The last check on the weather forecast for last evening, before departing work suggested 6/7 knots SE going south and dying as the evening wore on. DBSC Race Officer John McNeilly in his briefing to the fleet on the water advised that he had 6 -6.5 knots at 145° and reminded everyone in the Flying Fifteen fleet that the tide had just turned and would be flooding all evening. Two Thursdays ago, in what we thought were similar conditions, a seaward hike on the first beat had been of enormous benefit in taking the gun, but last night a lesser hike to sea was the initial undoing of this author.
Ian Mathews & Keith Poole (4093) led a “Lake Garda-esque” charge to the shore and led the fleet into the three-mark course – Bulloch-Island Pier-Island-Pier-Finish. Others in this group included Niall & Susan Coleman (4008), Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (4028), Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey (3774) and probably Alistair Court & Conor O’Leary (3753).
On the opposite side of the course, shortly after the start could be found Alan Green, back after an extended campaign in the UK, sailing with his daughter Caroline in 4083, Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley (4081), Alan Balfe (3995) and Tom Murphy & Nicki Matthews (4057). The first two were the last to abandon this course, with Green politely goading Mulligan to tack. Having done so, Green, in the weather berth simply sailed off, eventually scoring a podium place on the finish line.
Having traversed the beat, Mulligan joined the rest of the fleet as they rock-hopped along the coast between the 40-foot and Dalkey, trying to duck the tide. At this stage, Mulligan was in the mix with John O’Sullivan and Cas (3792), Hugh & Niall Meagher (3938) and Tom Murphy and rounded in ninth place. The light conditions meant that there was no hiking and most crews were either sitting on the cockpit floor or on the leeward deck.
The leg to Island was a two-sailer, with the fleet sailing high to compensate for the tide and it was only at Island that spinnakers were broken out and a running order, from my perspective, could be determined. First to show was the red and black of Mathews & Poole (4093), followed by the blue of the Colemans (4008), the white of the Greens (4083), the yellow of Colin & Casey (4028), the green and yellow of Court & O’Leary (3753) and another blue of Murphy & Mulvey (3774). In their immediate company Mulligan & Bradley (red) had Murphy & Matthews (two-tone blue), Balfe (sky blue & white) and the Meaghers (pink & blue, I think).
For the leg to Pier, the breeze held its strength, but there was no change in the running order at the head of the fleet that this correspondent was aware of. What I can confirm is that the distances between the boats was quite large so there was no close quarter sailing going on in the leading 1 -7 boats. The second beat saw the fleet sail lemming-like to the shore with the exception of Adrian Cooper (3896) who went to sea in a big way. Later Tom Murphy would also head seawards and neither really lost out by it. Indeed, it could be argued that Cooper re-joined the company as a consequence of this tactic.
Mathews & Poole were very comfortable at Island the second time and would go on to win by a very large margin. The Colemans, the Green and Colin & Casey finished in quick succession and with a semblance of being in a close race. Murphy & Mulvey and Court & O’Leary were next home. The next group of boats – Murphy T, Meaghers, Copper and Mulligan had closed in to form a tighter group as they sailed to Pier for the second time and some divergent downwind sailing took place. Copper was on the inside with Mulligan to his starboard side. Team Meagher went much further right while Murphy T tried to source wind by first gong right and then coming back again. Mulligan held a reasonably steady line but was the first to gybe for the final approach to Pier. And this paid off, allowing him to round Pier as the first of this quartet of boats.
For the short hitch to the finish, Copper and Murphy went to the left, while Mulligan sailed to the right and was able to cross the line ahead of the other two.
DBSC Thursday Series: Flying Fifteens
28th July
1. Ian Mathews & Keith Poole (4093)
2. Niall & Susan Coleman (4008)
3. Alan & Caroline Green (4083)
4. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (4028)
5. Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey (3774)
Thursdays Overall
1. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 28pts
2. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 52pts
3. Keith Poole/Ian Mathews & Tom Galvin 53.5pts
4. Niall, Susan & Laura Coleman 62pts
5. Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey 68pts
Thursdays B Series (5 races) [As posted by DBSC]
1. Niall & Susan & Laura Coleman 10pts
2. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 12pts
3. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 17pts
4. Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey 17pts
5. Adrian Cooper & crews 20pts
The fleet is reminded that it is racing for the Facet Trophy this Saturday, 30th July, with a prize-giving scheduled for 17:15 (approx.) in the National Yacht Club.
