#waterwags – The enthusiasm of the Water Wags for the first race of the season was unrivalled in 128th season of Water Wag racing, with 17 boats turning up for the first race on Wednesday 30th. April racing for prizes allocated to the 3 divisions as follows - Division 1A The George Arthur Newsom Memorial Trophy, Division 1B the Hilpotsteiner Tankard and Division 2 The Phyllis Cup. The 12-14 knot wind blew from the South East.
Initially, Guy and Jackie Kilroy in Swift led the fleet but a navigational error resulted in William and Linda Prentice in Tortoise pulling through, followed by Ian and Judith Malcolm in Barbara. Behind this group Freddie, Gavotte, Vela, and Pansy maintained the pressure.
At the finish after 5 laps of the Dun Laoghaire Harbour course, Tortoise won from Swift and Barbara. In Division IB Seymour Cresswell and Philip Mahony in Coquette led from the persistant Dan O'Connor and David Williams in Scallywag. In a surprise result Division 2 was led by Adrian Masterson and his son in Sprite, from Richard Mossop and Henry Rooke in Polly who flew their new Norwegian Blue spinnaker for the first time, and Brian Mc.Bride and Stuart Mc Bean in Nandor took 3rd. place. Next Wednesday will be the second of three races in this early season series.
