind legs, with Poo2 taking her first race, No Balls second and Matthews in third.

The last race was the decider, No Balls had to keep ahead of Poo2 to take the regatta, and match racing began from the start. Matthews took an early lead and held it to the 2nd mark, the wind had died and No Balls were motoring away from Poo2. No balls leapt inside Matthews using local tidal knowledge (it goes in and out) at the gybe mark. Poo2 taked straight after the leeward mark and immediatly into a header and the lead, No Balls found difficulty catching them and once again let Matthews slip inside for a time. The wind begain to go in circles for the last run, letting No balls gain huge groud and a lot of hope, only for it to fill in around Poo2 and give them the final gun, and the regatta title on the countback rule.

1st 10035 Poo Two; Marty O'Leary & Yvette Deacon, 2,(2), 1,1

2nd 10404 No Balls, No Glory; Conor Byrne & Paul Ruddy, 1, 1, 2, (2)

3rd 10383 Matthews Chandlery; Kate Rainey & Colman Grimes, DNF, (DNF), 3, 3

4th 8429 POO; Daragh McDonagh & Frank McSweeney, 3, 3, 4, (4)

5th 8602 This Way Up; Mark Wilson & Veronica? 4, 4, 5, 5

Skerries Sailing Club, 22/23 July 2006, in conjunction with the Skerries Sailfest, so there'll be lots going on. Camping available in the yard, or in my garden! entry fee only €30, first gun 12pm Saturday. See 'calendar' Section for Notice of Race.

With the cancellation of the Southern regional championships on Friday, our sailors instead gathered in Crookhaven on Saturday morning for a replacement, one day, Laser II open event. The new event was to comprise 5 races sailed inside the harbour, with the first two races being joined in with the local Saturday league racing.

The fibreglass boats nearly melted in the heat while being rigged up ashore, and several of the competitors were tempted to drink their complimentary Lucozades before racing ever began. Not a zephyr of wind could be located on the water and at 10:30am our race officer, Martin Spillet of CHSC, postponed the start until 11:30am. Shane Kennedy had decided the wind would never arrive and elected to stay in bed, and not even an angry visit from the event organisers could convince him to leave it. Then shortly after 11am, the wind suddenly filled in, crews went running for trapeze harnesses, and the 5 assembled Laser IIs went on the water.

The first race started in 10 knots of wind, and Stephanie and Ross Cadogan shot off the line to lead the fleet up the first beat. They rounded the weather mark first, but having gybed to port and set their spinnaker they obstructed John and Donal Burke still on their approach to the weather mark. By the time the Cadogans had done their turns the Burkes had slipped past and skillfully held on to their lead to win the first race.

The fleet was joined at the start of the second race by Shane Kennedy who, having smelt the wind from his bedroom, broke his brother's toe and took Donal Hegarty crewing for him in the freshening breeze. The duo got off to a good start, leading the fleet to the windward mark and holding onto that position to win, while the Cadogans fought off a strong challenge from the Burkes to take second.

By the start of the third race the wind was up to around 14 knots, and both Aisling Hennessy and Mark Barry had torn their kites, forcing Hennessy to retire to while Mark battled on. Ian and Jenny McGowan too were regretting having left their harness ashore when they had launched in lighter wind. Kennedy went on to win all the remaining races, though he was challenged closely in the last two races, where they were caught downwind in the planing conditions but managed to protect their lead upwind.

With discards counted, it was Shane and Donal who won the event, earning them each club rugby shirts - a nice return for their €15 entry fee, and definitely worth getting out of bed for.

Boat	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Total	Pos
Burke	0.75	3	3	3	3	9.75	3
Cadogan	2	2	2	2	2	8.00	2
McGowan	3	5	5	5	4	17.00	5
Barry	4	4	4	4	5	16.00	4
Hennessy	5	6	7	7	7	25.00	6
Kennedy	7	0.75	0.75	0.75	0.75	3.00	1

1. 1st: Shane Kennedy and Donal Hegarty, 3pts
2. 2nd: Stephanie and Ross Cadogan, 8pts
3. 3rd: John and Donal Burke, 9.75pts
4. 4th: Mark Barry and Mark Spillet, 16pts
5. 5th: Ian and Jenny McGowan, 17pts
6. 6th: Aisling Hennessy and Ciara Brennan, 25pts

Unfortunately we haven't had the turnout we needed to hold the Southern Championships in Crookhaven this weekend. So our plans are to cancel the Southerns and replace it with a 1 day Laser II open event tomorrow.

This event won't be a regional championship, but it will be Laser II racing in Crookhaven harbour. We will be joining in with the local Saturday league racing in the morning, and running some extra races of our own in the afternoon. We're expecting 5-6 Laser IIs (mostly local), so it should still be good craic for the competitors.

A new NOR and entry form will be available in Crookhaven in the morning.

So there will be racing in Crookhaven on Saturday only, but it won't be the Laser II Southerns, and I'd advise sailors against travelling long distances for what is only going to be a small event.