K2Q Day 1 - Ireland's East Coast may have had grey skies late this morning, but the word is of sunshine in Cork. And as those Dublin Bay grey skies were driven on by a good working nor'east to north wind, the remarkably varied fleet of 17 boats racing from Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour in time-honoured style in the K2Q were vying with each other in setting offwind cloth to chase the sun.
A light northerly wind and flooding tide on Dublin Bay saw an interesting 17-boat mix of cruiser-racers combined ISORA/SCORA fleet get the 2024 K2Q Race underway off Dun Laoghaire Harbour Photo: Afloat
Frank Whelan's Elliott 57 Opal from Greystones may not be a giant by today's international standards, but she's a serious biggie in the Irish context, and soon was showing clear ahead under several acres of sail. At the other end of the size scale, the junior crew from Kinsale with Cian McCarthy on the Sunfast 3300 Cinnamon Girl were able to take full advantage of the customised long bowsprit developed by the McCarthy/Hunt team, and showed their stern to some larger boats.
Andrew and Sam Hall's Welsh J125 Jackknife that by 3 pm on Friday was leading on handicap. Photo: Afloat
Initially they all were plugging the flood tide in order to stay with the traditional start time of 11:00 hrs, but now the ebb is starting to make, though the wind's drive has de-powered as forecasters attempt to make sense of a low over Germany trying to move west, which is not at all the shape of things in the regular meteorological songbook.
Defending K2Q champion, Royal Cork's Nieulargo (Murphy family) lies first in class one IRC after the first four hours of racing in the 2024 race from Dublin to Cork Photo: Afloat
After the first five hours of racing the Shanahan family's J109 Ruth was lying first in Class Two of the 2024 K2Q Race Photo: Afloat
For now, Opal leads on the water approaching the latitude of Cahore Point, with Sam Hall in the J/125 Jackknife second, the J/109 Mojito (Pwllheli) third and the Royal Cork Admiral's Yacht Nieulargo fourth, while on corrected time the vintage Jackknife holds it for the moment, but with the ebb building and the wind fading, it could be all bets are off until a clearer picture emerges.
The J122 Mojito (Vicky Cox and Peter Dunlop) passes the Muglins at the start of the 2024 K2Q Race Photo: Afloat
Read also: Living History in Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour Race