The Royal St George Yacht Club, Dun Laoghaire

TEAM RACING: IRISH TAKE BRONZE AT UK NATIONALS

Team Racing: Irish take Bronze at UK Nationals............

Last weekend 23 of the UK's best team racing outfits and a team from Ireland represented by Royal St. George Yacht Club met at Bough Beech SC to try and land the Prince Philip Trophy and the UK National Team Racing Championship Title.
The Irish Team was made up of recent Olympic race winner Gerald Owens, Nick Smyth and Andrew Fowler sailing with crews Conor Clancy, Rachael MacManus and Rebecca Killian.
After a fascinating showdown the title went to The Hawks, who recently represented the UK in at the ISAF World Championships in Australia.
With perfect conditions and a typically well organized RYA event, the racing was excellent with some extremely tight sailing on both days.
The 24 teams were split into three leagues of eight, with the top two teams in each league progressing into what ultimately proved to be the defining Super Gold League.
In League A, The Hawks suffered a defeat at the hands of Bristol but won their other six races to make it through to stage two along with their West Country rivals, who had romped to an opening phase clean sweep.
In League B, The Lions, comprising many of the sailors who took Silver at the 2007 ISAF Team Racing World Championships, also boasted a 100 per cent win record from the first phase with The Royal St George joining them in Qualifying for the Super Gold League with 6 wins and 1 loss.
Meanwhile in League C, Royal Thames and West Kirby co-topped League C amassing six wins apiece, to complete the Super Gold League line up.
In the Super Gold League, The Hawks climbed to the top with 4 wins and 1 loss, while the Royal St George and the Lions were both on 3 wins a-piece.
But as the wind died into Sunday it was a result that was to prove decisive as the proposed knock-out phase of the Championships was abandoned and the final results were determined by the results of the Super Gold League.
The Hawks clinched the Championship title having finished top of the Super Gold League pile with four wins out of five (80 per cent) while, despite beating The Hawks in their head-to-head, The Lions lost twice to finish second with a 60 percent ratio. Royal St George, took third spot also with a 60 per cent return .

1) The Hawks
2) The Lions
3) Royal St George
4) West Kirby
5) Bristol
6) Royal Thames