Pleasant evening, modest turnout!
After the respective exploits of those who travelled to the north coast for the Ulster Championships and those who sailed south and west in larger boats from Dun Laoghaire to Dingle, it may have been expected that there would be a modest turnout last night for the DBSC Tuesday Series.
#fireball – The weather forecast for 19:00 suggested winds from WSW of 9 knots with gusts to 14 knots writes Cormac Bradley. I'm not convinced that the three boat Fireball fleet that I was able to watch from the pier inside the harbour, as racing was inside the harbour last night, enjoyed such vigorous breeze, but with a pleasant airtime temperature and a "sunny-ish" outlook, I can think of much worse ways to spend an evening.
From my limited observation of the first of two windward-leeward races set inside the harbour, not too much energy was being expended either upwind or downwind in genteel conditions. The committee boat was located in the middle of the harbour and for the first race the windward mark was located just shy of the channel into DL's marina. The leeward mark was located a short distance upwind of the committee boat and there was a completely separate start/finish line slightly to leeward of the committee boat. For the second race the windward mark was moved closer to the gantry of the HSS.
When I took up my station, Messrs Butler & Oram (15061) were leading by a modest distance with Louise McKenna & Hermine O'Keefe (14691) on the same side of the course as the leaders. Louis Smyth & crew (15007) worked the inshore side of the beat but did not get to the mark before the ladies. However, on the subsequent downwind leg, he was able to pass them out. On the next beat, Butler & Oram stayed on the starboard side of the beat before applying a loose cover on Smyth who took the initiative of going inshore first. He thus found himself sailing a parallel but upwind course to the ladies. Halfway up the beat, an errant spinnaker popped out of the bag and went trawling. The consequent slow-down allowed the girls to pass him out and this remained the position to the finish.
My parenting obligations required me to abandon the second race, so all I can report is that Noel & Stephen won again, while the positions of second and third were reversed with Smyth and crew claiming second place.
Looking at the official results on the DBSC website this afternoon, I think there is information missing, so I am going to list my interpretation of the overall situation, at risk of being shot down for getting it wrong!
DBSC Tuesday Nights: Series 2[1]
1 Noel Butler & Stephen Oram 15061 National Yacht Club 4pts
2 Louise McKenna & Hermine O'Keeffe 14691 Royal St. George Yacht Club 8pts
3 Louis Smyth & crew 15007 Coal Harbour 13pts
