Mirror Nationals Day 3 Report

After an interesting night that saw Melissa Daly win the dubious honour of a hot date with Don McCormack, it was a surprise that nobody seemed particularly bleary-eyed arriving at the club on Saturday morning, although Adam McCullough was sporting a very fetching black eye. It was blowing about a force 3 when everyone was launching, so for once the tide wasn’t a problem. I had an excellent view of this, because I was on the balcony fixing my burgee, which had slipped down into the bracket again. Neil McCullough asked to be included in this report, as he was nearly knocked into the water fixing the offending burgee from a RIB yesterday.

The first race got away after one general recall. It was Niall Carbery who was the most impressive up the first beat, and he rounded the windward mark with Mike Hill. The chasing pack contained Karl Mackey, Mark Armstrong, Mark Boylan, Cillian Dickson, Gerard Healy and myself.

This leading group managed to break away from most of the chasing pack, with only Joe McLoughlin hanging onto the coat tails. Niall Carbery was unlucky not to keep in sync with the shifts up the second beat, and began to drop back, and so it was Karl, Mike and the two Marks who were left fighting for the lead in a race of their own. Cillian and myself were left to race for fifth place in exciting downwind surfing conditions. Final results were Karl Mackey in first, after a thundering first career victory. Mike was second and Mark Boylan third. Fourth place was Mark Armstrong, and fifth was myself. Colm Hackett gets a special mention for sailing an entire force 4 race with no tiller extension, although he gives credit to his instructor last year!

The second race was started under a black flag, and the leading group around the windward were Mike, Mark Boylan, Cillian Dickson and Graham Daly, after an incredible first beat. I was in fifth, followed by a group containing Joe McLoughlin, Karl Mackey and Mark Armstrong.

The top group accelerated away up the second beat. I decided to go left, following a slight right shift, and was shocked when the wind kept shifting to the right, leaving me out of the tide, and well out of touch with the leaders. The final order at the finish was Mike in first, Mark Boylan second, and Cillian Dickson in third. Fourth place was a resurgent Mark Armstrong, and fifth was Graham Daly, an excellent result in his first nationals.

The only protest of the day was withdrawn, leaving the overall standings going into the final day as follows-

Rank	Tally	Fleet	Division	Boat	SailNo	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Total	Nett
1st	31	Gold	Master	Dead on	70444	Michael Hill	Sarah Hill	RNIYC	1	1		1	2	1	11	6
2nd	32	Gold	Junior	Better Late Than Never	70428	Mark Boylan	Eoin Hickey	Skerries SC	2		1	3	3	2	60	11
3rd	48	Gold	Junior	Gee-Czar	69955	Karl Mackey	Maeve Dickson	LDYC	3	3	2	4	1		20	13
4th	3	Gold	Youth	We Take Plastic	70123	Mark Armstrong	Barry Armstrong	Sligo Yacht Club		2	3	5	4	4	25	18
5th	26	Gold	Junior	Kaizon	69806	Rachel Guy	Dan Bergin	LDYC	4	4	8	11		8	47	35
6th	15	Gold	Master	Levante	67592	Peter Collings	Leo Hickey	DMYC	8	7		2	5	14	51	36
7th	29	Gold	Junior		70304	Cillian Dickson	Cormac Dickson	LRYC	9	10	10		6	3	53	38
8th	5	Gold	Master	Remedy	70031	Gerard Healy	Kevin Martyn	Sligo Yacht Club	5	8	12	7	7		56	39
9th	1	Gold	Junior	Lap Dancer	70075	Joseph McLoughlin	Aoife Flannigan	Sligo Yacht Club	6		6	9	9	10	52	40
10th	43	Gold	Junior	Kiss my aft	70340	Adam McCullough	Craig Martin	RNIYC		11	11	6	8	9	93	45
11th	38	Gold	Youth	Mach II	69170	Peter Todd	Toby McCollough	RNIYC	10	6	4	10	16		64	46
12th	7	Gold		George	69683	Cathal Leigh(Doyle	Shauna Armstrong	Sligo Yacht Club	12		16	8	11	11	74	58
13th	27	Gold	Junior	Twice Daly	70465	Graham Daly	Melissa Daly	Skerries SC	16	9		16	13	5	77	59
14th	6	Gold	Youth	Reality Bites	70017	Cian Gallagher	Peter Connolly	Sligo Yacht Club	14	15	7	12	15		79	63
15th	33	Gold	Junior	Keep On Smiling	70087	Aileen Boylan	Roisin Leneghan	Skerries SC		5	13	19	21	6	112	64
16th	12	Gold	Junior	Breaking Wind	70464	Barry Ronan	Suvi Ronan	Sligo Yacht Club	15	14	9	14		13	82	65
17th	28	Gold	Youth	Vengeance	70333	Niall Carbery	Andrew McGonigle<