In a very tightly contested weekend of racing White Mischief with Richard Goodbody helming came through in the last race to win the J109 Eastern Championships hosted by the National Yacht Club by a Class Association reporter.
The Saturday race was the DBSC Coastal Race which comprised in the main a series of long close reaches down and back to the Bray Outfall mark. Paul Barrington in Jalapeno and Brian Hall in Something Else managed to get clear early on while the rest of the fleet battled against Cruisers 0 and other Cruisers 1 for clear air with very few passing lanes. Jalapeno led the fleet home followed by Something Else with White Mischief next. Class Captain Andrew Craig said after the race that this format was clearly not appropriate for a One Design Championship and would be rethought for next year.
J109s line up for the final race of the Eastern Championships on Sunday Photo: Afloat.ie
By contrast, Sunday presented Champagne conditions and PRO Con Murphy had the whole bay to set excellent windward/leeward courses in 12 - 18 knots. The first race was won by White Mischief followed by Jalapeno and the newest members of the class Richard Colwell and John Murphy in Outrageous. The next race was won by Andrew Craig in Chimaera followed again by Jalapeno and John Maybury in Joker 2. The Championship would be decided in the last race in a brisk 18 knots of wind. Japaleno on 3 points with a very strong discard was lead boat followed by White Mischief on 4 with Chimaera on 5 - only a win by White Mischief could deprive Jalapeno. Chimaera led around the first mark but spinnaker handling difficulties gave White Mischief an opportunity which she grabbed and went on the win the race and claim her first j109 One Design Championship beating Jalapeno on countback. Chimaera finished 3rd overall. The generous sponsorship of North Sails, Bushmills and Porterhouse meant that all competitors were rewarded for their efforts at the prize giving.
The J109 fleet will now fan out across the IRC scene with good representation at the Scottish Series at Tarbert, ICRAs, Dun Laoghaire - Dingle Race, Sovereigns and the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta and they will be hard to beat in the IRC classes.
The J109 Irish Championship will be held in the Royal Irish Yacht Club on Saturday and Sunday 5/6 October.
More photos from the championships here
