1st Round Irish Speed Nationals Belmullet

I just had a great weekend where i went to Belmullet in County Mayo on the west coast of Ireland for the first time where i was competing in the 1st Round Irish Speed Nationals Belmullet. I went up on Friday night with Steve Flannagan as we got a great deal in a B&B near to Elly Bay, Belmullet where we would be competing for the weekend. I can highly recommend the B&B to anyone looking for accomodation in this part of Ireland. The B&B is Leim Siar Bed and Breakfast and you can contact them on their website http://www.leimsiar.com/ or ring Hannah Quigley to book a room on (00353)97 85004 or (00353)862 512965 and make sure you let them know that i recommended them to you.

On Saturday morning we were greeted by the sun shining, beautifull clear water, and 20-28 knots of wind. As the tide was dropping the walk to the waters edge was a killer taking over 5 minutes carrying your kit. All the lads were getting max speeds over 30 knots with Woodsey in particular getting some very quick runs on a 15 year old f2 Sputnik so that shows you don't need the latest and greatest kit to have a go at speed. He also finished 4th Overall and 3rd Master. As it was my first time on the water since my injury last month i was gonna take it a bit easy but the chop on the course was horrendous and on my first run down the course i had a repeat of my wipeout that put me off the water but this time i thankfully didn't injure myself and managed to get a few more runs down the course. I managed to get a 29 knot max speed considering the conditions and my first time on the water since my injury i was happy with that speed and i finished 6th Overall and 4th Master

JK was showing why he is the current reigning champ with a 36 knot run on his Starboard Futura 122 which was amazing in the messy chop on the course and finished in 1st place overall and 1st Master for the weekend.

During the morning Steve Flannagan managed to take over 1000 pictures of everyone before he himself got on the speed course and on his first run had a massive wipout that didn't put him off from challenging for the overall lead with some very fast runs outside the bay in the big swell and finished 2nd Overall for the weekend

In the afternoon Oisin and Mikey Clancy after wave sailing all day came over and borrowed speed kit to have a go themselves with both getting speeds in the region of 30 knots and finishing 3rd Overall, 2nd Master and 5th Overall respectively.

On Sunday the forcasted 18-20 knot winds did not show but that did not deter Keith Gorman from hitting the water after driving over from Dublin as he was working Saturday. He went out on his small slalom kit but in the dropping winds was soon back for his biggest sail and board to get back on the water to logg some speeds and get the result. He finished the weekend 7th Overall and 5th Master. The rest of us waited to see if the wind would pick up but called it a day in the late afternoon after a great days speedsailing the previous day.

A great weekend was had by all and thanks to Cormac and UISCE (http://www.uisce.com/) for the great lunch on Saturday and i know i will be back to this amazing part of Ireland again.

Checkout http://www.irishspeedsailing.com/ for pics from the event and checkout the small video i made below of the pics of me sailing on Saturday (Cheers Steve)