#dbsc – Fifteen DBSC Lasers enjoyed two races last night in a lovely warm, oscillating breeze, again within the confines of our wonderful Dun Laoghaire harbour. Race Officer Ian Matthews was on his game as usual, with square lines, course reconfigurations and no hesitation in bringing out the black flag to put manners on an ultra-eager fleet. Two great races saw a totally different top three in each, with Race 1 going to ISA Youth National Champion Conor O'Beirne (replacing bro Dan who's in Canada) followed by Gary O'Hare, then Paul Keane. Marco Sorgassi had got a peach of a start and led all the way up the first beat. Race 2 saw John Marmelstein, just returning to Lasers, take a great win, holding off Sean Craig and Patrick Cahill. No Radials adjusted into top three this time, but Shirley Gilmore took a creditable 4th in race 2. Possible highlight of this race was Rory McStay attempting to overtake O'Beirne at the downwind finish by rushing forward for a swallow dive off the bow. Interesting interpretation of the following Racing Rule/Definition ; Finish: A boat finishes when any part of her hull, or crew or equipment in normal position, crosses the finishing line from the course side. Another RStGYC instructor, Luke Murphy, also displayed fine seamanship by testing the gap between daggerboard and slot. Funnily enough there's not a lot of space in there for hand plus foil and he duly retired, blood dribbling out behind his transom !
With weather like this and 25 entries on the books so far, we must be quite close to our first 20 boat turnout. Last night followed on from an excellent Royal Alfred Bloomsday Regatta where the 17 Lasers were the largest one design fleet (dinghy or keelboat). We hope for the same or more for VDLR on July 9-12. Entry here Join us even if you can only make the weekend and remember the Thursday is a nice late start at 3.30 pm. There'll also be two discards for those juggling other commitments.
