News Archive
GP14 Championship of Ireland in Mayo SC
Mayo Sailing Club/GP14 Championship
National GP14 Dinghy Championships
held at Mayo Sailing Club
The newly opened Mayo Sailing Club at Rosmoney, Westport was the venue for the recent National GP14 Dinghy Championships, sponsored by Martin Reilly Motors, Sligo. The major event attracted almost 50 competitors from Ireland, Northern Ireland and the UK. This is the final major event of the year for Mayo Sailing Club whose new clubhouse was officially opened during the GP Nationals by Mr Brian Cowan, TD, Minister for Foreign Affairs.
The overall winners were Richard Instone and James Goodfellow from Chase Sailing Club, Walsall, near Birmingham. This was their third time to travel over to Ireland for the GP14 National Championships, and their first ever win. Hugh Gill and Stuart Boyle from Sutton Dinghy Club were a close second, less than two points behind. Third place went to Tim Corcoran and Brendan Brogan of Sligo Yacht Club. The winner of the Silver Fleet was Newtownards pair Nigel Sloan and Mark Valentine while Bill Webber and Cathy Staunton were victorious in the Bronze Fleet.
Best local boat was helmed by Blair Stanaway and crewed by Owen Lambe from Westport. Blair is better known as an Enterprise dinghy sailor, but adapted well to the demands of the less familiar boat.
The weather conditions were extremely challenging over the three day championship, with just a single race being completed on Saturday due to winds reaching 30 knots. Racing on Sunday was blown out by more angry seas and it was Monday when the serious racing finally got underway on Monday with four excellent courses set by the Race Officer, David O’Brien from Cork. In a complete contrast to the previous days, many competitors said it was the best racing they’d had all year.
The prize giving took place in idyllic sunny conditions on the large feature deck outside the new clubhouse and prizes were distributed by Club Commodore David Baird an