Dublin University Sailing Club (DUSC) came away with a victory in difficult conditions at the Irish University Sailing Association Westerns in Clifden at the weekend. Trinity’s first team were awarded a victory at the event, which was hosted by NUI Galway (NUIG).
Trinity’s three teams all made it to the quarter-finals in the gold fleet, surviving the group stage on Saturday. The third team put in a particularly strong performance, securing their place in the gold quarter finals in a head-to-head with the University College Dublin’s (UCD) second team.
DUSC’s second team were unable to overcome UCD’s first team in the quarter-finals, meaning Trinity’s firsts took on UCD in the semis, while the thirds advanced to the semi-finals after seeing off the University of Limerick (UL).
In Trinity’s showdown with UCD, the two crews faced off in a best-of-three series, with UCD’s victory in the first race putting Trinity in a difficult position. DUSC, however, helmed by Conor O’Beirne, Ruairi Finnegan and Douglas Elmes, rose to the occasion, winning two consecutive races to reach the final. They were duly joined by DUSC’s thirds.
In an all-Trinity final, DUSC’s firsts saw off their clubmates with ease.
The victory at Westerns will boost Trinity’s rankings in the run-up to the Irish University Sailing Association intervarsities at the end of the year, and will give the club confidence given the strength of performance from many crews. DUSC will be looking to regain their intervarsities title, after last winning the competition in 2017.
The event was DUSC’s second major competition of the year following the Easterns in Wexford, which saw Trinity narrowly overcome University College Cork (UCC) and take first place in the gold fleet.
With intercollegiate events now finished until February, some of Trinity’s sailors will look towards the Irish Team Racing Nationals in Dun Laoghaire next weekend. Though not a college event, two teams at the national contest will be made up of sailors from the College.
