Kit Guide

A Summer to Remember

The Laser 4.7 Worlds 2015 took place in Medemblik, Holland on the Isomer. As this was my first international event ever I was not expecting too much from myself and used it as an opportunity to see the standard of sailing internationally. Two races where scheduled for each day but that was not the case on some days. Day One: I was in the Green fleet. The first race was one of my worst results throughout the event finishing 53^rd but not to worry because I had a 29^th in the second race. Overall I was happy with the first day as I learned some very valuable lessons about sailing internationally (don’t start in the middle of the line). I was happy with the first day as it was very light with gusts of only 4-5 knots. Day Two: I was in Blue fleet and conditions were very similar to the first day with light winds and hot weather. The third race of the event was my best in the qualifying series getting a 16^th, however the second race was terrible finishing 60^th. Overall it was a good day considering the very light winds. Day Three: I was in Red fleet. We were scheduled to do two races but only got one in as there was no wind in the morning. Eventually when it did fill we had a solid 10 knots. This was the last day of the qualifying series with my best performance in the event to date. I finished the race in 26^th place which left me in Bronze fleet for the rest of the event and I was lying 4^th in Bronze going into the last three days. Day Four: Finally we started getting some windy conditions, which allowed the Irish team to get some better results as we had little opportunity to do light wind training this summer. The first race was a good result for me finishing 18^th and the following race being the best ever getting a 1^st in bronze fleet. I was delighted with myself. Day Five: The wind dropped off again to around 5-6 knots. I didn’t have a very good day having a 19^th, 47th and a 32^nd. I dropped back to 11^th overall in Bronze fleet. We completed three races to try and make up for the lost race on day three. Up to this point in the event we were on track with the correct amount of races, but the race committee decided that we were only going to do one on the last day Day Six: the last day of the 4.7 worlds 2015 was a good day for me finishing on a high with a 8^th which moved me up to 6^th overall in Bronze and 135^th overall out of 257 boys. Overall it was an excellent experience; I learned a lot and my experience level has risen immensely. It was even nice to see a Rooster representative at the event to hand me my tally. The last event of my summer was the Irish Laser National Championships in the National Yacht Club Dun Loaghaire, County Dublin. I was feeling very confident for this event because it was looking very windy with gust of around 25-30 knots of wind forecast for the first 2 days and lighter for the last 2 but still windy. It was a four day event with 3 races scheduled for the first three days and 2 on the last day. Day one saw only one race completed as apparently it was too windy to continue racing so we were sent in. I finished 4^th. Day two saw similar conditions but the race committee were under pressure to get the races in, so we completed three races. I had a good day getting a 1^st, 5^th and a 3^rd. I was happy with this day as I was laying 3^rd overall. Day three was another good day having two 3^rd places and a 4^th which left me second overall going into the last day 4 points behind Henry Higgins of the Royal St. George Yacht Club who was in 1^st place. I was feeling confident I could do well on the final day to get first. The final day we were scheduled to complete two races. The wind was around 15-20 knots and my first race couldn’t have been better getting a first place with Henry finishing second so the points were still very close. The next race was going to be the national champion decider, but unfortunately the last races didn’t go my way getting a black flag. Henry finished fourth which was enough for him to be the 2015 Laser 4.7 National champion. So well done to Henry it was close. Although I had a black flag it was still enough to get second overall and secure my first Irish Sailing Association Medal. Well done to Hugh Perrette getting 3^rd overall only one point behind me. I was very happy with the 2015 4.7 Nationals as it was superb racing in really testing conditions.