An impressive 19 Flying Fifteens turned out on Saturday in the DBSC Series on a warm summers day with a light E-NE wind and a raging incoming tide. Many fleets would be glad to have this number at their Nationals! It was a frustrating day for competitors and the committee boat. Just before racing began the wind went more NE as actually forecasted and the race became very one sided with little or no time spent on the starboard tack.
At the start the pin was biased and it was hard with the tide to get over on starboard, some did, some were over the line and one brave man started on port at the pin. We heard later it was the perfect start but on the water Gorman & Doorly went back to play safe but made their way to fifth by the first mark. Colman, Mathews, Mulligan were going well and that was the order at the weather mark, Mathews took the lead at the wing mark which was higher than the weather mark as Colman struggled in the tide. The Meagher’s went to third with Mulligan fourth and Gorman fifth, this is how it finished as nothing changed over the next lap but it did change ashore as Colman was deemed to be OCS.
There was nearly an hour delay as the course was reset, the fleet were obviously restless and there was a general recall. The black flag was introduced and away they went some to the left others to the right. The right which was up tide was looking good for Dumpleton and the Meaghers, O’Sullivan and Gorman were in close proximity and O’Sullivan lead at the mark from Meagher. Gorman did a gybe set to get left and was followed by Mathews. As the fleet approached the gate most were on the right side of the gate, it looked like there would be a bit of a pile up but they spread out as they struggled against the tide, this allowed Gorman to slip into a gap and head up to the weather mark in first place closely followed by O’Sullivan and his crew Ken Ryan. At the weather mark Mulligan had moved into third place but it was Gorman who led the way down to the finish line with the now familiar Mitsubishi yellow leaders spinnaker in full flow with O’Sullivan having a great race in second place and Mulligan third. It was fantastic to see such a great turn out, maybe Annalise’s heroics in the Olympics are inspiring people to get out on the water!
