University College Dublin finished 4th team in Ireland at the Irish Team Racing Nationals last weekend, the highest ranked Irish University team at the event.

The Irish Team Racing National Championships took place in Schull, Co. Cork on the 13th/14th of November, hosted by the Irish Team Racing Association (ITRA) and the Fastnet Marine Outdoor Education Centre.

Six students representing UCD Sailing Club travelled to West Cork to compete in the event, along with 20 other teams from across Ireland and Britain. With Schull selected to host the 2011 Team Racing World Championships, many teams were eager to take part in the Irish Nationals this year, in order to gain some valuable experience and familiarity with the venue.

Although the wind was light for most of Saturday the first round robin was successfully completed, and despite the UCD team sailing their first group of races in unfamiliar boats, they managed to qualify for the gold fleet with a notable win against the “South County Rebels”, the team that came 2nd at last year’s Irish Team Racing Nationals.

With racing again postponed on Sunday due to light winds, the original schedule for a second round robin had to be abandoned due to time constraints and racing instead continued straight into the knock out rounds. UCD had qualified for the quarter finals of the gold fleet, yet two losses to the George Knights, the team that went on to win the Irish title at the event, prevented them from progressing to the next stage of the competition.

A third-fourth place play-off was raced between UCD and the “Super Troopers” - a team of recently graduated college sailors - the same team UCD faced in the final of the ITRA Eastern event the previous weekend. Close racing brought the ‘best of three’ play off to the third and final race, and while UCD were in control for part of the race, the “Super Troopers” converted to a win before the finish line and with that UCD’s hopes of coming home with Bronze ISA medals from the event were denied.

The British team “Spinnaker” won the event overall, the “George Knights” took the Irish title and a school team from Schull were the under 19 champions. UCDSC would like to thank all involved in the organising of the event. The team has gained some valuable experience racing at the Irish Nationals against the best teams in Ireland and the UK, as part of their training campaign towards the Irish University Intervarsity event in March of next year.

Written by Sharon Quigley

UCD team – Simon Doran and Sharon Quigley, Barry McCartin and Anne Collins, Nick Harger and Katie Curtin