Irish National Championships 2003 at Sligo YC, 18th-22nd August

A report on the GBR Team of Mirrors at the Irish Mirror National Championships

Coaching on Arrival
9 crews arrived in light wind, warm, sunny conditions at Sligo Yacht Club. They had a grand welcome of an Oyster and Wine Reception for everyone. This followed three days of intensive training with Mirror National Coach Peter Aitken, sorting out winds, currents, and loads of practice in the racing area. The Team and parents felt pretty confident.

Day 1 - Weather Change
On the Team's lay day (Sunday) the weather broke and wind started gusting 45 knots, and this was not much better on Monday the first day and so much to everyone's frustration racing was abandoned until the next day.
Dave Gebhard organised a Virtual Skipper2 Championship in the Yacht Club, GBR Team member Tom Hodkinson won the competition.

Day 2 - GBR Girls Show the Way
Tuesday morning saw the 176 Mirror Sailors keen to get out, and launched in great anticipation. Fortunately the wind had abated slightly and the OOD was able to run three races, in some pretty exciting conditions.
GBR Team members Rosie Chapman and Megan Baker from Mounts Bay won the first race since Irish Andrew and Johnnie Woodward were OCS - which put the Team GBR into a very positive mood. Steve Long and Lewis Turner, were leading until they death rolled, finishing 8th. However Juliet and Richard Long showed the old man the way and finished 4th. In the second race the Irish Woodward Brothers finished 1st, with Dave and Joric Gebhard from Derwent RSC, in the Ellis Brothers GRP Mirror, coming up fast from behind, being well down at the first mark to finish 4th.
Race No 3 found Anna Mackenzie and Nicola Brooks from Windermere and the Gebhards 1st and 2nd at the leading first mark, the Gebhards broke through and the younger GBR girls worked hard to keep the bigger Irish lads at bay, and finished an excellent 4th.

Day 3 - Lighter Winds- Black Flags and Tense Finish Line
Wednesday saw two more races sailed in lighter winds and sunshine, pressure was obviously growing as black flags started appearing - 12 were OCS in the last race of the day. The Gebhards sailed fast and claimed two firsts, however it was only on the line in the second race when they took the lead as race leaders, Rosie and Megan went to the wrong finish line, much to the horror of the Coach. Ben Crompton and Kate Robinson finished a comfortable third in the first race, and 13 year old Juliet Long and Richard kept up their consistent record of good results with 2 13ths

Day 4 - Hurricane Forecast
Listening to the wind and rain whilst in the tents and campervans, the majority thought racing would be a no goer - however the OOD decided to take the Gold and silver Fleets for one race in pretty strong winds
It was a hard exciting race and Steve Long and Ollie Turner took 2nd, being chased hard by Rosie and Megan who rounded the first mark 25 and climbed to finished 5th, and Ben and Kate who finished 10th.

Day 5 - Three boats going for Gold
And many looking for positions in the top 10, with another discard about to kick in when the next race was sailed, however the wind was light and dropping - all rather tense.
The OOD took the fleet on the water in case the wind filled in by the 3pm time limit. However it didn't happen and Thursday night's positions held.
18yr old Johnnie and 12 yr old Matt O'Dowd were the new Irish Champions, first British boat was the Gebhards, finishing 4OA, followed by GBR Team members Rosie and Megan finished 6th, with a total of 5 GBR boats in the top 10.

Coach's Comments - Great performance by our young GBR Team, who were helped by funding from Sport England Lottery Fund through the RYA. The pre coaching definitely helped our overall results and I am looking forward to building a strong Squad to take to the Europeans in Ireland next year.

Class Association Commodore Comments - as always the Irish made us very welcome. Our team sailed well against them, although the extra year of experience and size seemed to let the Irish sail with more consistency. We all met up with old and new Irish friends and are all looking forward to the European Championship in Ireland next year, which is an open event so everyone is welcome.
It was interesting to compare notes with the Irish Association and see the development of the Class at the Club level, Clubs are buying Mirrors for their training fleets as the way to encourage youngsters into double handed sailing. The GRP Mirror has helped this development and the Irish Association view the GRP Mirror as the way forward, both at training level and top racing level.