Rain, Hail or Snow! The NMCI Sailing Club gets Silver in the Bronze Fleet.
Wednesday 19 March 2008
On the 5th of March 2008 the NMCI Sailing club were gearing themselves up for the I.U.S.A.’s National Sailing Championships in Killaloe, Co. Clare. The event was hosted by the University of Limerick Sailing Club and held at their Activity Centre in Killaloe. There was a great deal of excitement and anticipation as this was the last event on the College Sailing Calendar.
The pressure was on, given the sharp improvement of the NMCI Sailing Club’s performance when they made it to the quarter-finals at the previous competition in Baltimore. A good result would mean a great deal to the NMCI Sailing Club and to its sponsors and to add to the tension there was the small matter of gale force winds predicted for the duration of the event. A gale was forecast, and a gale it blew…
Throughout the weekend the conditions proved to be the most challenging thus far. Killaloe is on the south side of Loch Derg and is surrounded by hills, which meant that the winds were never constant but very gusty. The wind could change direction in up to 30° shifts making it very hard to predict, and very likely to capsize the boat. To add to all of this the showers came in the form of rain, sleet and hail stones. All of this made for very cold but, with the adrenaline flowing, very exciting sailing.
The top 8 seeded teams were divided into 4 groups and the remaining 16 teams were divided into the 4 groups by means of a draw. The first team drawn was the NMCI and it felt like it like a good sign.
The 1st day of sailing separated the teams into a Gold Fleet and a Silver Fleet. The NMCI started out in a tough group with some really talented sailors to contend with and they lost 5 of 6 races. It was great experience for the NMCI team to start the event up against the likes of DIT 1 and UCC 2. What was remarkable about the start, as UCC 2 found out and given the weather conditions where boats were capsizing left, right and centre, was that the NMCI sailors were not easily beaten.
The 2nd day of Racing would then divide the teams into Gold, Silver and Bronze Fleets. Here once again the NMCI sailors in the Silver Fleet were once again up against some great sailors. So after a hard day of racing in very gusty conditions and a few capsizes later the NMCI was finally selected to sail in the bronze fleet.
On the last day of the event the NMCI were in the Finals of the bronze fleet, up against none other than CIT 2, our former team mates. The final would be decided on a best of three races. CIT 2 finally defeated the NMCI 2-0 but it seemed that the rivalry from the past were all forgotten and both teams sailed the boats home laughing and joking with each other. All that was left to do was go home get a hot shower and get ready for the Black tie Ball at the Radisson in Limerick.
- Patrick Defense, NMCI Sailing Club