Irish Speedsailing Championships Round 5 Ladies Island 9th & 10th October

With wind finally forecast the same weekend we had a Speedsailing event organised for we checked all the speedsailing locations in Ireland and decided that Ladies Island in County Wexford had the best forecast for the weekend but only on Sunday so we called the event for Sunday and had Saturday as a fun day to meet up, get the smaller kit tuned after it gathering dust in the garages all summer and have a bit of crack.

I drove up from Kerry on Saturday morning as i couldn't afford 2 nights accommodation and arrived at Ladies Island just after 9am. With the forecast now looking a lot better on Saturday (But we couldn't hold any official racing as it had already been decided that Sunday was the day for the official event) of 15-24 knots i decided to use my Starboard I Sonic 86 with 36cm Vector Maui Fins SL9 Alfa fin and the Starboard I Sonic 101 with 38cm Vector Maui Fins Rockit Fin that i had borrowed for Weymouth Speed Week from my sponsor Wind & Wave to i could get the board dialed and rig up my 6.4m & 7.3m KA Koncept's. I used the I Sonic 86 with the 6.4m KA Koncept first but later in the day in the afternoon the wind dropped slightly so i then used the I Sonic 101 with 7.3m KA Koncept. After a good 4-5 hours on the water we all decided to pack up, head to the B&B, get a shower and head out and get some food. I managed to find a great B&B in Roslare Harbour called Padua B&B http://www.paduabandb.com/ where i got a twin room for 65 euro which is excellent value for a B&B so close to the Roslare ferry and i highly recommend staying there if you need somewhere to stay if catching the ferry.

On Sunday morning after breakfast we all headed back to the beach around 9.30am to find the wind was only 10-15 knots but forecasted to get up to 18-25 so i decided to use my Starboard I Sonic 144 with 50cm Vector Maui fins Canefire Fin, Starboard I Sonic 111 with 40cm Vector Maui Fins Canefire fin and Starboard I Sonic 86 with 36cm Vector Maui Fins SL9 Alfa fin and rig my 6.4m, 7.3m & 8.3m KA Koncept's. I got changed and headed out on the water after the briefing on my I Sonic 144 and 8.3m KA Koncept and got planing most of the time but there was big holes in the wind. After a couple of hours on the big kit the wind started to build as forecast so i switched to my I Sonic 111 with the 8.3m KA Koncept as the wind was now more constant and alot choppier so the 144 was bouncing around alot making it hard to control. After probably 1/2 an hour i was getting pretty overpowered on the 8.3m with the wind now a constant 18-20 knots so i switched to my 7.3m KA Koncept on the 111 and had another hour on the water before going in and having a break. After my break i took out the I Sonic 86 with the 7.3m KA Koncept and after a little while the wind started to gust up to 25 knots so the 7.3m was now a handful so i went in, switched the fin in the I Sonic 86 to a 32cm Vector Maui Fins SL9 Alfa fin and changed down to my 6.4m KA Koncept and went back out on the water. For me this was now my fastest kit combo of the day and after another hour i went in a decided to call it a day as i could hardly hold the boom anymore but it was great to see all the smiling exhausted faces on the beach after a great day on the water after so long without any decent wind.

I finished the day with a peak speed of 29.79 knots and 100m of 28.91 knots which meant i finished 4th overall and 1st Master for the event so i was stoked as this has now improved my Irish ranking to 5th overall and with 1 event left in the calender i have to finish 3rd overall or higher and improve my GPS 10 second average and 500m so i can achieve my goal of finishing in the top 3 in Ireland.