The International E-Boat Class Association.

Race Results... 2008

Irish E-Boats: Liffey Challenge2008
Irish E-Boats: National Championships 2008

Irish E Boat Class Association:
E Boat Liffey Challenge 2008

The 3^rd Annual E Boat Liffey Challenge was held on Saturday 21^st June. The weather was not very mid-summer like, with driving rain, cool temperatures and gusty easterly winds. Eleven E Boats from CY&BC competed, which was the largest entry ever for the event.

The Race Officer, Ian Sargent, held a short briefing on the Dockland’s pontoon and very soon after the boats assembled for the first start. The courses were laid with the weather mark near the East-link Bridge and the leeward mark above the Macken Street Bridge

Close quarter racing produces some very interesting and exciting encounters and demands high levels of concentration and awareness from skippers and crews. The positions change rapidly with each tack, boats on port tack having to duck the boats on starboard and it is not until the first boat rounds the weather mark that the leaders become apparent.

In race one the first boat to round the weather mark was Escapade. A quick hoist of the spinnaker pulled her clear of the rest of the boats and Escapade led to the finish followed by Chancer, OctopussE, Euro and Wyle E Coyote.

Race two starting sequence was begun as soon as the last boat had finished and the boats again jostled and weaved for a good position on the starting line. Wyle E Coyote got clear air at the start and quickly pulled away from the following boats. The spinnaker work on the downwind leg paid off for Escapade and Echinus as they overtook several boats before the leeward mark. Wyle E Coyote finished ahead followed by Escapade, Echinus, Euro and Smile E too.

Race three was begun as the wind went light on the river. Smile E too, Echinus and OctopussE got the best of the light conditions and Euro picked up several places on the downwind leg. Smile E too got the gun, followed closely by OctopussE, Euro, Echinus and Heatwave.

Conditions remained light for the start of race four. Several boats changed headsails to try to compensate for the lighter conditions. The lead changed again and again as the boats tacked for the weather mark. Echinus came out ahead and was closely followed by Heatwave, Wyle E Coyote, OctopussE and Chancer at the finish.

The results, after discard, gave Echinus with 8 points, the overall winning position. Three boats followed with 9 points and after countback second position went to Escapade with Wyle E Coyote in third and OctopussE in fourth.

The event was deemed to be a great success and the competitors all expressed thanks to Race officer, Ian Sargent, Becky and Geraldine for the organisation on the water. Tony Reilly who kindly lent his boat and Peter Clohissey for trojan work, ferrying, laying marks etc. Thanks also to Ronan for his photos of the event.

Prize giving was held in CY&BC followed by a BBQ.

Ray Wall.

Last year John Cowman provided some excellent shots of the events.  Once again John has taken some great pictures, but rather than duplicate these here you can view them via his "Flickr" account by pasting the link below into your browser address bar and pressing 'Go'.  Anybody wanting prints can contact John via his email address http://www.flickr.com/photos/27074213@N08/  ©2008 John Cowman - 0876540130

Irish E Boat National Championships 2008.

The 2008 Irish E Boat National Championships were held in CY&BC between 4th – 6th July. 16 boats from Clontarf and Skerries took part in the 3 day, 6 race event. The race format was explained by NRO Ian Sargent at a short briefing at 9.30, then the boats made their way out to the racing grounds in Dublin Bay.

The first race was an Olympic course and the 16 boats got a clean start and at the weather mark, OctopussE put her stamp on the race and with a quick hoist opened a gap on the following group. Racing was tight and boats had to constantly defend their positions. Errors were punished and places lost were not easily recovered. OctopussE led at the finish ahead of Escapade, E-ejit, Aoife and Easy Go

The second race starting sequence began soon after the last boat had cleared the line and again OctopussE got a good start and was first into the weather mark, closely followed by Escapade and E-ejit. The result of the second race was OctopussE, E-ejit, Escapade, Eagle Eye and Aoife. Racing finished for the day and boats headed for home and a few well deserved drinks.

Saturday morning began with force 7 gales. The NRO decided to hold racing inside the harbour walls because of the outside sea conditions. As the crews assembled on the slip, “Easy Go” was discovered on the rocks, badly damaged after breaking her mooring. Paul Hick and crew left to arrange recovery of the boat and gear. A crane was quickly brought into service and the boat recovered before further damage could be caused.

The remaining fleet began race 3, an Offset windward/leeward course. OctopussE again showed her mettle and won ahead of Eagle Eye, Smile E too, E-ejit and Aoife. Skerries boat “L’E-jit” retired with rudder problems.

Race 4 was again an Offset windward/leeward course and surprise, surprise was won by OctopussE! E-ejit had a battle royal with Escapade but held her off to finish second, Escapade third followed by Eagle Eye and Heatwave. End of second day and we returned to the club to survey the damage of the recovered “Easy Go”. Sad to see.

Race 5 was started in glorious sunshine out in the bay. It was back to an Olympic course and last year’s winner “Eagle Eye” found her form and took the lead at the weather mark followed closely by OctopussE. They held their positions to the finish followed by E-ejit, Escapade, heatwave and L’E-jit, back after her repairs.

Race 6 was an Offset windward/leeward course and positions could not have been closer with 3 boats vying for the second and third positions. Again Eagle Eye got a good start and sailed a flawless race to finish ahead of E-ejit, OctopussE, Escapade and L’E-jit.

The overall winner of the event was Pat O’Neill in OctopussE with 4 wins from 6 races. Second was Eagle Eye, third boat was E-ejit from Skerries and fourth was Escapade.

Prize-giving was held in Clontarf and the event was declared a great success by all. Great praise was heaped on Ian Sargent and his race committee for the excellent courses in some trying conditions.

Table of Results:-

If you would like details of your E-Boat results to appear here please contact the .