Kinsale, July 23, 2025 — Under flawless sailing conditions—flat seas and a north-westerly breeze averaging 8 knots—the final race of the Ryan Civil Engineering mid-summer series produced a great finale across all fleets.  A downwind spinnaker start set the tone for a thrilling evening of racing, expertly managed by Race Officer Michele Kennelly, who laid on superbly balanced courses that tested tactics and trim.

Artful DodJer (Finbarr O’Regan)  delivered a commanding performance in IRC 1, showing lovely downwind pace off the line and consistency throughout.  With three race wins and a discard to spare, she took top honours ahead of Dan Buckley’s Justus and James Donegan’s Jalapeno, rounding out a J/109 lockout of the podium.

IRC 2 and  No Notions (O’Regan & O’Sullivan) was in command.  After a shaky start with a DNF in Race 1 of the series, No Notions powered back with a clean sweep of bullets to take the IRC 2 title.  With impeccable crew work in the spinnaker runs, they finished ahead of Gunsmoke II (Sammy Cohen) and Cirrus (Dingemans/Campbell).

Apache (Alan Mulcahy), made the most of the downwind start and clean air to take the final win—and with it, the overall IRC 3 title.  Saoirse (Richard Hanley) put in a strong showing to take second, while Swift (Dominic Falvey) claimed third.

Saoirse led the Echo 3 fleet with two early bullets and consistent finishes to take the overall win.  Deboah (Martin Hargrove) and Apache both showed strong reaching speed to round out the top three in a fleet of eight.  Well done all.

A heartfelt thank you goes to Ryan Civil Engineering, proud sponsor of the series, whose support helps keep Kinsale Yacht Club’s racing calendar vibrant and competitive.