Race 5 - If you go along with the notion that the Great Divide in Ireland is not North-South, but is West/East and mostly meteorological, then the third three-race-day of the Maples IRC Europeans 2024 at the Royal Irish YC in Dun Laoghaire will have borne out your thinking.
With a mostly mellow but sometimes wayward south to southwest wind providing adequate racing power for the varied fleet, Dublin Bay was in a benign mood, with the silver look sometimes trying to go grey, but also occasionally sparkling blue with sunshine of sorts. For hedonists, the interest was in the possible arrival of rain, and sure enough well-filled rain fronts were coming in from the Atlantic in the far west.
But like Humbert's army in Mayo back in the day, they may have arrived with drums beating and flags flying, yet in trying to cross the country making to the southeast, they faded away to leave the Bay a suitably dry place for competitive sailing.
Karl Kwok's all-conquering TP 52 Beau Geste at the Maples IRC Europeans 2024 at the Royal Irish YC in Dun Laoghaire Photo: Afloat
Class Zero
However, in Class 0 "competitive" is a relative term. The three races have all been a matter of who can come second behind Karl Kwok's all-conquering TP 52 Beau Geste, whose crew might have wondered had her journey really been necessary, when she went round the course in today (Saturday's) first race in 29 minutes and ten seconds.
David Maguire's Cape 31 Valkyrie at the Maples IRC Europeans 2024 at the Royal Irish YC in Dun Laoghaire Photo: Afloat
In such circumstances, apart from BG herself, the nimbleness of a smaller boat paid off, with David Maguire's Cape 31 Valkyrie coming in ten minutes later to correct into second by four minutes, followed on CT by Paul O'Higgins' JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI on a wafer thin gap of seven seconds.
The Beneteau First 50 Checkmate XX (Biggs/Cullen) at the Maples IRC Europeans 2024 at the Royal Irish YC in Dun Laoghaire Photo: Afloat
Race 6 BG (or Big Giant) first again, but this time stretching her legs a bit to go round in 36 minutes and five seconds. The likeable big Beneteau Checkmate XX (Biggs'n'Cullen) re-found her Friday form, and nearly did it – she came in exactly ten minutes behind BG, and that translated to 16 seconds on CT astern of Hong Kong, which is as close as anyone has yet attained.
The Jones family's J/122 Jellybaby from Cork at the Maples IRC Europeans 2024 at the Royal Irish YC in Dun Laoghaire Photo: Afloat
Third was the Jones family's J/122 Jellybaby from Cork, correcting to exactly a minute behind Checkmate, with Johnny Treanor's J/122e fourth.
Paul O'Higgins' JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI at the Maples IRC Europeans 2024 at the Royal Irish YC in Dun Laoghaire Photo: Afloat
Race 7 The day's final tournament was a case of déjà vu from Race 6. Corrected time had Beau Beste ahead again, but this time further clear with nearly two minutes on CT on Checkmate, with Jellybaby third 41 seconds back, Valentina fourth again while Pete Smyth's Ker 46 Searcher – second in the water – landed in on fifth just six seconds ahead of Rockabill VI.
Pete Smyth's Ker 46 Searcher at the Maples IRC Europeans 2024 at the Royal Irish YC in Dun Laoghaire Photo: Afloat
Johnny Treanor's J/122e Valentina at the Maples IRC Europeans 2024 at the Royal Irish YC in Dun Laoghaire Photo: Afloat
OVERALL STANDINGS CLASS 0
When you've an unblemished string of bullets, which first place do you drop as a discard becomes available? We have no experience of ever having to make this luxurious decision for ourselves, but for the record Beau Geste discards Race 1, and goes into tomorrow (Sunday) with 6 points to the 14 of Checkmate XX, which discards a 6th but otherwise has a string of seconds and a fourth to keep her well clear of Johnny Treanor's ValenTina on 25, and Clan Jones with 28 for Jellybaby.
