#flyingfifteen – 13 Flying Fifteens turned out for the DBSC racing last night, on arrival the wind had faded completely and it looked like we might get the night off. As the fleet headed out to the start area a new wind filled in from the NE and there was a nice force 3-4 wind with the tide flooding.
The race was won by Chris Doorly & Alan Green in Frequent Flyer who now lead Series 2. The pin end was biased and in the scramble Colman/Quinn in Flyer popped out just ahead of Doorly, Mulvin and Galvin. The individual recall flag went up, Mulvin did go back but was he the only one? As usual the culprits would not all be known till the end of the race. As we were heading out to Zebra most boats tacked out to sea on starboard. Colman, Doorly and Murphy went to the left side where there seemed to be more wind. These were the first three at the weather mark closely followed by Galvin and the new Mulligan/ Sherry combination.
There were great reaches down to Harbour and then Bullock marks, Colman and Doorly had pulled away but Galvin was up to third place and further back Mulvin was working his way through the fleet after going back at the start. It was a beat out to East, Colman kept to the right as did Doorly but Galvin went more left and closed the gap.
Again there was a lovely reach down to Pier, Colman kept ahead and after rounding headed towards the harbour wall to the left, had he over stood the finish line? Doorly sensing an opportunity to make the finish line tacked straight away. This was going to be close, both crews were working hard to keep the boats at full speed. Colman was able to reach down a bit and crossed the line . . . a deafening silence, no hooter! Doorly
& Green then crossed the line to the sound of the hooter. Galvin was third with Hugh & Michael Cahill third and Mulvin fourth. A most enjoyable race and thanks to PRO Jack Roy and his team in Freebird for an excellent course.
A thought for the day is that although sailing is generally self policing maybe there is a case to be made for calling out the numbers of boats OCS over the radio, not for the benefit of the boats over the line but for the benefit of those who are not over the line and sailing within the rules.
It's a busy week ahead, DBSC racing on Saturday with the Captains prize on Sunday followed by the Championships of Ireland in Portaferry next weekend.
