With the current Covid restrictions and other protocols in place, credit must be given primarily to the RstGYC, Jonny O'Dowd and the Irish J80 class for putting the event together and running it in compliance with these regulations. A fleet of 14 boats was a very healthy showing in these circumstances.
I think for all of us competing; it was a great relief to get back to some quality one design racing finally. Allied to this we got lucky with two super sailing days that offered a variety of sailing conditions from day one, sailed in 15-25 knots to day 2 in 5-12 knots. Whilst the relatively stable conditions (as much as possible in Dublin Bay!) provided a great platform to run racing; special mention must go to Michael Tyrell and the race management team for turning around the seven scheduled races in a very efficient manner. Such an essential component of any successful One Design regatta.
APi-2 3Di Jib flying on ‘Red Cloud’ Photo: Shane Hughes
For this year's Nationals, I sailed onboard 'MoJo' with Pat O'Neill and his Howth YC based team. There was a Greystones tint to the team with myself, Aaron Jones and Conor Cleary all active Greystones SC members. Pat has sailed at a good level in the J80 over the past few years competing at World and International championships, so not a newcomer to these events. Indeed, we benefited on the first day from having spent some time sailing in windier conditions on the lead up to this event.
Day one provided some exhilarating conditions with full planing mode going downwind. We were pleased with our speed upwind but especially downwind in these conditions. Consistency in terms of sail and boat balance is critical in these conditions. Keeping heel angle under control and keeping a right balance of power and twist in your sail plan to allow the boat to power through the chop but not over heel is easier said than done but our latest generation 3Di APi-2 jib performed beautifully in these conditions. The stability of the sail shape even with the sheet eased provided us with a platform to balance the boat from. Also being active easing the jib in co-operation with the mainsail in the gusts/chop was really fast on the upwind legs.
We saw the benefits of the North Sails set up throughout the fleet with ourselves, Jonny O'Dowd and Dan O'Grady all going really well, with the three boats filling 11 out of 12 podium positions on the day. The benefits of the sails and set up speaks for itself.
(above and below) winning boat ‘MoJo’ taken from Committee Boat Photo: Therese Tyrell
Day 2 brought very different conditions with lighter winds from the West, so trickier and maybe slightly more manageable conditions for some of the newer fleet entrants. The racing was very close as a result, and there was a lot of place changing and action on the course. We saw other teams step forward and take the race wins. Dan O'Grady took a great win in race one and had the best day overall with a 1,3,2 scoreline. Ryan Glynn and the Headcase team took the second race win, while Daragh O'Connor steering Norbert Reilly's 'Red Cloud' took a great race win in the last race by a comfortable margin.
Overall results show the top four boats using exclusively North Sails. All four boats using the T6-R radial mainsail, the 3Di APi-2 Jib and the MR-5 Asymmetric. So a very positive reflection of the work we have done over the past couple of years in updating our J-80 sail offering.
J80 Irish Championship results
All of us at North Sails would like to thank and congratulate all of our clients on these super results.
We are currently running our Autumn One Design discount (runs until October 9th), so please get in touch with us to discuss how we can help speed up your team for the 2021 season, where hopefully we will see more J80 events like this one!
