In relative terms, Sunday’s conclusion to the Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta in the Flying Fifteen class was probably the best day on the water – the wind had abated somewhat, after some initial rain, the sun came out, a single race was scheduled, and we had the best turnout of competitors on the day.
As the regatta leaders from Day 2 onwards, Shane McCarthy & Alan Green (4085) were safe in the knowledge that they couldn’t lose the regatta, and probably Phil Lawton & Neil O’Hagan (3803) were in a similar position with respect to second overall, so the only potential place changes in the pecking order were further down the fleet. Lee Statham & Andy Paul (4070) and Tom Galvin & Cormac Bradley (3757) were tied after three days, so they were in a winner takes all situation, and Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (4028) were also in a position to move up the order with a good final race.
A clean start for the three-lap Windward-Leeward race was achieved by the fleet, and the majority went right to the shore before making their way towards the weather mark on the right-hand side of the course. Leading the charge up the right-hand side was Colin & Casey, who were rewarded by being 1st at the weather mark. Others to feature at this stage were Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey (3774) and Alastair Court & Conor O’Leary (3753), and the four boats holding the first three places overall.
At this stage, Galvin had a boat between himself and Statham. The run saw Murphy & Mulvey go wide while others sailed inside them and used a couple of gybes to get to the leeward gate. My recall is that Murphy may have rounded the leeward gate first but with Colin not far behind. The recipe for the subsequent beats was the same as before - go right initially and then fine-tune the approach to the weather mark. Statham was still behind Galvin at the latter stage of the beat, and the overlapping Dragons, who were on the same course, forced him into a couple of extra tacks that I’m sure he could have done without. At the weather mark for the second time, the regatta leaders were at the front of the fleet and Lawton had also moved up. However, Murphy, Court and Colin were still hanging in and Galvin was still ahead of Statham, though there was no boat between them anymore.
On the third beat, the running order had settled and rounding the weather mark for the last time, the order was McCarthy, Lawton, Colin, Murphy, Court. Galvin and Statham. A hiccup on Galvin’s spinnaker hoist allowed Statham to close the distance between the two boats, but importantly for Galvin, he remained ahead. However, about 100m from the leeward gate, Statham got past and went on to finish 6th to Galvin’s 7th, thus taking 3rd overall.
The regatta showed just how competitive the Flying Fifteen class is! In an eight-race series, we had three different race winners – Shane McCarthy & Alan Green (5), Tom Galvin & Cormac Bradley (2) David Gorman & Chris Doorly (1). The top five boats overall came from four different clubs. On Friday, 5 boats started a race in very high wind conditions, and all five finished, albeit with some spectacular spinnaker broaches and capsizes. Phil Lawton & Neil O’Hagan announced their presence on the scene with seconds and thirds in all but two races, and a competitive debut for Galvin & Bradley saw them win two races. And for the mixed-gender crews, there was ample evidence that they can be competitive when the breeze is up.
Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta Flying Fifteen Results - Top Five
