#waterwag – After two weeks when the wind in Dun Laoghaire was two strong, the Water Wags competed on 14th. May in their first race series. The sun shone, there was 8 knots of wind from the east north east, and thirteen Water Wags turned up, for was to be a single race to decide the winner of the three trophies. Half the fleet were in France competing in La Semaine de Mor Bhion in Brittany, so the fleet numbers were depleted.
There was much interest to see how all the new owners would get on in their new vessels. Tim and Marcus Pearson in No.36, Little Tern showed that they have all the talent necessary to do well in a harbour race and finished in second place behind Bairbre Stewart and David Corcoran in No.43, Freddie, who dominated the race from beginning to end, and as winners of Division IB won the Hilpotsteiner Trophy. Remarkably this brother/ sister duo swap the helming role, with Bairbre steering the downwind legs.
Paul and Anne Smith in No. 30, Sara managed to outwit David and Anne Clarke who were previous owners of Sara, but now race in No. 40, Swallow.
Unfortunately Jonathan O'Rourke and Carol Cronin in No. 32, Skee found that when you take possession of a boat, it does taken longer than you would expect to get her rigged, particularly when she is a boat that has not raced for a few years. They were late for the start, but she is now ready for racing next week.
The race was interrupted by the arrival of the Irish Lights vessel the Granuaile which arrived into the harbour as the leading boats commenced their third round of the course. It will be the first item on the agenda of the next Water Wag committee meeting to decide the fairest strategy to award the trophies for the day. One suspects that the fairest outcome will be to record the order of Wags rounding the windward mark the time previous to the interruption.
Next Wednesday the Water Wags race in a handicap race for the Buckingham Cup and Wigham Trophy.
