Irish 2 Sail Open Regatta

Following suit from our regatta in Cowes, the Irish team decided to host a similar event in Kinsale, Cork. Loading up 2 boats 6 sailors and 1 coach Team Oyster took the road once more. A special thank you must go to our driver, Steve Wood for the 2 trips all the way from our warehouse in Colchester to Ireland- it’s a pretty long way, and we really appreciate how much effort it is to get 2 boats and all the kit that we carry around to the various venues!

We welcomed Martin Boatman to the team for the first time, taking over from Dan on the helm. Joining Martin on Dolphin, kindly lent to us by Andy Cassels, were Jon Waite and Dan- taking to an unusual role of mainsheet for a change!
All in all it was a great regatta with the Australians making the long journey over, also the Norwegians and of course the Irish! 9 boats total took to the water from the stunning Kinsale Yacht Club and made for some incredibly tight racing in conditions not that dissimilar to those we might see in Qingdao.
With 9 races scheduled over 3 days we had some very long days on the water, but that said it was well worth all the effort.
Martin and the boys must be congratulated on their brilliant sailing- they came away to take the title and gave us some well deserved grief around the race course!
We finished in a credible 2nd, 16 points clear of the next boat, the Norwegians!

It sent a great message to all the foreigners as effectively it was the British that came out on top once again. Things are certainly looking up, and finally all those long hours on the water are starting to stick! We are now looking forward to 2 weeks in Hayling with both boats and also hopefully, the final member of the tuning crew will be selected to travel with us to Beijing for the games.

Thanks to everyone that has helped us to get this far, we really are living the dream!