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Etchells Europeans 2007        The Etchells Europeans were held in the Royal Irish Yacht Club Dun Laoghaire on August 25th, 26th and 27th. Generally conditions were good. Bit of light, bit of heavy which wasn’t bad for DL and the wind only shit itself for one race on Sunday. There was a bit of a problem with the 40 footers overlapping our race track on the Saturday but despite these minor hitches, the event was a complete success. 30 boats took part, the majority from Howth and the Solent, one from Liverpool, one from Cowes - Sweden and one from Italy in preparation for their Euro’s in 2008. From the south, we had Andy Beadsworth, fresh from his world championship win with a new co-owner Tom Murphy, and Nils Razmilovic, from the Royal Swedish YC, now a common face around here. We missed Richard Burrows due to exams but his bowman, Dan O'Grady took the middle slot on Dan O’Grady’s boat for the event, taking the place of Redge who couldn’t make it because of a bad back.        The fleet was generally up to speed making it difficult if clear lanes weren’t available due to a relatively short race track. Any loss of speed was severely punished. Matatu (Nils Chelsea 2) and Midnight Raid (Andy and Tom Spoogeman) dominated the first day, not so closely followed by Snowpatrol ( The Dan O’Grady’s ), Mano (The Nolan sisters and Tom Fitznorton), Wobewhatever (Doug Flynn) and Freelance (Lawrence Mead). Spare a thought for Shanks who took on the jury single handed with the brevity of a true starboard tacker – on port. He did it, so no-one else had to. That’s what real organisers do for their competitors.        Saturday night was the event dinner in the Irish with fantastic food as ever. There aren’t many YCs who can put out a spread like that consistently. It turned into a very heavy session with messers Murph and Murno fighting over the best pair of legs in the room. Legs were spread, no-one got hurt, no-one got laid and the chair has since been mended by the amazing staff of the RIYC, who even phoned taxis for the competitors sleeping outside.        Sunday saw Dublin Bay at it’s best with 2 Knots of tide, 5-6 knots from all directions. Nevertheless, the leader board didn’t change and Matatu left the day only 5 points clear of Midnight Raid after the discard. Freelance was the only boat remotely in touch with the top two. Mano held their fourth, The Snowpatrol slipped, giving Dan A more ammo for his personal love affair with Dublin Bay.        Monday, a misty start, saw the first bullet of the day go to Johnny O’Shea with his new crew LJ FitzNorton, getting the best applause of the event as they walked discretely up the marina. On the water, Matatu did the necessary with a second, giving some lime light to Graham Bailey’s bullet after he was deprived with an OCS on day one. It was a win with a race in hand leaving Midnight Raid in a respectable second. Freelance was third, with Mano fourth and top Irish boat. It was a well attended, well run and successful event and it gives a good feeling to the worlds in 2010 where the fleet will move to the windier side of Howth head for the World Championships. Cags        Sail No. Boat Country Helm Club Points Place R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 1340 Matatu Sweden Nils Razmilovic KSSS* 20 1 1 3 6 6 1 1 2 31 1361 Midnight Raid Ireland Andy Beadsworth RYA 22.5 2 2 1 12 1 10 3 4.5 1 1339 Freelance England Lawrence Mead          42 3 5 14 4 2 9 2 6 31 1194 Mano Ireland Tom Fitzpatrick HYC 48 4 4 11 5 26 7 5 3 13 1165 Wobbegong England Doug Flynn RCYC 55.5 5 3 8 11 8 16 25 4.5 5 1330 Snow Patrol Ireland Dan O'Grady HYC 63 6 10 7 1 18 4 21 13 10 1033 Living on the Etch Ireland Killian Collins HYC 63 7 16 6 7 7 2 31 10 15 1005 Eccentric Ireland Graham Elmes RStGYC 71 8 7 15 31 17 15 4 9 4 1352 Arbitrator England Graham Bailey RCYC 72 9 31 2 14 4 22 22 1 7 1083 Eithleán Ireland Jay Bourke HYC 79 10 17 16 2 21 6 7 11 20 1329 Stampede England Julia Bailey RCYC 79 11 11 9 16 14 27 19 7 3 972 Who Cares Ireland Desmond Flood HYC 83 12 6 10 9 22 25 10 20 6 1354 Elvis England David Franks RCYC 92 13 21 5 17 3 5 23 23 18 962 Ragtime England Rob Goddard Hamble 95 14 15 24 13 11 12 2 8 12 1116 Muddy Paws Ireland Anthony Shanks RStGYC 95 15 31 4 31 12 11 6 15 16 1271 Ladies Who Launch Ireland Mary O'Loughlin RStGYC 97 16 13 19 15 19 3 12 16 19 1148 Lambay Rules Ireland Stephen Quinn HYC 97 17 20 31 3 16 18 17 14 9 954 Conjuror Ireland Alex Lacy HYC 103 18 9 27 10 20 19 16 28 2 1115 Defiance Ireland William Lacy RIYC 107 19 8 13 23 25 8 8 22 31 1180 Fuzzy Duck Ireland Brian O'Neill HYC 119 20 14 25 8 10 21 27 31 14 1040 Jabberwocky Ireland Simon Knowles HYC 121 21 24 18 18 9 17 13 25 22 1113 Gelert Ireland John Flynn HYC 122 22 19 20 21 13 26 14 24 11 863 Motomar Italy Marco Cimarosti CNR 124 23 31 26 31 5 14 23 17 8 953 Joy Division Ireland Colman Phelan HYC 126 24 23 23 22 15 13 18 12 31 804 Impulse England Richard Cowan RMYC 138 25 22 17 20 29 23 15 18 23 1006 Blue Ireland Marc Fitzgibbon HYC 149 26 12 28 24 24 20 26 26 17 976 Glance Ireland Tom O'Reilly HYC 150 27 25 12 25 28 28 9 27 24 1323 Fetching Ireland Stephen O'Flaherty HYC 155 28 18 21 26 27 24 20 21 25 1251 White Pointer Ireland Richard Gray RStGYC 158 29 26 22 19 23 31 28 19 21 1015 Matatu Dubh Ireland Richard Burrows HYC 217 30 31 31 31 31 31 31 31 31        * Royal Swedish YC          Photos courtesy of OCEANSPORT - David Branigan          The International Etchells Class Irish Association      Contact us here      Powered by: go2web