22/05/2025
30 boats entered the Squib Northern Championships in a very light and sunny Killyleagh YC. Multiple previous Irish National winners and British Squib legend Dick Batt lined up for the 5 race series with an eye on the upcoming Irish Nationals in June.
Two Royal Irish boats; Aidan O’Connell and Lauren Donaghy sailing number 35 ‘RubyBlue’ and David Stewart and MJ Geraghty sailing 871 ‘Granat’ made the journey.
Race 1 and Race 2 were sailed in light ‘testing” conditions and were shortened to one lap with O’Connell and Donaghy scoring a 12th and an 8th, with Stewart and Geraghty having a 20th and a 7th.
With the wind increasing to 5 knots the race committee sailed two more races with 2 laps – RubyBlue finished with a 5th and a 2nd, to lie 5th overnight and Granat having a 4th and 6th to lie 7th.
Ian Travers from Kinsale, local boat Rob Marshall, Greg Bell RNIYC, Vincent Delaney RSt.GYC/LDYC were the leading pack followed by Rubyblue overnight.
With one race scheduled on Sunday the Committee extended the course to three windward leeward rounds. O’Connell and Donaghy worked their way through the fleet to finish second behind Travers of Kinsale YC and secured a second overall, with Squib veteran Vincent Delaney 3rd. Granat finished with a 17th to finish overall 10th.
All eyes turn to Lough Derg YC for the Irish nationals on 6th to 8th June with an expected entry of 50-60 boats.
Well done to the competitors!