BRIAN FLAHIVE
Brian Flahive grow up sailing Toppers in Wicklow Sailing Club where he competed at a national level around the country. However, it wasnt long before Brian wanted to move into a high performance boat. This led him into racing International 420's. In 2001, after a year of racing 420's he felt that he could compete nationally and internationally by upgrading to a new Nautivela design 420 and began a new training schedule. This is when the two Brian's first started sailing together. They competed in many national and international events including the 420 Worlds in 2002 and the 420 Europeans in 2003.
Along with dinghy sailing, Brian raced keel boats out of Wicklow Sailing Club and The Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire where he was highly successful.
Brian then moved into racing in the Fireball Fleet with Will Moody out of the Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club. Where he spared against Noel Butler for the Fireball Frostbites title. However, he came a very close second to the Fireball guru! But then they went on to win the Ulster Championships 2006.
The two Brian's joined up again in the Fireballs for the National Regatta in Dun Laoghaire. They showed their years of training together in the 420's by winning the National Regatta 2007.
Brian only recently returned from New Zealand where he working on yacht repairs and getting international sailing experience. He competed in many regattas including helming "Checkmate" in the Port Nicholson IRC Regatta 2010. He also found his new interest for offshore racing and built up over 1000 nautical miles.
Since returning he has devoted all of his spare time to getting "Oystercatcher" ready for the double handed Round Ireland.
BRYAN BYRNE
Bryan is currently a final year student of Mechanical Engineering in the Dublin Institute of Technology. He was awarded a sports scholarship for sailing in 2008. Bryan actively took part in both team racing and match racing circuit throughout college. Bryan has just won the University Irish Match Racing Championships in Howth which qualified him and his team to the University Match Racing World Championships in Crete. This achievement, added to the 2nd place he received in the Munster Match racing championships where he raced with former Olympian Maurice O’ Connell, places him at the forefront of Irish racing in 2010.
Bryan captained DIT sailing team from 2007-2009 during which DIT won the Irish Team Racing Intervarsities for the first time in 60years. During this time DIT sailing club also received Club of the Year Award.
Bryan competed both nationally and internationally in the fireball class from 2006-2010, where he came 3rd in the Fireball Worlds Silver Fleet 2007. 17th Fireball Europeans 2006.
Bryan has over 10,000 offshore nautical miles logged. These include two previous Round Ireland Yacht Races. The first one a Sigma 38 called “Joker” skippered by John Maybury in 2004 and the second on “Konica Minolta Zana” a 30m Blackwell-White design skipped by Rodney Keenan in 2006.
Bryan was the head 420 coach at Sail Newport in Newport, Rhode Island in 2008. This is where he coached a group of local sailors to their National Championships
Bryan raced as bowman on a Corby 33 “Contango” during the season of 2009,and was placed 3rd in Class 1 in Volvo Dun Laoghaire Week 2009.
Bryan grew up in Wicklow Town and raced with Brian Flahive throughout his teenage years. They have had many successes together and work extremely well as part of a team especially in the toughest conditions. This experience of teamwork, their solid background in competitive racing, and the provision of an excellent racing yacht and equipment means this campaign is confident of success in the Round Ireland Yacht Race 2010.
