Eight top college teams compete over 56 races on Cullaun Lake, Co. Clare. ‘Sailing in the snow’ is something that every seasoned team racer should have checked off on their list. Scenic Cullaun Lake in Co. Clare was the venue for the winter wonderland that hosted the DIT Invitational on the first weekend in February, only 8 of the best college teams, from UL, UCC, CIT, Trinity and DIT, were invited to compete in the mini-event in 2 flights of colour coded Fireflies supplied by UL, RCSI and UCC.
The bitter cold saw race officer Barry Byrne fire off 56 races in military style, around an ‘M’ shaped course on the small lake over two days in the bitter cold, patrolled by umpires Glenn How, John Chambers and Fergal O’Shea.
The changeover boats were anchored off the pin end of the line allowing waiting sailors to watch all the action from the sidelines, in between shivers and rigor mortis twitches.
No race was without excitement, as two runs and three beats allowed the losing team plenty of time to cover and catch up, including probably the most thrilling races of the weekend between DIT1 and DIT2!
At the end of day one, old rivals DIT1 and Trinity were in joint first, each with 6 wins, with DIT winning the tie-break. UL1 sat in third position. All competitors and officials were housed in the Jamaica Inn, 15 minutes away in Sixmilebridge, where all retired to kick off Saturday night for the ‘Stockbrokers and Secretaries’ theme night, which later spilled over into McGregor’s in the village, only to spill back onto the tables and rafters of the hostel on for an impromptu disco.
A blizzard on Sunday morning was a great excuse not to leave the slumber of whatever bed we found ourselves in and avoid sailing for an hour or two. When it was safe to leave the building, and after the snowball fight, we finally left for the lake which, to everyone’s disappointment, had steady breeze blowing over it.
The title came down to the last race, where DIT1 had to beat UCC1 to win the event from Trinity. DIT were commanding until the run when all went pear-shaped, letting UCC into a 1, 2, 6 combination on the final reach. Byrne / McNally in 3rd position had to pull a trick out of their sleeve and started inching over UCC’s Simon Murray and gradually stole his breeze, Murray luffed sharply, letting DIT’s Marty O’Leary / Brian Fenlon in underneath and gained room on the final mark. UCC’s Alex Barry made contact with the mark in an effort to stop the unstoppable, as did Murray on his return, giving UCC two penalty turns and DIT the race, and the title of their own event.
Final results (after 2 round robins):
1st DIT1; 12 wins
2nd Trinity; 12 wins
3rd CIT; 9 wins
4th UCC1; 8 wins
5th UL1; 8 wins
6th DIT2; 4 wins
7th UCC1; 3 wins
8th UL2; 2 wins
