Barry Cunningham’s J/109 Chimaera of the Royal Irish Yacht Club rounded out a successful 2026 season with a Class One and ORC 1 double at the BJ Marine Taste of Greystones Regatta on Sunday, adding another victory after her Cork Week success earlier in the summer.
Cunningham had been third in Class One after Saturday’s opening race, won by Frank Whelan’s Sydney 43 El Syd, but Chimaera responded with a second and a win on Sunday to take the overall prize on tie-break.
The two boats finished level on three points after the Class One discard, with Chimaera’s final-race victory proving decisive.
Chimaera Turns Tables on El Syd
Saturday had belonged to El Syd, which topped both Class One and ORC 1 in the opening race.
But Cunningham’s J/109 turned the tables on Sunday, completing a 3-2-1 Class One series to take the overall victory from El Syd.
Graeme Noonan’s Greystones Sailing Club 1720 Flash finished third overall.
Class One was the only division to complete the full three-race programme, allowing one discard.
The outcome was repeated in the separate ORC 1 standings, where Chimaera and El Syd again finished tied on three points.
Chimaera recorded 2-2-1, with one second discarded, while El Syd counted a first and a second after discarding its fourth.
James Mahon’s Courtown Sailing Club Fareast 23R Shake N Bake, winner of Sunday’s first ORC race, finished third overall on five points.
Chimaera Wins ORC Decider by 51 Seconds
Sunday’s concluding race was sailed in a moderate southerly breeze, with the ORC course data recording winds of 12 to 13 knots and directions ranging between 150 and 175 degrees.
El Syd was the quickest of the ORC 1 fleet around the course, completing the race in 42 minutes and 42 seconds.
But Chimaera overturned the advantage on correction, recording 48:18 against El Syd’s 49:09 to win the race by 51 seconds.
Rockabill VI was third on 50:26, followed by Indecision and Another Adventure.
That final bullet secured the ORC 1 title for Chimaera on tie-break.
Two Bullets Give Jupiter Class Two
Garret Kinnane’s J/24 Jupiter completed an unbeaten weekend in Class Two, adding a second victory on Sunday to its opening-race success.
Two wins gave Jupiter the overall victory on two points.
John Conlon’s Arklow Sailing Club Sun Fast 37 Humdinger took second overall on seven points, with Nick Holman’s Royal Irish YC First 31.7 Extreme Reality third on eight.
The Class Two fleet completed two races over the weekend.
Greystones U25 Crew Wins Class Three
There was a home victory for Greystones Sailing Club in Class Three, where Tom Kearney’s U25 crew aboard the Formula 1 Gybe 2 Survive won the two-race series.
The young Greystones team followed Saturday’s opening victory with a second place on Sunday to finish on three points.
Alan Jones’s First 28 Chouskikou won Sunday’s race to take second overall, just one point behind, while the second Greystones U25 Formula 1, Jibberish, completed the podium in third on five points.
The result put two of the host club’s U25 crews into the final Class Three top three.
Splashdance Unbeaten in White Sails
Howth Yacht Club’s Dufour 40 Splashdance, sailed by Andy George and John Beckett, also completed an unbeaten weekend.
The Howth visitors followed Saturday’s White Sails victory with another win on Sunday to take the overall title with two bullets.
Johnnie Phillips’ Dún Laoghaire-based Elan 333 Playtime finished second overall, with David McNiven’s Jeronimo third.
Splashdance also made it a double victory in the separate ORC White Sails series, scoring two firsts for two points.
Playtime was again second with two seconds, while Setanta took third with two third places.
Four Winners From East Coast Fleet
The final results produced four principal winners: Chimaera in Class One, Jupiter in Class Two, Gybe 2 Survive in Class Three and Splashdance in White Sails.
The separate ORC honours went to Chimaera in ORC 1 and Splashdance in ORC White Sails.
The two-day Greystones Sailing Club fixture had attracted a 44-boat entry when Afloat previewed the event, drawing boats from the host club and visiting crews from the four Dún Laoghaire waterfront clubs, Howth, Wicklow, Arklow, Bray and Courtown.
Class One completed all three scheduled races, while Classes Two, Three and White Sails concluded with two races scored.
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