Our Hardy, Junior sailors have returned from Baltimore, battered by Storm Doris but not detered. In winds of up to 26 knots and gusts far higher, 11 GBSC Junior Sailors attended the annual IODAI Spring Optimist Clinic in Baltimore, West Cork.
We installed ourselves on Saturday in the Dive House; thats the accomodation that GBSC have rented for nearly 10 years now and even our Senior Instructors did their tour of duty here. A 7 bed house within a stones throw from Baltimore Sailing Club, it is a social haven for both children and adults alike.
Sunday was an idlyc day as we proceeded to registeration and shaked the cobwebs out of sails that hadn't seen daylight since October. In a breezy 16 knots, our sailors all launched onto Baltimore Bay and when they returned their was an air of confidence;
"We thought we'd have forgotten how to sail after all these months"
Monday brought more challenging weather and while our sailors did not see as much time on the water as they would have liked, they were also glad to get back to the dive house and tuck into Ruth and Mark's speciality Carbonara.
Tuesday was equally windy and an early finish on Wednesday prepared us for the arrival of Storm Doris. This was a good thing as Wednesdays are GBSC Party Nights. All of our Sailors and parents who stay in other accomodation around Baltimore meet up at the Dive House for what can only be described as "a spread fit for a lord". Tapas was the bill of fare and the preparation of this was like a well oiled machine. Gordon Ramesy had nothing on me as both small and large commis chefs sprung into action, peeling, decorating, frying, boiling, spreading cutting and pouring. Perhaps too much pouring I reflected, at the bottle bank on Saturday.
Sailors waited patiently on Thursday for Doris to disappear and finally got the orders to launch at 3pm. Again tough conditions required the adults to supervise from Bushe's Bar.
Fridays regatta was in one word "tough". 4 races in a chill that brass monkeys would run and hide, 23 knots of wind gusting to 30 with the odd squall thrown in just for good measure. Our sailors battled hard and did our club proud. Our Senior fleet sailors Mattie Kennedy, Justin Mitchell and Ali O'Sullivan found conditions daunting but with all races complete they returned home proud. Junior fleet sailors fared better with Ella Lyons coming in 13th and Robert Donnelly 37th out of 59 sailors. Adam McGrady had to retire early and who could blame him. Our Regatta fleet and transition fleet sailors also surpassed themselves. Lilian and Finn Furey, James Costello, Claum Fraser and Hannah
As we packed to go on Friday evening, smiling sailors and proud parents blocked of our calenders for Baltimore 2018.
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