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#waterwag – On 22^nd. July the Water Wags competed in Dun Laoghaire in the first of three races for The Sri Lanka Tankard (div.1A) and Sri Lanka Mug (div.1B) and the Meldon Cup (div.2). It was a lovely warm evening with a good breeze which are ideal sailing conditions for a Water Wag race inside Dun Laoghaire harbour. As some of the Wags were competing at Glandore Classic Boat Regatta a reduced entry of only 19 competitors took part. When the Wags got afloat they realized that the wind was somewhat stronger than they expected, it was blowing twelve knots from the south west with plenty of stronger gusts. The windward leeward course was laid with a start line off the Boyd Memorial and the windward mark off the mouth of the marina. The tide had just started to ebb.

Mollie timed her start beautifully, sailing past the stern of the committee boat, and across in front of the rest of the fleet. Unfortunately as she approached the pin mark, Little Tern was blocking the way, as she had planned a similar starting strategy at the pin mark. Mollie had to slow up, and both of them had a great start at the favoured and of the line.  As Mollie was the windward boat, and on starboard tack, she was in a position to dictate when the two boats would tack for the windward mark.

At the first windward mark the order was Cathy MacAleavey and Con Murphy in Mollie in first place with Guy and Jackie Kilroy in Swift in second place. Tim and Marcus Pearson was in third place and Coquette in fourth followed by Pansy.

Remarkably the leading two Wags were able to hold their positions for the full duration of the race over four laps of the harbour with a wind which was shifting back and forth up to 30 degrees. Wind shifts like this can be challenging in a Water Wag which takes about 3-4 boatlengths to complete a tack. Thus, it does not pay to tack on every shift. On the offwind legs it did not take the fleet long to realize that if they rounded the more northerly leeward mark, that they would have a favourable tide as far as the harbour mouth. The leaders also discovered that it did not pay to approach the windward mark on port as there was no lift to be enjoyed close to the breakwater.

At the windward finish the order was:  

1^st. ‘Mollie’ Cathy MacAleavey and Con Murphy. (div.1A)

2^nd. ‘Swift’ Guy and Jackie Kilroy. (div. 1A)

3^rd. ‘Tortoise’, William and Linda Prentice. (div.1A)

4^th. ‘Little Tern’, Tim and Marcus Pearson. (div.1A)

5^th. ‘Coquette’, Seymour Cresswell and Mary.(div.1B)

6^th. ‘Pansy’ Vincent Delany and Maree Dee.

7^th. ‘Maureen’, Ian Croxon and Kilian Skay. (div. 1B)

8^th. ‘Marie Louise’, John Magner and son. (div. 1A)

9^th. ‘Freddie’, David Corcoran and Bairbre Stewart. (div. 1 B)

10^th.. ‘Barbara’, Ian and Judith Malcolm. (div 1A)

11^th. ‘Alfa’, Michael and Jenny Donohoe. (div. 1B)

12^th. ‘Ethna’, Bill Noland and Niamh Hooper. (div 2)

13^th. ‘Vela’ Philip Mayne and Brian Bond. (Div 1B)

14^th. ‘Scallywag’ Dan O’Connor. (div.1b)

15^th. ‘Polly’ Henry Rooke and Richard Mossop.(div 2)

16^th. ‘Skee’ Jonathan and Carol O’Rourke.(div. 1B)

17^th. ‘Penelope’, Fergus Cullen and Alice Walshe. (div.2)

18^th. ‘Sara’, Paul and Anne Smith. (div.1B)

Chloe, Sprite and Swallow retired.