#flyingfifteen – It's for days like this that we sail Flying Fifteen's, a sunny afternoon with a nice building breeze. The tide was coming in but we were tucked well into Seapoint so it didn't have a big effect, the same could not be said of the wind which struggled to make up its mind where it was coming from! It started in the south and went west and back a bit making it very shifty. There were a few crew changes for todays racing, a lot can be learnt by sailing with different people. Ben & Chris teamed up to practice for the upcoming Worlds, Alan sailed with David Mulvin, Ronan with Ian Mathews, Joe Hickey crewed with Dave Gorman and Mary Jane with Michael McCambridge. The first race was won by Ben & Chris in Frequent Flyer and the second by Dave and Joe in Betty.
Race 1 got going after the AP was taken down, the line and the beat were a bit short so it was a scramble to get a good position. John & Ken had no problem as they waited for what they thought would be a five minute countdown, Dublin Bay is three minutes on the dinghy course! Mulligan, Maguire and Sherry all started at the committee boat, soon they went right on a shift, Mulligan cut back as there appeared to be more wind to the left but there wasn't much in it. Gorman was first at the mark followed closely by Mulligan, Maguire and Mathews. The next beat was shifty most boats went to the left side, Gorman was slightly more right but Mulligan had to dip him as they approached the mark, for a change the right was good and once Mulligan tacked he got a lift up to the mark to take the lead, a lead he held onto for the next two laps to deservedly take the gun. Gorman was second, Mathews third, Murphy fourth and John & Ken made a good recovery from their late start.
Race 2 got going after a very long delay, some boats headed in as they were keen to get to Croke Park for the Mayo match. It was still shifty and at the start the pin was favoured mainly as there was more wind out left, quickly those on the right got lifted and Mulligan, Murphy and Green on the left were not looking good, one thing was sure and that was that it would change and it did! Green led and squeezed Mulligan out at the weather mark, in the excitement he missed the wing mark which was unusually high above the weather mark. This gave Mulligan the lead, followed by Murphy, Mathews and Gorman. There were big gains on the next beat for those who went left, Gorman was back up in second with Green now also back in the running. On lap three Gorman stayed right as Mulligan covered those on the left, this paid for Gorman as he got lifted to the mark to take the lead. This is how it finished, Mulligan was second with Murphy third and Green fourth.
It was another great turnout of fourteen boats, its great to see so many boats out racing, thanks to Suzanne McGarry and here team on Freebird for good racing in difficult conditions.. This Thursday the DBSC series continues. Results here
