Munster Schools Team Racing Sailing Championships 2017
Munster Schools Team Racing Sailing Championships 2017
On Friday 30th March, the school sailing team traveled to Schull for the Munster Schools Team Racing Championships with Mr. McGlade. Our team consisted of nine sailors not all of our team could travel for this event, so we had three boats with a helm and a crew in each one. The team on the day was R. O’Sullivan, M. O’Herlihy, A. Power, M. O’Sullivan, C. Foster, D. Connolly, R. Flannery, L. Hanlon and C. Middleton.
Team racing involves two teams of three boats competing against each other on a short course where teams must work together to get their boats in the best positions to get the lowest point combination. For example, if the team can get their boats into positions 1, 2 and 3, they have the lowest score combination because 1+2+3= 6.
There were thirteen teams from eight schools from Cork competing in the event, including Coláiste Muire. Our team was determined to qualify for the National Team Racing Championship and went into each race that morning with the intention of working together to finish with the best possible results in order to compete that afternoon to qualify for the Nationals.
The wind that day was quite strong and picked up as the day went on, challenging all the teams competing. We won three races and lost two races that morning, but it was enough to compete that afternoon. Our team went into the last four races with the aim of winning all four in order to get to Nationals. Together, our three teams of sailors raced against the two Skibbereen teams, Regina Mundi, Christian Brothers and Scoil Mhuire and won all five races with a strong lead each time. Overall we won eight out of ten races that day and this enabled our team to qualify for the National Team Racing Championship in Schull on the 29th and 30th of April in Schull.