Donal Small in Tenacious wins 2011 Jack Craig Memorial

So the final event of the Irish domestic season – the Lough Derg Freshwater Keelboat  Regatta.

This year we were joined by the Squibs and the ISA J80s (or maybe we joined them!).

An opportunity to rinse the boats out with fresh lake water and compete for the Jack Craig Memorial Bell.

With mixed teams, guest helms and short race courses in shifty lake breezes the event was going to more about fun than out and out long course championship racing.

However it still proved to be hard fought throughout the fleet with the potential for anything to happen at any moment.

Friday and Saturday were light days with the odd moderate breeze. Sunday was going to be more moderate winds.

On Friday night Denis Bergin on sir Ossis of the River with Con Murphy and Paul Burke were leading. Going into the final day Martin Byrne on Diva were leading by three points against Donal Small on Tenacious with Dave Dwyer and Eoghan O’Neill. A number of boats could have taken third place on the final  2 race day. After the first race Martin’s lead was cut to one point. So the final race was the decider. Donal got his nose ahead at the pin end in traffic and covered Diva aggressively up the first beat. Despite throwing everything at Tenacious including tacking duels and “peeling” off spectator boats, Donal Small persevered and won the Jack Craig Memorial Bell with Martin Byrne, Rick Johnson and Rob Johnson on Diva in second place. Peter Bowring, David Williams and Laura and Arthur Meaghan on Phantom came in third with two good races on the final day.

So once again a big thank you to Lough Derg Yacht Club for a very enjoyable event on and off the water. A special thank you also to their reserve race officer Claire who stood in (apparently for her first time!) and performed cooly and calmly like she had been doing it for years!

Now what was the number of that guy with the winter storage warehouse……!