The Autumn Open got off to a brisk start with a strong fleet of 40 beating into strong southerly wind. Belfast based boat builder, Alastair Duffin was first to the windward mark, demonstrating the speed of his Duffin Series 2+ hulls. Second around the first windward was Olympian Sam Hunt crewed by John Downey followed and Paul Reilly and John O’Dowd.

A capsize  for Reilly/O’Dowd caused by a sudden gust on hoisting the spinnaker allowed locals Niall Henry and Ossian Geraghty through followed in hot pursuit by Sligos Timmy Corcoran crewed by Brendan Brogan. Later down the first reach Hunt/Downey got into difficulty by staying low, as the wind filled they had difficulty trying to get up to the gybe mark in the gusty conditions.

Henry/Geraghty and Corcoran/Brogan seized the moment both completing smooth gybes and set about catching race leaders Duffin/Nelson. On the second beat Duffin/Nelson and Corcoran/Brogan made a big gain staying hard right. This afforded Corcoran/Brogan a second place rounding at the windward mark with Henry/Geraghty dropped back to third. These positions were held to the finish with very close racing right to the line, which incorporated a painful tacking match in the windy conditions!.

By the start of the second race the wind had built still further with extreme hiking required in order to stay upright! The race to the first mark was between Hugh Gill and crew Ciaran Murphy , Henry/Geraghty and Duffin/Nelson. Henry taking a lucky header two thirds of the way up the first beat cleared Gill, Duffin and a number of other boats allowing him to round in first. Henry got away on the first reach avoiding the melee of the chasing pack. On the second lap Timmy Corcoran came charging through the fleet from 5th to 2nd place. Corcoran and Gill sailing very fast offwind almost caught Henry/Geraghty who just got going before the gybe mark. It was very close to the shortened finish with no more than 5 seconds separating winners Henry, 2nd place Corcoran and 3rd placed Duffin.

Going into Sundays racing the Autumn Open 2007 title was up for grabs by a number of sailors. It was extremely windy with some of the gusts towards the top of the first beat blowing a hard force 6. Some boats were blown over on the beat such was the ferocity of the wind. Hugh Gill was first around the windward mark, followed by recently returned David Fletcher (GP14 Nat Champion 2001) rounding in second.

Henry and Duffin who were ranked 1st and 2nd on the leader board overnight rounded well down the fleet in 11th & 13th respectively. With the heavy gusts on the beat the leading boats choose not to carry their kites. Henry seized the opportunity to salvage the event and hoisted taking off down the first reach and rounding the gybe mark in second place. Hugh Gill had opened out an impressive lead and sailed well to pull away through the rest of the race. With the wind still coming up and a squall on the horizon racing was abandoned for the day.

With only three races sailed, no discard was given, giving locals Niall Henry and Ossian Geraghty an overall event win. Hugh Gill and crew Ciaran Murphy from Sutton Dinghy Club finished second overall with David Fletcher and Laura McFarland from Larne finishing third overall.

In the silver fleet there was just as much excitement with Lough Derg sailors Rob Lee and Troy McNamara sailing their socks off in the last race to reduce Simon Cully and Libby Tierneys lead. Lee/McNamara managed to recover in this last race giving them overall victory in the silver fleet and strengthening their ranking in the Speed Sails League 2007, which culminates at the Hot Toddy which takes place at Lough Erne Yacht Yacht, in just under three weeks time.

The bronze fleet was won by David Lappin improving on his second place finish at the Championships of Ireland last month with Sligos Gerard Healy and Brendan Martin finishing second and Swords sailors Donal Brennan & crew finishing in third.

The weekend was a dual weekend of racing which incorporated the GP14 Youth Championships. This event, designed to encourage youth sailors into GP14’s has attracted many sailors into the fleet down through the years.

This year nearly 20 youth sailors competed in the Youth Championships. The Youths Championships was decided from their Saturday racing . The inclement weather on Sunday scuppered any hope of  racing on Sunday afternnon. Overall winners of the Youth Championships 2007 were John Downey and Sam Hunt from Curabinny Yacht Squadron. The Youths event was sponsored by AIB, Sligo, with Michael Hegarty of AIB presenting the Youth prizes at the prize giving ceremony. During the prize giving ceremony, Sligo Yacht Clubs Commodore David Gunne thanked all of the people who helped organise and run such a successful weekends sailing, with 90 sailors taking to the water.

For full results log on to;  www.gp14ireland.com/
 
The final event on the Gp14 Calendar for 2007 is the Hot Toddy which is taking place at Lough Erne Yacht Club on the weekend of the 13th and 14th October. This is also the final event of the GP14 SPEED SAILS LEAGUE 2007.

Ossian Geraghty

GP14 Class Association of Ireland